My cat's tail fur is falling out, vet stumped.

In My Humble Opinion
1

Has this happened to any of the Doper kitties or is my cat just some sort of dermatological freak?

We got home last night after a three day trip to L.A. and came home to discover clumps of cat hair all over the floor. we immediately identified it has come from Denali as he is the only cat with the color of fur that was all over - it was the long, black fur from his tail.

Poor cat has a big 4 inch bald spot on his tail. There was also this light to dark brown flaky stuff all on the skin- just on the tail - nowhere else. The skin didn’t look irritated- just hairless.

I call the vet this morning and make an afternoon appointment.

During the appointment the vet thoroughly checks over Denali, takes a sample of the flaky brown stuff to look at on a slide. Slide shows nothing but dead skin and normal cat bacterias. He has one of the older vets come look at the cat. They’re all stumped. It’s not ringworm. It’s not parasites. :confused:

They want me to keep an eye on it for the rest of the week to see if it gets better or if he continues to lose hair or the skin becomes irritated. The vet said I can use a damp cotton ball to gently “scrub” the dead skin away. He pointed out that the area of his tail at the top where new hair is growing in, so whatever it is it started at the base of his tail in the top side and is working its way down the tail.

Denali hasn’t been licking, chewing, biting or scratching at his tail and he is acting just as normal (or weird) as usual. He is eating and drinking ok.

I think I am more bothered by the situation than the 6.5 year old cat.

2

So sorry to hear about the strange happenings with your kitty! Have you considered going to a different vet for a second opionion? I would hate to see my cat balding and not have any idea what happened. Tell Denali I hope he feels better!

3

First thought that came to mind is food allergies. Just something to think about.

4

or other chemical allergies such as carpet cleaner, etc.

5

Do you use a swiffer? Well documented that this can happen from using one of those on your floors or places where kitty sits, lays, or walks.

6

Extremely allergic to fleas? The starting at the base of the tail was a hint – that’s where flea bites tend to accumulate. We had a cat that developed a severe allergy to flea bites later in life - his hair would fall out in clumps and get really dry and yuck looking. Periodic flea baths (this was before frontline, etc.) did the trick. Not a fun endeavor (imagine, if you will, a team of three gauntleted individuals attempting to clean a 9 lb cat) but he came to accept them a necessary part of life.

Bear in mind, we did not “have” fleas in the house to any extent that could be sensed by humans.

7

Could he be chewing it off himself? I have a high-strung cat that one day had bald spots on his front legs and belly. The vet said that it was a classic example of neurotic licking. When he’s feeling good the fur grows back in; when he’s upset about something suddenly he’s patchy again.

It’s the part about some fur growing back in already that makes me think it might be the problem. Fur grows just as slowly as our hair - it takes several weeks for Sam’s fur to grow back. So if it’s already coming back in one spot, that fur’s been gone longer than three days.

8

Do you have a reference for this?

9

Try Nutrimalt. Helps with fur issues.

10

Are you sure about this? I seem to remember some hullabaloo about swiffers that turned out to be an

I have going to have to ask for this well-documented cite as well.
As for the OP, it’s really hard to diagnose a skin problem without seeing and even touching it, so if you aren’t happy with your vet’s opinion have a second opinion. There are veterinary dermatologists if you want to see a specialist. But if it doesn’t seem to be getting worse and the cat isn’t bothered by it you may want to give it a little time like your vet suggested. If it spreads, gets itchy or inflamed or if anyone in the house starts getting little itchy spots get him rechecked right away.

If I had to guess though, I’d guess stud tail which can occur in neutered cats as well, but I can’t find a pic of it for you.

11

Does your cat frequently rest where there might be a heating source? Like a heating register?

Our elderly cat is going bald around the haunches and on his stomach. When I first noticed it, I brought him to the vet, panicked about the new symptom of his kidney disease. The first thing she asked, “Did you buy him a heating pad?” Why, yes, we did about a week before, for his arthritis. Apparently, acccording to our vet, it’s fine for him, he’ll just be … well… a partially bald cat… He was pretty scruffy looking to start with, so no harm done… :wink:

Is there any way something like this could be going on with Denali?

12

Whoops! Sorry, that was me. Forgot to log-on to my account before posting. :smack: Or, I suppose, one could argue, LilShieste forgot to log-out…

13

Ohh I see…with a little googling I see it’s an Urban Legend. I guess the old biologic filing system failed yet again…

14

I agree. Hypertrophy of the apocrine/sebaceous glandular tissue is very likely.

15

I have been so busy at work this week, so I apologize for not responding to any of this sooner…

I had considered taking him to another vet, but there are 6 vets at the clinic I take my cats to and they have been nothing but helpful. More than one vet checked out Denali when I was there Monday afternoon. I guess I shouldn’t have said that the vets didn’t have a clue… he said it could be really dry skin (dander gone wild!) or some other stuff t hat I can’t remember right now because I have a headache…

He asked me about the cleaners I use in the house. I do try to buy non toxic stuff and dilute the floor cleaners down. If I had changed brands of cleaners, food, cat liter etc. He asked if we go out of town often or so rarely that it could cause a stress disorder from us leaving for three days. We go out of town frequently enough, that it’s not a problem, plus someone always come over and checks on the kitties.

I did ask about food allergies, but the vet didn’t think that could be it. I even asked if he could have “picked up” something from the shoes I wear to the pool (he like to lay and rub on my shoes). They did take a sample slide of the brown flakes from his skin. The vet ruled out parasites or a skin bacteria.

Fleas are not a problem in the Las Vegas valley as it is too dry here. There are fleas up at Mt. Charleston, but I haven’t been up there in over a year, and the cats don’t go.

The vet ruled out self trauma as the skin looks healthy with no abrasions from biting or licking it. My sister had a cat years ago who licked herself bald in spots and kept licking it until it has sores.

I don’t use heating pads, I use one of those “hot beans” thingies that I heat up in the microwave. We also don’t have radiators or floor vents (they are in the ceilings).

The vet did say that if it continues or the skin becomes itchy such as I see Denali chewing or licking on it, the condition changes to bring him back on Saturday the take a blood draw for a panel. Other than the hair issue he has been his normal weird self.

The vet did recommend adding some fish oils to his diet ad recommended adding a bit of oil to his food. He wouldn’t eat it drizzled (just a tiny spoonful) on his dry food, so I mixed it with some albacore tuna… No my cats aren’t spoiled. Why do you ask? All the cats ended up eating the oil enhanced tuna… little piggies :smiley:

The hair loss seems to have slowed as there was only a little bit on the floor Wednesday night. The baldy spot seems to be only a little bigger than it was on Monday. I just looked at his tail a bit ago and it looks like the hair is growing back in and the brown flaky dry skin stuff is clearing up as in there is less of it than there was yesterday.

The whole thing is just weird. Denali doesn’t seem to be bothered by it. I may just take him in to the vet for the blood panel anyway. to rule out any “invisible” disorders.