I just noticed my DLH, Magnus, has a very small spot of missing hair up between his shoulder blades. The skin does not look scabby or anything, just there's a little bit of fur missing (the spot is maybe a third the size of my pinky nail, so not very noticeable unless he bends his neck forward and he's crouched a certain way.
He's indoor only, almost 14 months old. He used to be a feral, but we adopted him at 5 months and at that time he had been given a dewormer, flea medicine etc (though he did not give any signs of having worms or fleas).
I don't think we have fleas in our apartment, though I suppose it's possible somebody could have walked on in on their clothes. That being said, my husband is allergic to fleas and he always knows if there are any fleas around because he reacts badly to them.
I know I've read sometimes if a cat is missing some fur it can be allergies. We have not changed his food (he gets a rotation of 4-5 brands of mostly grain-free wet food and some raw),
My vet is closed until Monday; I am going to call them at that time and see what they think but I'm stuck until then. I don't think this would be an emergency situation but I'd like to figure out what is going on......
The only thing I can think of, but I don't know if this is a factor. Could the extreme heat around here cause this? The temp has been in the 90s to triple digits for most of the summer. Unfortunately, I live in an old building and there is no central air. We have one a/c unit in the bedroom, which we've been running, and the on the really hot days magnus likes to hang out on the tile in the bathroom. We also shaved off his belly fur at the beginning of summer to keep him cooler, though it's starting to grow back now, so I'm not sure if we should go shave it again. I also bought him a "cool pad" but he has mostly ignored it.
His fur seems fine otherwise - shiny and silky, not dry or scruffy looking
ANy ideas?
The only thing that he's been doing that has concerned me - and I went to the vet twice about it - was he does (when it's hot out) sometimes pant. I brought him to the vet when I first saw him do it and the vet checked him out all over and said he seemed healthy to him and couldn't find anything with his heart or lungs and he was not overheated. I brought him back a second time soon after when he did it again and had a different vet look at him. Same thing. They even ran an oxygen test on his lungs to make sure he was getting enough oxygen and they relooked at his heart and still they said he was fine.
The vet *thinks* it's because Magnus is a bit high strung (and this is true - anything new scares him - the last time I caught him panting briefly, he was fixated on a fly buzzing around the ceiling.) I've also seen him start panting when I grab his feather toy. I think he does it when he gets excited. He's not incapacitated because he'll pant for a second or two and then dash down the hall after the toy or whatever. (I also asked the vet about asthma and he ruled that out as well). We think he also just does not like the heat, and this was when the vet shaved his belly and that actually seemed to help as I didn't see him do it as much after that. Also he's a fairly big cat - though not fat. But now his belly fur is growing back and I've noticed him pant at least twice this past week - though once was when he saw that fly, and the other day we had a heat index of 107 degrees
So.... that may be unrelated, but in case it's not I bring it up here again
Some recent photos, though you can't see the missing fur spot here. But you can see his fur looks good ( or at least it appears to me to look good). And As you can see he's a bit of a character....
He's indoor only, almost 14 months old. He used to be a feral, but we adopted him at 5 months and at that time he had been given a dewormer, flea medicine etc (though he did not give any signs of having worms or fleas).
I don't think we have fleas in our apartment, though I suppose it's possible somebody could have walked on in on their clothes. That being said, my husband is allergic to fleas and he always knows if there are any fleas around because he reacts badly to them.
I know I've read sometimes if a cat is missing some fur it can be allergies. We have not changed his food (he gets a rotation of 4-5 brands of mostly grain-free wet food and some raw),
My vet is closed until Monday; I am going to call them at that time and see what they think but I'm stuck until then. I don't think this would be an emergency situation but I'd like to figure out what is going on......
The only thing I can think of, but I don't know if this is a factor. Could the extreme heat around here cause this? The temp has been in the 90s to triple digits for most of the summer. Unfortunately, I live in an old building and there is no central air. We have one a/c unit in the bedroom, which we've been running, and the on the really hot days magnus likes to hang out on the tile in the bathroom. We also shaved off his belly fur at the beginning of summer to keep him cooler, though it's starting to grow back now, so I'm not sure if we should go shave it again. I also bought him a "cool pad" but he has mostly ignored it.
His fur seems fine otherwise - shiny and silky, not dry or scruffy looking
ANy ideas?
The only thing that he's been doing that has concerned me - and I went to the vet twice about it - was he does (when it's hot out) sometimes pant. I brought him to the vet when I first saw him do it and the vet checked him out all over and said he seemed healthy to him and couldn't find anything with his heart or lungs and he was not overheated. I brought him back a second time soon after when he did it again and had a different vet look at him. Same thing. They even ran an oxygen test on his lungs to make sure he was getting enough oxygen and they relooked at his heart and still they said he was fine.
The vet *thinks* it's because Magnus is a bit high strung (and this is true - anything new scares him - the last time I caught him panting briefly, he was fixated on a fly buzzing around the ceiling.) I've also seen him start panting when I grab his feather toy. I think he does it when he gets excited. He's not incapacitated because he'll pant for a second or two and then dash down the hall after the toy or whatever. (I also asked the vet about asthma and he ruled that out as well). We think he also just does not like the heat, and this was when the vet shaved his belly and that actually seemed to help as I didn't see him do it as much after that. Also he's a fairly big cat - though not fat. But now his belly fur is growing back and I've noticed him pant at least twice this past week - though once was when he saw that fly, and the other day we had a heat index of 107 degrees
So.... that may be unrelated, but in case it's not I bring it up here again
Some recent photos, though you can't see the missing fur spot here. But you can see his fur looks good ( or at least it appears to me to look good). And As you can see he's a bit of a character....
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Seriously, if hubby is willing, that might not be too terrible of an idea. Because if it's fleas, you can start treatment right away, plus you won't have to worry anymore!!
