# Hair loss, Bald spot on neck.



## Cat Daddy (Aug 3, 2005)

Well today we are going to the Vet because PooBird has a bald spot on her neck,

she is a long hair, about 6 yrs, and stays indoor most all the time unless on a leash,

she had been getting these big mats in her main for about 2 or 3 weeks and I had just been pulling them out as they presented themself,

this morning during her combing I noticed that the spot was bald under there,

it doesn't seem to bother her, 

there is a small scab type thing in the middle.

I thought the matting was just because thats about the normal place they can scratch the neck with the hind foot.

I'll give an updat when I get back so it'll all be fresh in my mind, if possible,

ten more minutes and we gone.


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## weluvcookie (Dec 6, 2005)

My first thought is ringworm. I am dealing with it right now in my tiny kitten and it started like you're describing.


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## coaster (Dec 1, 2004)

Well, this topics really interests me, because we've been dealing with bald spots of unkown cause around here. First the spots on Mellie's ears, which were negative for both ringworm and mites. And then Twinkee came up with some spots on both sides of his neck. The vet said his collar was irritating him and prescribed some Betagen. Now the hair is growing back there, but he developed a new bald spot near or at the site of his Revolution application. And Mellie's bald spots on her ears are back (but not in quite the same places.)

After paying close attention to my cats' behavior, I'm convinced in all cases the spots were caused by excessive scratching. The mysterious part is why they'd be scratching so much there. In Twinkee's second case, I can guess the Revolution irritated his skin. But in the other cases, why did an itch develop in the first place and cause them to start scratchiing? The vets were baffled. The way I tackled it was to prevent them from scratching those spots. Mellie is wearing "socks" and Twinkee is wearing an Ace bandage around his neck and upper back.

Hopefully you can solve your mystery spots easily. I haven't been able to do that yet with my cats. All of my current bare spots are clean, plain, bare pink skin. I agree with the previous post that if there's a scabby discoloration in the middle of yours, it could be ringworm.


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## Cat Daddy (Aug 3, 2005)

Vet did a skin scrapping and didn't find no parasites,

then Vet said it may have been an allegeric reaction to the regular shot she got just about 3 weeks ago.

he did say the skin looked scaley,

she got a shot of cotizone(?) called Depo Medrol Injection on the bill.

My other 2 cats don't have any symptoms so I hope it is the previous shots she got,

the history write up I got says,

*There is a patch of hair loss on the left side of the neck that is 5 cm diameter.

there is some crusting and scale present,

the skin scrape was negitive.*

Her tempature was a little high at 102.6which should be between 100 and 102 according to what I have on the same paper,

but could be a little higher due to exitement, according to the same history page.

So at this point I do not have to deal with a parasite challenge,

and only have to let the hair grow back if everything goes as Vet said.


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## coaster (Dec 1, 2004)

One thing I've learned you have to watch for is scratching. If it's itchy, she's going to scratch it and that's going to prevent it from healing and the hair growing back. Also the vet didn't tell you that those skin scrapings have a very high false negative rate. The reason is that the parasites (a type of mite) burrow UNDER the skin, so a scraping doesn't necessarily turn up any of them. Google on "mange" -- that's kind of a generic term for the type of skin parasites that can cause hair loss.


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## petspy (Sep 11, 2008)

*new issue - old thread;*

coaster - I wonder if Revolution™ is the catalyst for the scratching.

I applied an ampule on Sunday, and noticed a 1/4" gap in her fur
Monday night just an inch below the application spot which may
simply be too high on the back of her neck for my cat to scratch.

Is there anything to be done? any moisturizer or soothing cream?
I'll monitor this daily to see if it gets bigger or changes skin color
which appears white not pink. I keep their nails trimmed, so maybe
she has not been able to irritate her skin red that much just yet.

if she leaves it alone - how long does short hair take to grow back?










I have some 99.9% pure Aloe Vera gel
to massage into the back of her neck.
Should I try it? I figure if the cats lick
each other, what harm could it do...


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## Jack&Harley (Nov 2, 2008)

Aloe Vera is toxic to cats 

http://www.aspca.org/site/PageServer?pa ... toxic_aloe

Leslie


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