Stray cat is losing all the hair on his tail

myfamily

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What might be the cause of this? All the hair is gone on a certain section of his tail. He is a homeless cat who I have been feeding daily for the past 18 months. Has anyone seen this before? What is the cause? And what is the cure? I don't see any other hair loss besides here. This is a new development. Unfortunately I do not have the money to take him to the vet. But if the situation is critical I will attempt to get help for him. Thank you.
 

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Norachan

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It looks to me like it could have been a bite that turned into an abscess. The abscess seems to have burst, but it must have been painful for him, so he would have licked it a lot.

Has he been neutered?
 

MissClouseau

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Can he move his tail fine? If the tail moves fine, the chances are it's a skin issue and not a bone problem. It may even be he got something sticky there and pulled the hair off.

Skin issues are a long list. What you can do without a diagnosis is to put on a cat-safe antiseptic. I recommend water-based spray ones over creams as they tend to lick off the cream and it tends to make things worse sometimes. Besides spray ones are easier to apply too.
 
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myfamily

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I took him to the vet this morning. He said the hair loss was probably stress related or parasite related. I paid him $60 and took the cat back home. I really have to question whether veterinarians are worth the cost. He didn't even give the cat a wellness exam. He did run his fingers through the cat's hair looking for bugs, but that was about the extent of the exam.
 

Norachan

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That does sound a bit much just for a quick exam. Did the vet give you anything to treat parasites, such as Revolution or Profender?
 
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myfamily

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That does sound a bit much just for a quick exam. Did the vet give you anything to treat parasites, such as Revolution or Profender?
I have a couple of doses of Revolution at home and I gave the cat a dose after bringing him back from the veterinarian.
 

MissClouseau

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I took him to the vet this morning. He said the hair loss was probably stress related or parasite related. I paid him $60 and took the cat back home. I really have to question whether veterinarians are worth the cost. He didn't even give the cat a wellness exam. He did run his fingers through the cat's hair looking for bugs, but that was about the extent of the exam.
Vets worth the cost usually but, not so much for singular lesion, non-infected, non-deep-cuts skin problems like this. With that said, this particular vet doesn't sound fine if he didn't properly did a general exam and not even offered to apply a spot-on treatment. I would not go to this clinic again and write a review on Google telling what happened.
 

Norachan

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I have a couple of doses of Revolution at home and I gave the cat a dose after bringing him back from the veterinarian.
So they didn't even give you a dose of Revolution for your $60?

:ohwell:

If your cats are all outdoor only you might get a better deal at a low cost clinic that treats feral and community cats.
 
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