Whats wrong with my cat ? :(

[Morwyn]

Hello all , I have a male cat named shadow , he has patches of fur missing and thinning at some spots and there are scabs on his skin :( alot of them, I don't know whats wrong with him and im really scared , he means alot to me i love him very much. He hasnt lost any weight and he's still grooming himself as usual so he isnt acting sick but im worried he may be itching or in pain :( . If someone has some idea whats wrong with my cat or has experienced something similar , please let me know , im really worried.

[LadyAutumnCat]

Could be ringworm or allergies, or a variety of other problems. You should get the kitty to the vet.

[EponaCapaill]

Could be ringworm or allergies, or a variety of other problems. You should get the kitty to the vet.
I agree, probably allergies or ringworm. Get thee to a vet!

[Brónach Druid]

I agree with the others, take him to the vet.

[BlackMagicalCat]

To the VET with your kitty.

[arienh]

Your poor kitty!
I agree you should take him to a vet if you can afford it. One of my mum's cats had the same symptoms as your cat. She turned out to have dermatitis caused by a hormonal imbalance (or something like that). She had to go on hormone treatments I think... it got better with vet treatment anyway. Give your kitty a hug for me!

[Morwyn]

Thanks for the replies everyone , Im definitely going to take Shadow to the vet , but it will have to be after the first of the month because unfortunately social security is my sole source of income :( but like i said he just seems itchy and he's not losing weight or anything ( hes rather round-ish haha) oh and Azzeenasman , the kitty in your avatar looks just like mine :) Thanks again everyone , i hope hes ok

[SphinYote]

Try finding some hypo-allergenic cat food in the meantime. My cat had some serious food allergies that she just developed suddenly and she would scratch to the point of bleeding (it's apparently a fairly common problem and once you establish what it is and eliminate itthey're usually fine, in my cat unfortunately it was a product of some other underlying problem though, and she didn't really ever recover. Don't take that a s the way it will be though, my cat was the exception rather than the rule and I'm sure once you figure things out it will be fine...)

If it is something environmental and not food it might be a little harder to establish. Some thigns to keep in mind:

-Do you use air fresheners?

-Have you recently sprayed the house for bugs?

-Sprayed your lawn (even if she's an indoor cat, you can track things like lawn chemicals or garden fertilizer treatments in)? If she's an outdoor cat, then anyone spraying the neighborhood can be causing problems or it might be something altogether different outdoors...

-Changed brands of kitty litter? (you might try calling the company if you haven't and see if they recently changed the formula, apparently half the companies don't mark the bags now when they use fragrances or scent reducing chemicals now, and around here its difficult to find just PLAIN cat litter (clumping litter is bad for cats under any curcumstances, when they pee it sticks to their feet and they lick it off and ingest it, one of my friend's cats got an intestinal blockage this way.)

-If you use scented or odor reduction or clumping cat litter, I'd suggest changing to a plain brand anyway as those are all terrible for cats and can cause allergies.

-Have you given the cat flea treatment? Flea collar?

I agree, take him to the vet ASAP. At the very least they might be able to give him a histamine shot to relieve it temporarily and allow his skin to heal. And at any rate, if he's scratching himself this bad he could get a secondary infection and need antibiotics. There may be some kind of other medication that will help, too. (Unfortunately, if you can't determine the cause of the allergies through either process of elimination on your own or the standard testing that the vet does, you could end up having him on medication permanantly). Of course, this is assuming that it IS in fact an allergy. From your description I'm pretty sure it is, but the vet will be able to tell you for certain.

Good luck, and in the meantime while you're as yet unable to go to the vet take a good look around and see if you can figure out what might be a new feature of his environment that could be causing this. ANYTHING that became a part of his environment just beore this started could be a cause, or he could have developed an allergy to a preexisting thing.

Watch him, observe, and see if he seems to scratch particularly hard after a certain activity or after being in a certain location. I listed some of the most obvious culprits above, but it could be something as harmless-seeming as a new plant, new dirt in a plant, or a rug. If you're remodelling your house you could have stirred something up.

Good luck to you. It can be so many things i it is an allergy and sometimes its so difficult to find it. The vet can only test for certain things, most commonly foods, and after that it's hit and miss on whether they will find it through testing. Just stay observant and maybe you'll figure it out.

[Seren_]

One of my old cats used to have a similar problem, and it turns out he was allergic to fleas. A good indicator of this problem is if kitty keeps gnawing at certain spots on his body, which is causing the loss of fur and the scabs to appear. It can be very irritating for them, and it can make them miserable, causing further hairloss through stress or even depression.

If you have to wait a while to get him to the vet, then the best thing you could try is deflea-ing and deworming him in the meantime. Most products are fairly cheap (although not necessarily long lasting, but it will give kitty some relief). If you can't afford anything, then try combing through his fur to brush any eggs out - this will give him some relief, and if the condition improves slightly, then you'll get a good idea what's wrong. Your vet will have some very good flea products, which are a good idea to invest in especially if kitty has a bad reaction to them. This is one of those times of year when fleas are rife - prevention is better than cure, and even if you haven't been bitten, it doesn't mean your cat isn't.

[SphinYote]

One of my old cats used to have a similar problem, and it turns out he was allergic to fleas. A good indicator of this problem is if kitty keeps gnawing at certain spots on his body, which is causing the loss of fur and the scabs to appear. It can be very irritating for them, and it can make them miserable, causing further hairloss through stress or even depression.

If you have to wait a while to get him to the vet, then the best thing you could try is deflea-ing and deworming him in the meantime. Most products are fairly cheap (although not necessarily long lasting, but it will give kitty some relief). If you can't afford anything, then try combing through his fur to brush any eggs out - this will give him some relief, and if the condition improves slightly, then you'll get a good idea what's wrong. Your vet will have some very good flea products, which are a good idea to invest in especially if kitty has a bad reaction to them. This is one of those times of year when fleas are rife - prevention is better than cure, and even if you haven't been bitten, it doesn't mean your cat isn't.

Sorry, have to disagree. Wait until you get to the vet for ANY kind of flea treatment. I could go on at length about this, but it's been covered in another thread:

http://www.mysticwicks.com/showthread.php?t=97888 (http://www.mysticwicks.com/showthread.php?t=97888)

Unfortunately, I, too, know of too many cats who have suffered excessively and/or died from storebrought flea treatments, esp Hartz. DON'T use them!!!

[Seren_]

Sorry, have to disagree. Wait until you get to the vet for ANY kind of flea treatment. I could go on at length about this, but it's been covered in another thread:

http://www.mysticwicks.com/showthread.php?t=97888 (http://www.mysticwicks.com/showthread.php?t=97888)

Unfortunately, I, too, know of too many cats who have suffered excessively and/or died from storebrought flea treatments, esp Hartz. DON'T use them!!!

Actually, I just read that thread. Worrying stuff. I've never used Hartz, but I've never had problems with the product I use that comes over the counter (I think it's Bob Martin, or something). Perhaps they don't make it so strong over here (I know they don't last as long as the stuff you get from the vets).

[Aleannah]

get your kitty to the vet as soon as you possibly can...just to be safe, you need to make sure you wash your hands thoroughly and vacuum frequently, just in case it's ringworm...it's contagious.

Also, you might Google the term ringworm...I think there's some pics you can look at and see if it looks anything like the scabs on kitty. :hugz: