Help! Foster Kitten Has Dry Scaly Skin And Hair Loss On Chin

[angel-mist]

Okay so a mother kitten abandoned 4 kittens near my house. They were only two weeks old, and now at 5 weeks, there are only three remaining. This is my first experience fostering kittens, and I can happily say that two of the remaining three kittens are in fine health. To get this out of the way now, I live in a country which lacks vet services and many pet products, and I'm not in the best financial situation either. But, I couldn't just leave 4 kittens to die.

Now, one of the kittens, Ginger, has what I think might be feline herpes virus. Her eyes are always squinted, and she's a bit weaker than usual. She stops while eating to pant now. I've been dealing with this well enough, as she's well hydrated and is regaining her energy more and more everyday.

Today, I noticed what I thought was dry food on her chin/neck. But when I tried getting it out, tuffs of her starting coming off with ease. Now she has a bald spot there, and the surrounding skin is very crusty. Here's a pic:

How can I prevent this from spreading and cure it? What are the causes? I checked again, and besides the neck area, she also has this type of skin on her inner front legs.

 

[maggiedemi]

It could be mange, that causes animals to lose their fur.

 

[angel-mist]

It could be mange, that causes animals to lose their fur.

I actually read about that before coming here, and it doesn't seem like it. From pictures, mange looks a lot more.. red. Besides, Ginger isn't itching it at all, and since I read that mange is highly contagious, wouldn't her siblings have caught it by now?

 

[SNicole]

Did you ever find out what this was? My foster kitten has the SAME EXACT THING!

 

[reality11]

Okay so a mother kitten abandoned 4 kittens near my house. They were only two weeks old, and now at 5 weeks, there are only three remaining. This is my first experience fostering kittens, and I can happily say that two of the remaining three kittens are in fine health. To get this out of the way now, I live in a country which lacks vet services and many pet products, and I'm not in the best financial situation either. But, I couldn't just leave 4 kittens to die.

Now, one of the kittens, Ginger, has what I think might be feline herpes virus. Her eyes are always squinted, and she's a bit weaker than usual. She stops while eating to pant now. I've been dealing with this well enough, as she's well hydrated and is regaining her energy more and more everyday.

Today, I noticed what I thought was dry food on her chin/neck. But when I tried getting it out, tuffs of her starting coming off with ease. Now she has a bald spot there, and the surrounding skin is very crusty. Here's a pic:

View attachment 189464

How can I prevent this from spreading and cure it? What are the causes? I checked again, and besides the neck area, she also has this type of skin on her inner front legs.

 

[reality11]

My cat also has the same thing and the vet can't figure it out.

 

[Rokis]

My cat also has the same thing and the vet can't figure it out.

Holy crap 4 years and no answer having the same issue with my cat all around his neck.

We are currently giving him omega and moisturizing and clearing his skin so he doesn't scratch.

I also just out a cone around because it's getting out of hand.

 

[Blou]

Hi, I have the same issue, thought it was the KMR. or left over birth sac.

 

[BostonFern]

This is an old thread, but it looks exactly like the stray kitten I'm fostering. Our kitten has a fungal skin infection (ringworm), which feeds on keratin in the skin and fur, leading to frail and dry skin that falls off easily. Treatment varies, but from American online content, a standard treatment seems to be threefold: regular lime sulfur dips or baths, topical anti-fungal treatment, and oral anti-fungal treatment.

Our vet (not in the U.S.) won't prescribe oral anti-fungal medication for our kitten because its body weight is lighter than 1 kg. Instead of lime sulfur, I've elected to bathe him daily using an anti-fungal shampoo containing ketoconazole, which is also commonly prescribed or sold over the counter as treatment for human fungal skin infections, and which is also a common active ingredient in topical anti-fungal creams.

Fungal infections are always slow to treat, taking several weeks to months to resolve, and may resolve on their own after 4-5 months. However, ringworm is zoonic, spreading not only between cats, but among cats, dogs, and humans, although rarely infecting healthy adults, so it's important to treat it. Stray kittens are commonly euthanized if they're infected with ringworm since treatment can be slow and time-consuming, but from personal experience, once you get into the habit of the treatment (twice cleaning and topical application/bathing daily in my case), it becomes part of the daily routine, and you'll know you went the extra mile to save a helpless animal whose condition is perfectly treatable once it's all over.

For anyone ending up here because you have a cat with symptoms like this, please take it to the vet and ask for a Wood's lamp or blacklight test (some fungal species glow in UV light), and if that turns out negative, ask the vet to take a culture sample to grow in the lab for confirmation. It could be another condition.