Please help! Himalayan with hair loss around his neck and itchiness

[smr00]

Hi all,

I really need your input/help about a problem I have been dealing with for the past 2 weeks with my otherwise healthy 8 yr old himalayan. I appreciate any thoughts in advance!

Two weeks ago I noticed a bald spot on his neck; he was itching his neck and ears a lot. I immediately took him to the vet because he was around another cat in January who had a bad case of ringworm. They took cultures which have been negative to date.

Since then, I changed his food (put him on a hypoallergenic diet - turkey/potatoes mix; his previous organic food was grain free but who knows) and changed his litter to an all natural pine based litter.

However, he has gotten worse. He still itches his neck/top of head/ears like crazy and his hair has thinned out considerably all around his neck up to his ears, tracking into his head. Its one contiguous area with some areas that are so bad, they are bald. The underlying skin looks pink and inflammed and when you touch it the hair falls out easily.

I took him to a vet dermatologist who had seen the other cat with ringworm; he took a second set of cultures and decided to treat empirically with fluconazole for ringworm, just in case it is. I have also been putting topical clomitrazole on it for over a week. No response.

I tried putting coconut oil and topical hydrocortisone cream on it which seems to help with the inflammation but I have no idea what to do since I don't have a diagnosis...!!

I have noticed for the past several months he does itch his ears and there are clumps of hair on the carpet; but there were no obvious bald spots on him, his hair looked great, so I didn't think anything of it. Now that I think about it, maybe it was the start of something. The vet said it doesn't classically look like allergies since it doesn't affect his face and the skin isn't scally or scaby. I have no idea. I don't know what to do.

What do you all think?

I changed his litter to pine based - but now that I am thinking about it, maybe this isn't hypoallergenic enough? Any recommendations? I also put him on a turkey and potatoes diet (over the counter) but maybe I should get the formal prescription diet food.

Should I bath him? If he is allergic would that help reduce the allergens?

Anyway, any insight would be immensely appreciated as I am worried out of my mind.

[smr00]

Update! So vet called me today and said cultures have been completely negative to date, not a thing growing back. And he said he really doesnt know what is going on. He is recommending a biopsy! Anyway have experience with biopsies in cats?

I'm wondering what that is going to show exactly. It seems like there are only a limited number of things that cause itchiness and hair loss in cats and I don't know what would show up on biopsy if this were just allergies (nonspecific inflammation)??

Any ideas?

[smr00]

Hi,

I called the vet dermatologist again this week - cultures for ringworm after 1 wk are negative. He still has a high suspicion for ringworm and does not think we are dealing with allergies.

I am still treating him for ringworm but no improvement. I gave him a lime sulfur spray yesterday. His hair is so fragile, it just falls out with the slightest bit of manipulation. It is so scary. I hope we are on the right path....

He said if the cultures are still negative after two more weeks he would recommend a skin biopsy but that is so invasive and I don't want to subject my kitty to that!

[opus88]

hi again, wanted to send you another site that talks about all the reasons why a cat will loose hair..(alopecia) theres lots of info on there....

http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=1+2141&aid=195

I am also including a photo of my himalayan boy Sami...it shows how his food allergy affected him..he would get several of these little areas around his face and eyes

http://www.medhelp.org/user_photos/show/274134?personal_page_id=473886

[opus88]

The Vet did check for ear mites I hope?

My cat didn't loose clumps of hair, he got small scabs around his face mostly above the eyes, than tiny amounts so hair loss around the sores. It turned out wbelieve to be a chicken allergy, after starting a chicken less diet they cleared up an haven't returned, that was a few yrs ago he can now eat chicken but I rotate often. Only took a few weeks to clear up.

The krill oil omega 3's are the best for cats...but since his diet was fish based an the possibility of a fish allergy, perhaps best to listen to the Vet right now an not try.
The plant based ones I,m not sure if cats can tolerate.

Most cats don't get affected by dust an pollen so much, if they did I thk you would see it more respiratory in nature

No don't buy the prescription diets, they are not good, many are very high cost an loaded in carbs, besides most cats hate them.

Don't rush wth the steroids either, unless the condition doesn't soon respond to diet changes an gets worse. Steroids can help if it's an inflammatory condition but relief is usually only temporary, it's treating the symptoms but not the cause, also steroids can lead to diabetes in cats. So try as a last resort with caution.

When I say chicken...I do mean ALL poultry....my Vet explains it by sayin 'anything with feathers' so no turkey either

An do get cans, feed in smaller portions so it doesn't sit around in a dish......found out recently dry foods also have tiny mites from storage, could even be a mite allergy.???????

It's not going to be easy to pin point

[smr00]

Hi Opus,

Thanks for your helpful response!

So I was feeding him "natural choice" brand. I don't usually pay attention to the flavor I get but I think I usually get salmon and then recently I got the chicken flavor maybe a few weeks before all this started (is this a red herring, i dont know?). I usually give him dry food; with wet food I have trouble administering it because its hard to predict how much he will eat in a given time and then it gets dry and crusted over if it sits outside!

I now bought the Blue brand new - turkey and potatoes. But its not prescription grade. Should I go ahead and purchase that? I also bought venison and duck wet food. Is stella and chewys a limited ingredient diet?

I will go ahead and get a new litter since the pine isn't totally organic.

In your experience, how long did it take for the allergies to go away once you made a change? How long for itching to stop and hair to grow back? Did you give any meds/topical ointments (these vets are so quick to recommend steroids! which makes no sense to me since I still haven't figured out what the actual source of the allergy is!)

I didn't use any new cleaning products/no new fragrances. The only other thing different is the weather is starting to warm up and right around when this started, I opened up all the windows to allow some nice weather in. Could he be allergic to pollen/dust?

I wanted to do omega 3s but then the vet said because it comes from fish then he could be allergic to it? What do you think? Are there brands that dont come from fish?

Thank you so much for your help. This is such a frustrating experience and the vets are not much help at all...:(

[opus88]

hi...just happened to log in and see your cry for help...hope I can give you some insight.
hair loss or any skin condition is almost ALWAYS an allergy or intolerance, either to their diet or some inhalant within the home.

you were feeding grain free....thats good, so its not the common allergen(grain) its some other ingredient or something in your home.
was this also a canned diet and NOT dry? dry food is full of pesticides and other nasty ingredients

have you added anything new lately...furniture, rugs, perfumes, candles, room sprays, detergents, cleaning products.....bedding etc
anything new?
all those and many many more items are full of possible allergens from the chemicals used

I would strongly suggest you read the following site, eliminate every single chemical that you can from your home...NO candles, sprays or cleaners use vinegar to clean your floors, stop the pine based litter(I know it claims to be natural, but its full of chemicals)....try Yesterdays News...a paper litter. or I've heard of Walnut shell to be available at some places. even plane wood shavings like they use for hamsters etc...just find something with NO chemicals...as natural as possible.

You will need to also try a diet that is 'novel' meaning a protein he has never had before...most foods are chicken based and chicken is another STRONG ALLERGEN just b/c is dominate in so many cat foods.
make sure its a wet food NOT dry. and grain free. there are venison diets for example....warning many cats do not like this. you will have to do alot of searching at a GOOD pet store.

I've had one with allergies to chicken and it took along time to find a new food he would eat and tolerate.

recently found a very good one....a freeze dries food, its RAW food than freeze dried all you add is water to make into a moist food. he LOVES IT and its a great diet. the brand is Stella and Chewy's it comes in pouches.
I highly recommend this one, just not in chicken.

Or you can try a homemade diet....that way you know whats going into his food. no nasty ingredients. but for this you need to follow a strict BALANCED recipe with all the supplements he needs(I can help with that) I make a homemade diet for my second boy.

don't give up, its time consuming and frustrating but you WILL find the answer if you are diligent.

Oh I also strongly recommend Omega 3 fatty acids...that will help with the itch.

http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=1+1400&aid=665

this is the site with info on allergies and hair loss....

http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=1+2117&aid=142

post again any time if you have more questions...