Bald Spots and Itching in cat... Not ringworm

My cat Stanley has been having thinning and even bald spots for about 2 months. We had him tested for ringworm and it came back negative. Any ideas of what this could be from?? My vet suggested steroid shots. But we would have to do them every month. Thats expensive and time consuming. Any thoughts would help.

[Aleda M Cheng, D.V.M., C.V.A]

Unfortunately thinning hair and bald spots in a cat could be due to a variety of different problems.  These include: allergies to anything in the environment or food allergies, skin parasites such as fleas, scabies, fungal or yeast infections (not just ringworm), autoimmune diseases and behavioral disorders.  This is a long list, but your veterinarian can rule them out by diagnostic testing such as skin scrapings, impression smears, trichoscopy (examine the hair and hair follicles microscopically), fungal and yeast testing, intradermal skin tests, blood tests and, skin biopsy.  Much of the time a skin scraping is often the only test necessary, since Ectoparasites (skin parasites) are very common.  It would help in your cat