Help! One of our beloved indoor cats (British Shorthair) seems to be losing fur from his flanks, especially on one side!
For a while, I'd noticed that whilst he looks appropriately chunky, as shorthairs do) from the waist/hips up, he looked unusually thin from there down but I'd assumed it was just the way he was built.
Now I'm beginning to think that maybe he's been losing fur for some time and that this created the illusion of small hips/bottom and chunky upper half?
Where he's got fur, it's luxuriously silky, shiny dark brownish black. Where he's losing fur, it's short and looks like only the undercoat - dry and sparse.
I'm taking him to the vet on Monday but am so worried about him in the meantime, especially as he belongs to one of my DCs who adores him and DC would be gutted if his cat is seriously ill.
Any ideas what it might be? I've googled of course and it suggests fleas as the most likely thing but our 2 cats are indoor cats (have been from the start because of treacherous, fast main road outside that regularly kills local cats) and I assumed they wouldn't get fleas. No sign of fleas in the home or on our other, healthy cat.
The one who's losing fur has always been much more active, vocal, interactive and LOVES his food. But could all those signs actually point to something else that's not OK?
Another thing is that we took the cats, as kittens, to have the usual vaccinations at the vets but then stopped going for updates, as they're house cats. Have we failed to protect them and is the cat losing hair because of a horrible underlying condition?
Finally, both cats - but especially the one losing hair, have sensitive tummies and have only ever been able to eat "Whiskas pouches in Jelly, Fisherman's Choice" - only the fish versions, not meat. Anything else, including even vet recommended dry foods, gave particularly the hair-challenged one severe 'runs'. But now I'm worried that maybe the so-called 'complete food' lacks something vital and that our cat is vitmain deprived.
Has anyone got any ideas or shared experiences to help whilst we're waiting for the vet's appointment? In every other way, cat is behaving normally, energetically and has normal appetite and peeing/pooing. Only other thing I can think of is that we have the central heating on at present because it's so cold outside but could this have stimulated selective fur loss in one place???
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The litter tray
Healthy indoor cat, aged 3, losing fur!
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BlogOnTheTyne · 06/12/2012 18:44
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