Odd behavior...

[Soror]

My second oldest, Killit (age 6, slightly overweight), has begun losing patches of fur.  It began in the summer, and so I expected it was the result of heat spots, which he has had before, but now I see that the skin beneath has a collection of black specks like collected dirt.

I know what you're thinking... flea dirt...but it isn't.  The house is completely flea free.  Is this the result of simply being fat and hot?  Maybe a fight with one of the other cats?  He has a few patches on his belly, along the lines of his thighs, and then on the backs...places that I'm not sure he can clean very well.

Is he just dirty?

[Savas]

I know what you mean. I think ours is a genetic recessive trait, it's on her back and sounds similar, but not quite the same. She's had no behavioral changes, so we aren't to worried.

You know...this may be crazy, but yours sounds like feline acne (oh no! Puberty! :)  ) Which is harmless, but irritating. She's probably crabby because she's not going to look her best for that "Big date" tonight!

[Soror]

He's cream and orange, and we don't have any fleas in the house.  (Believe me when I say that, I'm a complete nazi when it comes to the blood-sucking little bastards.)  It's not scabby, just seems like there's little black spots on the pores/hair follicles, and although hair has fallen out, little short fuzzies are growing in, like he was just massively shedding.  This is the case on all three of his spots.  It feels no different than the fur he already has, is very soft and clean looking.  The fur he sheds sometimes has follicles attached, sometimes does not, but it's the whole hair shaft, both the longer outer coat and the softer inner coat.

He's behaving fine, for the most part, a little crabby the last few days, but its allergy season, and he in particular is almost as bad as the humans in the house.  The rest of the time, he's full of **** and vinegar, as usual.

I'm not all that worried about it, but it doesn't hurt to be conscious of something and try to pool information.

[Savas]

We've got a very similar problem on one of our cats and it's driving us crazy. We've been researching it and we got a couple of answers but we just aren't bloody sure! Unfortunately, we AREN'T going to do expensive genetic tests...so...

Question; is any of the fur in that area feeling stiff and brittle, and is short because it snaps off easily? (In the patchy area only)

[NewLeaf]

First thing I think of when loosing patches of fur is ringworm.... which can be itchy and cause the cat to scratch and make it dirty, scabby? Tiactiactin or other foot cream with athletes foot med can work. But it could also be fleas or just dirty. What color is the cat, if he is black, fleas can be hard to spot.