what could be wrong with my cat?

Question

weve had her since mid sept......

she came from the humane society so we got her in overall good health.

but for the last month or so ive been noticing that she has some type of hair loss and and irritation on her hind legs....

she DOES have fleas but she is bot infested!
she gets them from the dogs we have outside!
she does not go outside!
i dont know whats wrong with her

ive enclosed a picture i painted from the paint program every computer comes with..........SO DONT LAUGH!!!!!!!!!!
i drew arrows pointing to where the redness is it is drawn in yellow with RED arrows pointing to it

i am really worried about her!
i know i should take her to her VET
but
is this something that will get better on its own?
is this just dry skin?
is she lacking something in her diet?
can you help?

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l57/eldaberry/mycrappypictureofacat.jpg

Answer 1

I tjink your picture is adorable.
I'm not a vet but have worked with Fix-Our-Ferals for 6 years and the condition you describe is a very familiar one to me.I can't say for certain but it appears to me that the basic cause of the irritation is, in fact, fleas...and a possible allergy to them.

I suggest an immediate application of your favorite flea repellant, (we use Advantage). This will kill the existing fleas as well as unhatched eggs.

The best way to clear up the dry skin (we've even seen them so bad they bleed)...is to apply a cortisone cream of some type directly to the affected area. These are available at your local pharmacy, over the counter, and work as well as any expensive prescription you can get from your vet.

It may take a few days for the skin to start clearing and the hair to grow back...but both of these remedies are safe and easy to do.

If I am guessing correctly...your cat is biting and chewing itself silly in that area.This may continue for a few days, but you need not worry about the cortisone cream. Ours lick and bite it off almost immediately after application. It still works and dopesn't appear to have any side effects.

Best of luck to you. Even if you don't follow MY advice..I hope you do something quickly, as it's extremely uncomfortable, agrivating and painful to your pet to have this condition.

Answer 2

Your outdoor dogs could have given her more than just fleas.. she could have ring worm which is a fungus that grows in the shape of a circle and causes hairloss, redness, and itching.

Be careful when you are even handling her as ringworm is highly contagious and can be transferred from animal to human and visa versa.

You may need to take all of your pets to the vet and have this treated as the ring worm will only grow larger.

If you happen to contract ring worm from your pets, go to the drug store and purchase a tube of lotrimin, it is for athletes foot, but will also kill ring work as both are caused by fungus.

I hope this helps, There is a possibility that it is something other than ring worm, but it is best that you are careful around your pets right now because bald spots are a classic sign of ring worm.

Answer 3

Thanks for being so concerned!

Something that is wrong with a living being -- cat dog or human, etc does not usually go away on its own.

We cannot diagnose - it could be anything, and your kitty really needs to go to the Vet.

Our pets are our total responsiblility in sickness and in health (sound familiar?) and truly it's worth the money we have to spend on these innocent critters, for the love they give us.

Animals like cats or dogs are VERY good (unfortunately) at hiding pain and illness.

You see fleas on kitty - fleas can bring tapeworms into your cat's system--cat washes fleas off (cats are VERY clean animals) and flea goes into intestine- - and voila--tapeworms. Happened to my poor kitty -- vet dewormed her (needed 2 applications)

You should also get Frontline or Advantage to apply on your dogs (in between the shoulder blades) -- this stuff works WONDERFULLY. Fleas are not fun for dogs to have either.

You can also get Frontline or Advantage for cats -- MAKE SURE it's for cats-- they CANNOT use the dog products because their livers metabolize these medications differently -- and NEVER use a flea product straight from the store -- it can kill -- BIG dogs, little dogs, cats...

And then, there are probably fleas in your home too from the dogs -- the cat doesn;t go outside but she got em -- probably from the dogs. You can get Diatomecious earth from the pet store or on-line, sprinkle it sparingly on the rugs and then vaccuum vacuum vacuum -- your Vet can tell you how to apply it-- I applied way too much on my rugs and had to vacuuum ALOT -- The Diatomecious earth dries up the live fleas but I don't know if it works on the eggs.

If you decide to do the Flea Bomb thing -- I would be VERY careful and follow the directions carefully-- that stuff is poison and our pets can easily get very sick from that -- I never had to use a flea bomb-- the diatomecious earth worked just fine.

So please take your cat to the vet and I hope everything goes well-- there should be smiles and purrs and happy flea-less critters in your future if you do this!

Peace

PS -- someone from the Humane Society can probably give you the low-down on fleas -- but the Humane Society is not a substitute for taking the cat to the vet.

Answer 4

By the time you observe a difference for your cat's conduct the cat has been in misery for particularly a while. No approach to inform what is mistaken of direction, vomiting is a symptom of many matters, viable poisoning. The prognosis demands to made by way of the veterinarian. To do? Go external and get the cat into the residence. Take the cat in to the veterinarian ASAP.

Answer 5

If she does have fleas, even just a few, she could be allergic to them, they can be causing her to be irritated and to have hair loss because she is licking and scratching.

You can treat her with Frontline for fleas, it kills the fleas and their eggs. You might also want to just call the vet and see if they want you to put a topical product on there, like neosporin. Call them first before applying it though.

Answer 6

A few fleas would do that. Even if it doesn't look like she has a lot, they can still bother her.

Putting her, and the dogs on an advantage treatment would stop the problem

Answer 7

It sounds like she has flea allergy dermatitis, it only takes one flea to cause a reaction. Get some good flea treatment such as Advantage, frontline or revolution and use. Also give her a good tapewormer as fleas transmit tapeworms to cats. You have to keep your cat flea free or it can lead to anaemia and other complications.

Answer 8

I have a female cat that is allergic to flea's.She gets blotches all over her if she gets a flea on her.It looks pretty bad at times.I just keep trying to keep the flea's off her.But she could be allergic to something else also.Or it could be thyroid problems.I'd take her in and have her checked.

Answer 9

try putting some advantage on her for a couple of months and see if that works. I have cats and they do this too until i can get advantage on.Some cats are just a little more sensitive than others.You get it at the vets but you don't need to see the vet for it. Its about $16.00 dollars.

Answer 10

get her flea treated. My cat does the same if I don't put flea stuff on him after 3 weeks. He is very allergic to fleas.