Cat losing fur but vet not sure why

[JustBloodyListen]

For several weeks now my cat has been losing fur on his back legs. He has a severe flea bite allergy so when I originally called the vet she got me a Seresto collar for him as they have worked brilliantly in the past and now the weather is warming up it was likely to be fleas.

A couple of weeks go by and it shows no signs of clearing up and he’s also got a few welts where the collar is so I took it off and took him to the vet. She has a look under a light to look for fungal infections but no sign of anything and she thinks his skin itself is in good shape. Prescribes a steroid to help stop itching in case that’s the cause. Steroids are absolute hell for me to administer every day and cat is still losing fur.

Then she does an X ray to see if there’s any obvious cause for pain that might be causing him to over groom but that is also fine. She feels up and down his legs and he doesn’t show any signs of pain.

So now I’ve got a half bald cat who is constantly grooming himself and looking utterly pathetic. I can’t really let him out as he’s very friendly and he looks so awful that people keep assuming he’s a stray and taking him to the vets to be checked for a chip so I have to them go and collect him. There are two posters on my wall with a photo of him explaining that he’s not ill or unloved, he just looks an absolute state but he’s still taken to the vet.

Vet wants me to continue with steroids which I’m doing for now even though it seems to make no difference. Has anyone experienced anything similar? Is there anything else I could suggest to my vet to look into or am I just going to have to have a half naked cat for the next few years? He seems perfectly happy in himself, he just looks slightly obscene as he’s almost completely bald from halfway down his tummy and then has a little ball of fur on the end of his tail like a poodle.

Hopeful bump

Steroid injections sorted mine and he is a BAD long term over groomer. He will lick until he bleeds
You could also try antihistamines

Overgrooming can be a stress response. Is there anything that has changed recently? It could be anything for example moving furniture around, a new person in the household, a new cat in the neighborhood

My parents' cat did this. No obvious cause for it and he's always been a super chilled cat in every other way. The vet ended up prescribing him antidepressants (yes, really - I had no idea they were a thing for cats until then), which did help a bit but he still did it to a certain extent.

It stopped when his brother died and he's now a very happy, fully-trousered cat! We still don't really know what was going on, obviously his brother stressed him out somehow, but they always got on, never fought, hung out together a lot but had plenty of room to get their own space, too, so there was no obvious reason.

Sorry, not much help really, but it might be worth looking at possible sources of stress/enquiring re: antidepressants if there's no apparent physical cause.

Could be a food allergy? I had a cat with all kinds of skin issues/eye problems. He was allergic to fish - some reason like the fish they put in the food contains high levels of histamines. I put him on a grain free, fish free diet and he was fine.

@MrOllivander ill see if the vet is willing to give antihistamines a go. Do you know how they’re administered? I’m having to wear long sleeves at the moment as I’m sliced to pieces from attempting to give him the steroids as he would rather starve than have them in his food.

@FogniniFog the only thing that’s changed recently is that I’m having my drive dug up and relaid. He’s been spending loads of time outside getting in the way of the builders when he used to just lie around inside most of the time. I had assumed it was more to do with the weather picking up but maybe he misses the old drive.

@toastfiend he does look like he’s taken his trousers off 😂

You can just crush them in food. I do not do giving tablets to mine
I'm sure it's piriton they usually try first so don't pay via the vet for them! Cheaper to buy human ones

@silentpool he’s a fussy bugger and will only eat particular flavours of Felix in jelly and one brand of dry biscuits from Pets At Home. I don’t think they’ve changed their recipes recently but there’s not much I can do if they have as he just won’t eat anything else. I tried him on boiled chicken and rice for a few days on the vets advice in case it was tummy related and he didn’t eat one bite of it. He spent 3 whole days walking up to his food bowl, sniffing, crying, lying on the floor as though he had died and then walking off in a huff. It’s hard to take his dramatics seriously when he’s walking around half naked though.

Happens to my cat occasionally. It is stress. We moved into a bigger house and she rarely goes out of the house now. If she goes out she stays in our garden and no other cat comes into it as we have a dog. No issues since.

@MrOllivander i tried that and he took one mouthful and gagged until he was sick. Bloody idiot. I have to put them in his mouth and then hold it shut and tilt his head up for a good minute to get him to swallow it. I feel like I’m feeding one of the food gras geese ☹️

mine was so dramatic at the vet over food they had to hand feed the little git rotisserie chicken. I soon stopped that idea when he came home

@TracyMosby I’m not buying a bigger house to placate my cat 😂

Wow! Cats certainly wouldnt appreciate that attitude. They have high expectations 😹

It's most likely stress, but how are his toileting habits?

My boy had similar symptoms and then he started peeing way more and it turns out he had bladder crystals and now needs a special food for life as well as daily medication.

Just worth a thought. His hair has grown back fine since he started the new diet and the pills

Used to have a cat that lost lumps of hair after being castrated late on, when he was about 7. He was also a nervous soul and had problems with food too. Steroids helped and his hair grew back but he had to adhere to a strict diet and we used to have to chase the other cats out of the house for him.

He lived to the age of 16 (it was a time when vets were less sophisticated so not bad going) and he was the best cat I ever had.

The driveway could be it.

He used to have his driveway kingdom. Then the builders invaded and destroyed it. Despite his best efforts to put them in their place (getting in the way) he hasn't managed to reclaim it. And he's not getting his usual 22 hours of kitty sleep because he's been on driveway patrol.

It's enough to cause any cat to turn to drink...or overgrooming

My cat is over grooming at the moment and has a bald tummy. She had one round of steroids that cleared it but it's back. I gave her flea drops as I was a couple of weeks late and I also got a feliway. I haven't had a chance to properly look at her tummy yet but there is a definite decrease in the grooming.

She's also been locked in for the last week as the other cat has a limp so can't go out. Maybe it's a combo of all 3 things.