Dodger was a stray that I trapped and adopted in October 2022. He had a bald belly and some patches of hair loss on his legs. The vet thought was a flea bite allergy and put him on prednisone. His hair grew back, but then he got diabetes. After a few months of insulin, he went into remission and his glucose is still in the normal range. Happy to have that behind us. Unfortunately, the bald patches returned when he got off the prednisone, and has gotten worse. It's mostly on his left back leg and on all 4 legs midway up. Hope you can see it in the pic.
I recently took him to a different vet. I explained his history with the diabetes and said I didn't want to put him on prednisone again. She thinks the hair loss is not from allergies, but barbering from stress. This made sense since he is a nervous cat. My other male cat Daryl was aggressive towards Dodger for several months. I even considered re-homing Dodger because it seemed like they would never get along, and no one was happy. But then he got the diabetes and I didn't have the heart to ditch him.
Since then, Daryl has gotten better. He no longer tries to stalk & attack Dodger. They occasionally have stare-downs and Dodger will sometimes hiss if Daryl gets too close. I have Feliway plugged in on both levels of the house. I have treat and catnip sessions with them together, and this is going well. I still keep Dodger gated upstairs when I'm at work. He has a window seat and feels safe up there. In the evenings they are fine together. I know they'll never be pals though, but it's much better now.
So back to the vet visit. She prescribed Prozac to "break the cycle" of the barbering. He's now been on it for just over 2 weeks. I'm concerned about the change in him. He seems more jittery than ever and has stopped cuddling with me and purring. Also, his hair loss isn't improving and seems to be getting worse. I've heard it takes time to level out so I'm trying to be patient.
Interested in opinions on the hair loss. Does it look barbering, skin allergies or...? How long should I keep him on the Prozac if it's not helping?
I recently took him to a different vet. I explained his history with the diabetes and said I didn't want to put him on prednisone again. She thinks the hair loss is not from allergies, but barbering from stress. This made sense since he is a nervous cat. My other male cat Daryl was aggressive towards Dodger for several months. I even considered re-homing Dodger because it seemed like they would never get along, and no one was happy. But then he got the diabetes and I didn't have the heart to ditch him.
Since then, Daryl has gotten better. He no longer tries to stalk & attack Dodger. They occasionally have stare-downs and Dodger will sometimes hiss if Daryl gets too close. I have Feliway plugged in on both levels of the house. I have treat and catnip sessions with them together, and this is going well. I still keep Dodger gated upstairs when I'm at work. He has a window seat and feels safe up there. In the evenings they are fine together. I know they'll never be pals though, but it's much better now.
So back to the vet visit. She prescribed Prozac to "break the cycle" of the barbering. He's now been on it for just over 2 weeks. I'm concerned about the change in him. He seems more jittery than ever and has stopped cuddling with me and purring. Also, his hair loss isn't improving and seems to be getting worse. I've heard it takes time to level out so I'm trying to be patient.
Interested in opinions on the hair loss. Does it look barbering, skin allergies or...? How long should I keep him on the Prozac if it's not helping?
