Vitiligo!? Schrodie, you are a mess!

[mackiemac]

Okay, an update... Schrodie still has stomatitis, he's going on cyclosporine instead of prednisolone, and he is not at this time a candidate for full-mouth extraction because it may not help him as the stomatitis actually goes down into his throat a ways-- it may be too wide-spread to justify the trauma and not provide adequate relief for the invasiveness of the procedure. The vet has said that it's definitely autoimmune... which leads to his newest development:

Vitiligo. (vit-ill-EYE-go)

This poor cat has lost almost all of the seal coloring on his nose leather, his muzzle and chin have turned completely white. Vitiligo is also believed to be an autoimmune assault on pigment cells, and often if a pet or person has one AI condition, they can get another. This is definitely true as my mother had lupus and rheumatoid arthritis... both are AI. I don't see why a cat can't get the short end of the immunity stick, same as a person. Anyway--

He used to look like this-- just about a month ago (this is a file photo, not from last month)

schrodie red bed.jpg

• mackiemac
• Apr 24, 2016

Schrodinger The Terminator.png

• mackiemac
• Apr 29, 2016

Now, his coloring looks more like his kitten colors-- like this (no, he hasn't shrunk! Kitten pic for color demonstration). His chin and upper lip/mustache are even lighter than this!

His legs, ears and tail haven't faded, nor has his forehead or eye area-- but anything at or below the nose is no longer dark, and there is white "misting" in his body fur. His front paw pads are also losing color.

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• mackiemac
• Apr 24, 2016

Tonight:

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• mackiemac
• Aug 22, 2016

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• mackiemac
• Aug 22, 2016

(Wow... I see these photos and he has DEFINITELY faded under the eye area. More fading than it seems, I guess!)

This is VERY sudden onset, and far more than what would be seen with usual normal ageing (11 years old). He's honestly turning white on me!

The vet did say that sometimes, cats with AI issues can develop vitiligo, and there is also a Siamese vitiligo-- a hereditary condition in Siamese and related breeds. These cats look normal for a while, then they begin to lose color (depigmentation) as the condition progresses.

He sure looks different now! Still handsome as he always will be, but... wow, what a change! Not like this guy (a cat named Scrappy)... but still... wow!

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• mackiemac
• Aug 22, 2016

Thankfully, vitiligo is only cosmetic and it alone doesn't hurt a cat (or person-- people get vitiligo, too... people of all races can develop it, and so can d*gs-- but it does show more on darker skin or fur.). But whoa, when it hits-- it's sure noticeable!

Anyone else ever have a cat with vitiligo? How much pigment/coloring did your cat lose? Was the cat Siamese or related, or Siamese mixed? And the million-dollar question: did your cat have any other autoimmune conditions including stomatitis?

Thanks all...

~Mackie

 

[2Cats4everLoved]

Hi, I have personally not experienced this with my babies. But I do find this very interesting.  I've never heard of such a thing.

I'm glad Schrodie is otherwise healthy.

 

[mackiemac]

Feline vitiligo is actually quite rare, but Siamese and their ilk seem to be predisposed to a hereditary form of it. There seems to be 2 ways that cats develop it: genetic, or autoimmune. We can't say with certainty what triggered it in Schrodie's case, but he does have stomatitis, which is autoimmune, and obviously, he's Siamese (well, he's a Tonkinese, but the Siamese is one of the parent breeds of the Tonk... as well as the Burmese, and both breeds are 'Meezer' breeds that are subject to the genetic form). The stomatitis is chronic and will never 'go away', so we address his discomfort and keep him eating. As long as he can eat and he feels well enough to interact with us and seem happy, we're fine. We can't do the FME for him because the inflammation goes into his throat, and the dental vet doesn't feel that the invasiveness of pulling all teeth would provide sufficient relief for the amount of trauma he would experience. His stomatitis is just far too widespread for that. So, we are getting Primal Nuggets, which he loves and eats with no problems and we're going to begin cyclosporine and wean off the prednisolone. He reacted very badly to Depo-Medrol, so we can't do that one anymore. But no treatment is possible or even necessary for the vitiligo, since its main effect is just cosmetic. "It ain't hurtin' him none."

I have only seen one other cat in real life with vitiligo, and I worked for a time in a feline-only practice (as well as other general veterinary practices). And well, he was a Siamese... so there you go.

I posted this here because it is such an uncommon thing, and I hope it will 'educate' or 'fascinate' others to see this rather rare condition in a cat.

But he's still awfully handsome even with his 'new look', don'tcha think? 

(Fact about vitiligo in humans: This is the skin disorder that affected Michael Jackson and made his skin turn light and patchy. Vitiligo affects people of all skin tones, and there is no one skin tone that is affected more than any other. Michael Jackson was black and had vitiligo, but John Hamm of 'Mad Men' fame is white and he also has vitiligo. So, it doesn't matter what skin tone you have.

Vitiligo is more noticeable on darker complexions, but even very fair skin can experience vitiligo. It just doesn't show as much. Vitiligo affects males and females equally, too. There are some treatments for humans, including phototherapy, lightening therapy to lighten the skin overall, steroids, immune suppressing drugs, etc. but none of these other than maybe steroids or immune drugs are useful in cats, and only cats with other issues would need the immune drugs or steroids. Otherwise, we just let them be unless or until some other issue pops up.) 

 

[2Cats4everLoved]

I knew about the people, but didn't have a clue about our feline friends.  You do learn something new everyday!

Schrodie is the most HANDSOME!!!  Adds Character. LOL

He is a sweetie.  I'm glad he is well.

Very interesting.  Thanks for sharing.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

I think he's most handsome in his new coat.  I've actually seen one other cat with this condition, and he was most handsome too.  I actually LOVE that look

 

[neely]

Don't have any experience with this particular AI but our dog had an AI and was on cyclosporine for a very long time.  It really helped control his flare-ups.  Wishing you the best of luck.  Please keep us updated on Schrodie.

 

[aricat]

Wow! This same thing has happened to my cat, Ari.  He is a blue point Siamese and has stomatitis as well.  I had him has a kitten, and when my ex and I split he stayed with my ex.  Now 3 years later, I have him back and I noticed his nose was turning pink, where it used to be "blue" (grey). I haven't had a chance to talk to the vet about it yet, but I did a google search and found this thread. His nose discoloration looks just like Schrodie's (cute name, btw)!!  

I'm glad to know Ari's not the only one!

 

 

[mackiemac]

Thanks, all-- his new look is taking some getting used to, especially since he's kind of 'transitioning' still and it seems to change a little every day. It's not ugly to me or anything-- he is still my handsome dude. It's just... different, LOL! We kiddingly call it his "possum look"! We happen to like opossums (or 'possums if you're in the South), so if the shoe fits... right? Plus he has that sort of long, skinny tail kind of like a possum, but it's still seal brown and hairy. But it IS almost prehensile...  he wraps it around my arm!

AriCat, I still recommend having your vet look at it, just to be on the safe side. There are a number of things that can cause the nose to turn pink. We came to the conclusion that he has vitiligo because he's been in close care and in the clinic quite frequently, so his vets know his condition very well, and they have seen the change with their own eyes. I have another cat whose once-gray nose is now pink, but it's not vitiligo. In her case, it's eosinophilic granuloma complex. That was confirmed through blood work and history. So before taking Schrodie's experience as 'Gospel' in Ari's case because of the similarities, I suggest getting a vet's eyes on it to be sure it isn't something else.

It sounds like your kitty's got something similar going on, but have it checked just to be safe. There may be a connection since your Meezer also has stomatitis like Schrodie does. Is you kiddo on anything for the stomatitis? Has he had any sort of treatments or extractions?

~Mackie

 

[2Cats4everLoved]

Hello -

I'm curious, and this may not apply to Handsome Schrodie but, if a cat is used to licking and grooming his/her coat  that is black or dark, and then starts cleaning a white coat, does this do anything to their psyche? I would imagine it would be strange for a kitty to look down and see a completely different color/shade. 

btw - we call them Possums here in NY too.  then again we look for any excuse to shorten any word. LOL No Wha I'm talk'in 'bout? LOL

 

[mservant]

@MackieMac  I am so glad to hear you think Schrodie is just as handsome as his colouring changes, he is a gorgeous cat.  Such a shame he is having a hard time of it with stomatitis, poor guy, he must feel pretty rotten with that:  Mouse had stomatitis really badly for about a year and I think it started from when he was teething.   He too had lesions down in to his throat, he had tonsillitis and also on / under his tongue and gums.  He was very quiet and withdrawn at that stage which was very strange given how bouncy and cuddly he had been when I first brought him home.  Pleased to say that as soon as the infections were cleared up and lesions healed he returned to his regular silly self (bouncing off the walls 24 / 7 ).  I hope Schrodie does too  - massive vibes that he responds well to treatment and is one of the lucky cats where the condition can be controlled.

Mouse is one of the lucky cats and once his immune system toughened up a bit (around 2 1/2) he seemed to get on top of the mouth lesions and as long as I keep to a strict oral hygiene routine with him his gums seem to be able to hold their own and no issues have become evident with any tooth reabsorbtion or anything.   One thing I don't know if your vets have considered -  for Mouse it turned out his stomatitis was probably down to feline herpes virus which doesn't usually affect mouth or eyes but can do.  When Mouse started to present with runny eyes - after his mouth lesions settled down, the vets looked back over his health records and concluded FHV was the likely cause of the mouth lesions as well as the ulcers appearing on his eyes.  Now he usually gets a runny eye first and will start coughing like his throat is sore and I know I need to make sure he's pampered and calm and do what I can to boost his immune system.  I never want to see him as sick as he was when his mouth and throat were infected - thinking of you and Schrodie and wish him better very soon.  

 

[mackiemac]

 
Hello -

I'm curious, and this may not apply to Handsome Schrodie but, if a cat is used to licking and grooming his/her coat  that is black or dark, and then starts cleaning a white coat, does this do anything to their psyche? I would imagine it would be strange for a kitty to look down and see a completely different color/shade. 

btw - we call them Possums here in NY too.  then again we look for any excuse to shorten any word. LOL No Wha I'm talk'in 'bout? LOL

Hmm... that's an interesting question! I think that because it happens somewhat gradually, they probably don't really think about it much or at all. But we know so little about a cat's thought processes anyway that it's hard to say for sure what they really think about anything.

That sounds like a cop-out answer, but it's true. I do know that they can react to a sudden change. I saw it frequently when one of our past Himalayans named Kepler would get groomed. (I had her regularly groomed in some stylized version of a lion cut, and she did look adorable that way! I did that because she was fractious at home whenever I would even get near her with a comb or any sort of grooming tool, and she was a straight-run demon right out of the very bowels of Dante's Inferno at the groomer (to put it mildly), so our in-clinic stylist would do her work while Kepler was sound asleep under sedation. Much less stressful for Kepler and everyone else to just get her buzzed a few times a year when she'd start clumping up.Upon awakening from her "spa-nap", she'd look around herself with this look of... "Wha...? What the furball just happened?", then it would turn to... "Hmm... I kind of like this! let's stand up and get a look-- uh-huh, yeah." Then she would strut around as if she was a Milanese fashion model on (of course) a catwalk. Maybe some of her reaction was because now she was cool and the mats were gone.  But she did know that something was different, and she did react to the change-- seemingly with favor.

Then you have all the cats who have to have a limb amputated. They may have the "What happened?" reaction at first, but they soon adapt to the change in their body. We had a cat who lost a foreleg due to an accident. It had been severely broken and had to be amputated. Once the initial surgery recovery was past, Wulfie was back to doing his usual things, right alongside his brother. If it negatively affected his psyche, we would never know.

But in a slower change, as with vitiligo or whatever... I don't think it has as much of an impact. Plus, I don't think cats are as vanity-oriented as we are. Maybe it's the same as how we Upwalkers react to seeing our hair going gray. Some think it's horrible. Others don't care. Some reach for the Clairol. Others just let it be. Me? "Gray hair, don't care!" I suppose that if it doesn't cause them to feel any different physically, they don't think much at all about it.

 One thing I don't know if your vets have considered -  for Mouse it turned out his stomatitis was probably down to feline herpes virus which doesn't usually affect mouth or eyes but can do.

We think in this case, it's either Siamese stomatitis or what used to be called lymphocytic/plasmocytic stomatitis. But yes, I have seen FHV stomatitis as well. Schrodie is 11 years old, so that's one factor leaning to the "LP stomatitis" or autoimmune or genetic. Vitiligo in cats is believed to be an AI issue, as well as a being genetic one in the Meezer breeds. Being as "Meezer" as he is, he's got both of those in his genetic (breed) "menu". But good thought, anyway!

 

[mservant]

@MackieMac   It sounds like  you and Schrodie have a great vet so I hope they manage to find a way to manage Schrodie's symptoms as well as my vets have for Mouse.   It is so hard seeing them as sick as the stomatitis makes them feel.     It's good that the Vitiligo is only a 'cosmetic' issue - and he is just as gorgeous with it as without. 

   

11 is a fine age, don't they just work their way in to your heart deeper and deeper as they grow older.  

 

[darkhorse321]

This is fascinating! We had a Siamese when I was growing up and my aunt and uncle bred Siamese kitties and I don't think any of them had this, but that was a LONG time ago (our Siamese kitty was a Tortie point, which is fairly pale to begin with and born in 1981, passed in 1994). 

Your kitties are gorgeous!

 

[gemmak]

heya. my seal point (snow bengal) appears to have the same. lips, nose and paws have changed from all black to pink over about 10months. No other health issues. Here is Dax just chilling in his cat tree pouch.

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• gemmak
• Sep 1, 2016