Name changed as dont want to be outing. I'd be grateful if any advice.
So our cat, he's 13 months old. He's a lovely little boy and is very loved and spoilt.
He had cat flu as a kitten and was very poorly but with abit of help from the vets we nursed him back to health.
So about a month ago I noticed he had slight patchy hair loss on his left ear. No scratching etc so I decided on a watch and wait approach. Now his ear has lost most of its fur and it's gone scabby. Has also started scratching. I've taken him to the vets who haven't a clue what is wrong with him. His ear canals and drums are clear, no ear mites, no fleas etc. They thought possibly sunburn, but ruled this out due to him being so young and not light enough. Also this started to happen before any hot weather.
Checked for ringworm with the blue light and couldn't see anything. Took a scrape off his ear and couldn't find any skin mites.
Also should mention his other ear now has the start of patchy hair loss too.
They want to sedate him and take a snip of his ear to look for mange! I'm so confused how he could have mange as apparently it's very very rare in cats. All his vaccinations etc are up to date, he goes outside but only really in our garden.
They've said if that comes back clear it could even be cancer. I am heartbroken for my poor boy. I was hoping could anyone shed any light of mange in cats? What's the likelihood of it coming back as mange? How fast exactly does it spread etc?
Thank you