Loosing fur

[Little2Feet]

Hi there I have a 4 year old  tabby  female cat she was the runt of the litre  and had to be mouth to mouth  when she came out of  her mom,  2 days  later  born from the first  batch and the one that  was with her in the womb  didnt make it , that was 4 years ago.

today  I have  2  dogs  2  fish tanks  2 birds  and  my  precious  angel girl Lillian. when it was just  her and her brother  harley the dog whom  they were raised up with each other.
im also a  dog  sitter.and  make sure she  at least  gets a hug from me a day  telling ehr which i always  have from day  shes  my angel girl, that these dogs  just come and go and you are here to stay.  i swear they  understand us lol

so now  the past  month  i be noticing  shes  loosing her  hair in patch  spots.  I already  called my vet  last night and they  said without fully  examinning  her  and the story  it sounds like  alopecia.

but  this morning  i remember now  that  she has  been drinking out of the  fish tank  filter water  i do  keep that  tank clean  and  she has  done to the point of  taken  the  lid off her  self  if i had  put something ontop it  shed knock it  down, now ill be having to tape  it  down..

so that is the story.

question  1
how can i treat  this  without having to visit  the   doctor on this  as she had  said itl take at least a couple mths  to grow back if it isnt severe., no point  going to the doc is she  said this over phone  but if it does get worse yes  we will.  now im not sure what severer  means  for balding,  but shes  not  scally  or  bleeding,  she is her usuall hyper self, shes eating  alot  as usuall  food has  never  changed  shes  always  been a whiskas  girl.

question 2

can  fish tank water  after a month  do this  damage? the tank is treated with ph up balance  and  conditioner  for the fish only.

i hope im not going to be loosing my angel !

[nancyjac]

I agree with escobar that it is unlikely the fish tank water is causing a problem.  I also have had tropical fish for years and have had cats drink from the tank with no problems.  In fact, the fish tank water may even be better since it has no chlorine or chloromine in it.  You mentioned that her hair never grew back from where she was shaved for spaying.  She may have a genetic factor that inhibit hair regrowth.  This recent hair loss could be from a number of things, including stress, which could also explain her other new behavior.   If you find no redness, fungal spores, or any other skin irritation in that area, I wouldn't be too concerned from a medical standpoint.  It sounds as though she is excessively grooming, chewing at her fur which is resulting in the hair loss and hair balls.  If you can get to the root of any stress issues, it most likely will stop.

[Little2Feet]

Hi there  es

I was  pregnant   for 8 weeks  and she knew  that  we were, ive had her  since she was 8 weeks old she is  my cat without a doubt even tho she loves all.  her mama told me she had a cat for me when her mama  was pregnant with her , yes  i speak to them and hear them sometimes...

then on top  of loosing the  embryo we  ended up pregnant  again  full testings  of blood work showed we were.  but lost that one as well.  so we were husband and i under alot of stress.

Im also a dog sitter  but usually only have  5  a  day  she knows all them and gets along shelets me all  know if they get to close to her shel let em know that.  we  privatly adopted  a    
7 year old  daschshund  in the picture youl  see him   hes been here now  3 mths.

other then that  all the dogs ul  see are  regular dogs  on the left of me. shes  been  getting  very  possesive of me these  days it seems she wants more cuddles  which i dont mind what so ever.  so today i picked  her up as I had to get up  and  she clung with her nails in me  and meowed  to me noooo ur not getting up  she has never done that to me  that way. last night she slept with me  for  a few  hours  which is highly unusual as well.  shes  throwing up on her hair balls now at first i thought it was from the water but notice it wasnt after i looked at the hair balls. if it all falls out  ill let it be.  as there is new  hair growth  comming through.

click on my name  and its on my prfile page  down a bit with scrolling.

my   precious  angel  girl is here to stay  till she cant any longer of natural  cuases..  she already proved  she was  by my cousin given her mouth to mouth.  

ill pray  for your puppy  keeps his  hair this round,

Lill2feet knowin  as  nanny woofers.  :)

[esbashar]

Have there been any significant changes in your household? My black cat Charlie developed stress alopecia after his brother dog died. It was all across the back legs - he looked almost bald from behind- but the vet assured us it was normal. She even pulled the textbook out and showed us the article and illustration. Several years later when our cat died, it happened again. Each time it took about a year for it to resolve but it did all grow back. Now he's 15 and we have just lost our little dog -who was also 15 so I'm wondering if it will happen again. He's been sick - wobbly and a high white count but he seems better since he's been on antibiotic.
I'm new to this site and haven't figured out where pictures are yet but when I do I'll see if they look the same.
I'd be really surprised if drinking the fish water would cause a problem. The fish would be much more sensitive to any toxin in the water than your cat would.

[opus88]

You do have a huge beautiful family nanny woofers, I commend you for the care and love you give.

to answer your question about canned food being bad for the teeth....that is an absolute misconception, also a bad misconception that dry food is good for their teeth..since for the most part it is swallowed not chewed.

I've found information for you to read about alopecia here on our 'ask a vet forum'
a poster has the same problem with one of her cats and posted on the Veterinary Dermatology forum and 2 Vets gave some very good answers back. I think you get alot of help by reading it.

Go to the top of this page in the white box where it says 'search conditions, symptoms and treatments'
type in: feline alopecia
that will lead you to the Dermatologist's comments.

good luck. don't hesitate to post ANYTIME not just when an issue or an update arises, we value you as a member and continued comments.

[Little2Feet]

thanks  jade lol  i had no idea on alopecia  at all so i looked it up  etc  she  was explaining to me  that  she studied in french  and then  went on to  say how it  pronounce in french  then i went  qui  i said im french to but i dont no understand  wth that is.  so i got her to spell it all out  letter for letter...hahah

i thought  giving  them  canned food  was bad for the system like teeth rot?

dam  girl  was trying to drink the filter water in hopes  she can drain it  and then catch the fish that way.

but ill definatly keep it all updated on this  then  for anyone else  with simmilar  issues  will be able  to know  too.  but  i wont post  anything  all the time  on this issue  perhaps a new issue may arise  which im hoping it wont lol  but if anything changes  ill definatly  let  the community  know.

thanks  jade   for the comment on the dogs i am a dog sitter they call me  nanny woofers. lol

[Jade59]

Hi, I looked at your pics and your kitty is beautiful and So cute!  I do see the bald spots and forgive me, but I had to laugh at your vet saying it *sounds like alopecia.*  Well of course it does, since literally alopecia means hair loss.  What we want to know though, is Why kitty is losing her fur.  

Let's see how kitty does now that she no longer has access to the fish tank since it could likely be the chemicals.  Do you put water bowls throughout the house for your girl?  Since your cat eats mainly hard food, this would be a good idea.  It would be fabulous if you could get your cat to eat wet food at least once a day for good bladder health.

Good luck to you and I loved the pic of you and all the dogs!!!!!

[Little2Feet]

Thank you for  the welcome  :)  I had posted  pictures  of her  starting at the bottom of  the album the  dogs  are  who i look after,  the rottie and daschund  are ours.

you can see phsyically on picture  that my girl is healthy  up to today.

I dont feed my cat  canned  food  only  the  wet pouch  once  in a while  every 2 mths roughly  as a treat,  i have tried her on the expensive  brand foods  to the cheapest  she wont take to either,  but whiskas only.   the baldness on her  belly area  was taht way  when she  was fixed. never grew  back. she has  soft  fur  not  bristly  her eyes  check out  fine. over all shes  in good health  perky as usual  chases  the dogs  etc sleeps like a cat  does durring day hunt by night. at least pretend to.


the  vet  here  for initial visit  cost  60 dollars, not including  any antibiodicts or topical creams, and i wont have it till next week, so thus is why im asking in advance of any  thing else possible.

thank you !

[opus88]

Oh I hope you can get to the bottom of this, I really advise going to a Vet that will actually have a look and perhaps do a swab of her skin around the missing fur, it could be other things going on. any sign of ringworm or scabs?....could also be an allergy to some chemical in the fish tank, I would advise stopping that immediately ALSO a food change, it could well be a food allergy. I would strongly advise NOT dry food and NOT friskies....there are so many much better foods on the market.
read more on feline nutrition on this site.
www.catinfo.org
I should have started out by saying welcome to our forum. I hope we keep hearing more from you and updates on kitty.