Weird reddish bald patches on my cat's back leg. Any idea what it could be?

harrowsford

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I've recently noticed this weird bald patch on my cat's back leg. I was messing around with it and it didn't seem to hurt/bother her at all. It's reddish, but dry and there's no blood or wound, but the surrounding fur seems kinda yellow-ish.

Does anyone have any idea what this could be? There's another similar patch on her other back leg on about the same spot but it's not as bad.



 

pushylady

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Hi there and welcome on board! :wavey:

My cat has the exact same thing on his hind legs, his are a little smaller than your cat's though. I just thought they were little bald spots from normal wear. Kind of like when a man wears trousers a lot and gets the hair on the back of his leg rubbed off?
 
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harrowsford

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hey! yeah that was what i was thinking as well... but i'm a first time cat owner so naturally i'm very paranoid and i was thinking about getting her checked out by the vet.

thanks for your response! :)
 

2cats4me

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One of my cats had that exact thing .. My vet said it was just a spot where the hair had worn off . It was a little irritated though and he gave me an ointment to rub in to soften it .. It was fine after awhile ..
 

toricb

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What did this end up being? I have two cats and they have the EXACT same situation. I was scared that it is ringworm and I just spent $150 at the vet and I'm waiting on the fungal culture. But if it's not ringworm I don't want to leave it untreated if it's actually a bacterial or fungal infection of some kind.
 

pisces7386

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One of my three cats had similar spots this past fall. I took him to the vet and she said it was just dry skin that had been rubbing on something. He normally spent a lot of time sitting on some cardboard boxes we gave them, so she recommended not letting him sit directly on the cardboard anymore. We put towels on the cardboard but it didn't seem to do much for him so we started putting lotion on the spots daily- that cleared them up pretty quickly, probably after few weeks. 

He is also having some sort of skin allergic reaction that has created a rash on the back of his thighs... but I don't think the two are connected. 
 

feralvr

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One of my cats, Walden, has this on his back hind legs as well. It is a very common area on cats for the hair to wear off or be rubbed off from sitting down and putting pressure on that one particular area of the back of the leg. It really is nothing to worry about and if it becomes raw then I put some Colloidal Silver or Vetericyn spray on the area. Not a typical spot for ringworm to start and if there are no other balding areas on the cat other than the back of the hind leg then it is just an area where pressure from getting up and down is wearing down the hair. :)
 
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toricb

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Thank you both! That eases my mind a lot. The vet perscribed a tri-otic ointment (gentizol) but it's used for dogs ears. It's an antibacterial,anti fungal, and antinflammitory. I haven't put it on them yet because I'm wary about it and it has side effects related to toxicity....does anyone have any experience with that? I may try lotion or Collodial Silver like you said instead.

Thanks again!!
 

jadineforever

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My cat had it once but not there near his stomach and her butt..
It seemed yellowish and acrually redish its like a cut but i just put some wrapping thingy to it then wait for days and its gone but yours i think your cat stepped on something that is not okay for that or not healthy for the skin but dont worry ots not deadly
 

feralvr

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Thank you both! That eases my mind a lot. The vet perscribed a tri-otic ointment (gentizol) but it's used for dogs ears. It's an antibacterial,anti fungal, and antinflammitory. I haven't put it on them yet because I'm wary about it and it has side effects related to toxicity....does anyone have any experience with that? I may try lotion or Collodial Silver like you said instead.

Thanks again!!
Well, this product combines steroid, antibacterial and antifungal activity and yes, is for canine ear infections. I am not sure I feel comfortable telling you one way or another to use on a cat. I really do not think this is fungal anyway and would probably just use the Colloidal Silver or the Vetericyn.http://vetericyn.com/benefits/feline.php BUT please know that none of us are seeing this first hand like your vet and if you trust your vet then by all means use the ointment. OR at the very least, call the vet and talk a bit more about the product he/she gave you and voice your concerns. Maybe there is something else such as Mupirocin ointment. http://www.vetinfo.com/cat-acne-mupirocin.html I have this on hand and it is not only useful for chin acne but for any type of bacterial skin infection in pets and in humans! You can get this from your vet and I would feel more comfortable using that.
 

toricb

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Well, this product combines steroid, antibacterial and antifungal activity and yes, is for canine ear infections. I am not sure I feel comfortable telling you one way or another to use on a cat. I really do not think this is fungal anyway and would probably just use the Colloidal Silver or the Vetericyn.http://vetericyn.com/benefits/feline.php BUT please know that none of us are seeing this first hand like your vet and if you trust your vet then by all means use the ointment. OR at the very least, call the vet and talk a bit more about the product he/she gave you and voice your concerns. Maybe there is something else such as Mupirocin ointment. http://www.vetinfo.com/cat-acne-mupirocin.html I have this on hand and it is not only useful for chin acne but for any type of bacterial skin infection in pets and in humans! You can get this from your vet and I would feel more comfortable using that.
I actually could not take them to my regular vet. I am in a internship and my hours made that impossible so I took them to a walk in vet clinic that was recommended. It felt very rushed, unprofessional and seemed like the vet didn't examine it as much as I wanted him to so that was one of the main reasons I didn't want to use that medication. I will definitely try the Colloidal silver instead and look into that ointment, that seems like a better alternative to me. I've raised these two since they were four days old and I don't like the idea of putting a potentially toxic dog medicine on them.
Thank you for being so helpful! It really means a lot!
 

toricb

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Well, this product combines steroid, antibacterial and antifungal activity and yes, is for canine ear infections. I am not sure I feel comfortable telling you one way or another to use on a cat. I really do not think this is fungal anyway and would probably just use the Colloidal Silver or the Vetericyn.http://vetericyn.com/benefits/feline.php BUT please know that none of us are seeing this first hand like your vet and if you trust your vet then by all means use the ointment. OR at the very least, call the vet and talk a bit more about the product he/she gave you and voice your concerns. Maybe there is something else such as Mupirocin ointment. http://www.vetinfo.com/cat-acne-mupirocin.html I have this on hand and it is not only useful for chin acne but for any type of bacterial skin infection in pets and in humans! You can get this from your vet and I would feel more comfortable using that.
I actually couldn't take them to my normal vet because of an internship I am doing so I had to take them to a walk in vet clinic that was recommended to me. It seemed very rushed, unprofessional, and I didn't think the doctor looked at it as much as he should have. He said the problem was "unknown alopecia" and he was going to prescribe me a general cream that could treat several possible issues.

I am ordering the colloidal silver and I will definitely look into that ointment! I feel more comfortable with that type of treatment. I've raised these two from four days old and the idea of putting potentially toxic dog cream on them gives me anxiety.

Thank you so much for your help! It really means a lot! :)
 
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feralvr

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Well, this product combines steroid, antibacterial and antifungal activity and yes, is for canine ear infections. I am not sure I feel comfortable telling you one way or another to use on a cat. I really do not think this is fungal anyway and would probably just use the Colloidal Silver or the Vetericyn.http://vetericyn.com/benefits/feline.php BUT please know that none of us are seeing this first hand like your vet and if you trust your vet then by all means use the ointment. OR at the very least, call the vet and talk a bit more about the product he/she gave you and voice your concerns. Maybe there is something else such as Mupirocin ointment. http://www.vetinfo.com/cat-acne-mupirocin.html I have this on hand and it is not only useful for chin acne but for any type of bacterial skin infection in pets and in humans! You can get this from your vet and I would feel more comfortable using that.
I actually couldn't take them to my normal get because of an internship I am doing so I had to take them to a walk in vet clinic that was recommended to me. It seemed very rushed, unprofessional, and I didn't think the doctor looked at it as much as he should have. He said the problem was "unknown alopecia" and he was going to prescribe me a general cream that could treat several possible issues.

I am ordering the colloidal silver and I will definitely look into that ointment! I feel more comfortable with that type of treatment. I've raised these two from four days old and the idea of putting potentially toxic dog cream on them gives me anxiety.

Thank you so much for your help! It really means a lot! :)
OH definitely go with your gut feeling on this since you did not feel the walk-in vet thoroughly examined your cat. Air on the side of caution then and just keep watch on the area to see if the hair loss is spreading. I do not think that will be the case at all though. :vibes::vibes::vibes: :hugs:
 

raysmyheart

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I just had to look at the back of Speedy's legs and yes, on each one there is a  little indentation in the fur!  The skin is nice and pink and I really don't notice anything other than the indentations.  I am in agreement that these may be pressure points because I rubbed my hand over each area, and there is like a  joint that I can feel in these spots.  And Speedy loves to sit on the very hard computer modem and watch me type!

It is something I will keep my eye on.
  
 
 

missdeon

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Does your cat go outside? While you are waiting for the cultures to come back, which takes about 2 weeks, you will need to start something..especially if it does turn out to be ringworm. Start using the Gentizol on it or get some athlete's foot medication and put that on a couple of times a day. Also, you might want to go ahead and start bathing your cat every three days with an anti-fungal shampoo. I used one called Pure Love which is distributed by PetFlow.com. It is the cheapest I found. If it turns out not to be ringworm, it would not hurt.

I had three stray kittens who I brought in to my home last year. There was hair loss on one of them, a perfect circle right around his right whiskers on his face. No irritation or anything. It cleared up but then his brother developed hair loss on his left side and right front paw/leg. At this point I took him into the vet who took a culture. I isolated the kitten for two weeks but did nothing to treat it except put athlete's foot medication every once in awhile. The culture came back negative so I let all kittens loose with my colony. Three weeks later, one of my older cats had nasty looking hair loss and skin irritation on the whole back of her head. The doctor did not even have to touch her..he took one look and said the dreaded RINGWORM. And thus began my nightmare. Before it was over I had to bathe 7 cats every 3 days with an antifungal shampoo (thank goodness I found Pure Love. The vet's shampoo was VERY expensive). A tip on bathing cats is to put the cat into a mesh laundry or beach bag before bathing. If they freak out being totally inside the bag, allow their heads to stick out of the drawstring opening. Just do not pull it too tightly! I had to give the 7 cats fluconazole tablets twice a day for weeks. And I had to clean clean clean clean and keep cleaning (White vinegar is a natural antifungal which is also non toxic for animals). I had to throw away three almost brand new cat trees. I got it from the cats twice before it was over but I have not had another outbreak in over 6 months. However, I still need to watch out for it since it can remain active in your environment for up to 2 years. Keep the cat isolated from other animals and practice precautions for spread to people. Lots of hand washing and change clothes after handling the cat.

So, even if you suspect ringworm, start treating the animal and the environment ASAP. It will not hurt the  cat, to my knowledge, and it will help start the process of getting rid of the fungus. These precautions may seem mean but it will help get rid of it faster and in the long run it will be better for the animal.

Ask if you have any questions. I would not wish ringworm on anyone! But, if I can get through it, you can.
 

bijouandrocky

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Bijou and Rocky have the exact same thing! Should be nothing to worry about, just natural for some cats.
 

feralvr

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Does your cat go outside? While you are waiting for the cultures to come back, which takes about 2 weeks, you will need to start something..especially if it does turn out to be ringworm.
Not sure which post you are addressing :lol3: because this thread is almost a year old and was refreshed recently due to one having a similar issue. If you read through the whole thread you will see that this is not ringworm and that it is just the fur wearing off from the weight of the cat sitting and getting up/down. Not a typical spot at all for ringworm to begin, in fact the last place for it to start. Usually starts and can be seen on the face/head. But, yes, you are right, Ringworm is a nightmare to get through but it can be conquered. Glad that your three are completely cured now.
 
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