I noticed last night before I was heading off to work that my indoor cat has a bald patch on his back. It is right by his shoulder blades and is a little smaller than the size of a quarter. The area is also red and looks like it is moist.

I immediately thought ringworm (aurgh!!) but on closer examination, it really doesn't look like it. I am also thinking that it may be a "hot spot" or "moist ezcema" but am having a hard time finding photos on the internet that I can compare my kitty's wound to.

Of course if it is ringworm, my little friend is going straight to the vet, but if it is something that I can treat at home I would rather save him the trauma of a visit to the doc.'s.

All of the sites I have found don't really have any good photo examples of feline skin conditions. From the written examples, there are tons of things that my cat could be afflicted with, lol! I am just concerned because of the fact that my cat is a strictly indoor animal so there are no outside pollutants that this could have resulted from. I know that he had a scratch around the same area a month or so ago, but I can tell that it is not an abcess. I am a little perplexed.

Does anyone here know of any good sites on feline skin conditions that provide good photo examples? I would really appreciate it!!

TIA and take care,
Angela

Angela, my long haired cat gets this once a year or so. She scratches and scratches and scratches. Of course, I didn't really notice the scratching until she was rather bald between the shoulder blades! :( We didn't do anything for her, but we marked it up as allergies, because as soon as the pollen count changed for the area, so did her scratching and bald spot. Next time she is going to the vet!

HTH and give that kitty a hug and kiss for me!

Angela, my long haired cat gets this once a year or so. She scratches and scratches and scratches. Of course, I didn't really notice the scratching until she was rather bald between the shoulder blades! :( We didn't do anything for her, but we marked it up as allergies, because as soon as the pollen count changed for the area, so did her scratching and bald spot. Next time she is going to the vet!

HTH and give that kitty a hug and kiss for me!

Thanks TBear, that was helpful! I am hoping that it is just an allergic response to something, but I am still a little leery about this possibly being ringworm.

What I have decided to do for the next day or two is treat the area with apple cider vinegar which is apparantely a natural home remedy for ringworm. Thankfully I happen to have some left over from when I did a rinse on my hair, lol! I also read a suggestion of using bleach to kill the ringworm fungus, but I can't imagination putting that on my cat's fur, especially as it is an area that he can *just* lick.

If it gets worse and doesn't seem to be clearing up...it's off to the vet we go!

Thanks again,
Angela

I'm betting on the hot spot too.

It's just a name for an irritation that happened to hit a nerve ending so it could be caused by almost anything. Most vets will give you a cream to try without having to see the poor kitty ... good luck ...g

Thanks Gabi! I have a feeling that's exactly what it is, the only reason I had a bit of doubt was the fact that every site I went to said that they weren't that common in cats.

Regardless of whether it is ringworm or a hot spot, from what I have read, apple cider vinegar will clear up both.

I have already applied it a couple of times throughout the evening and though he doesn't care too much for the smell, he seems to enjoy having it applied. I can actually get him to sit in my lap for two minutes while I put it on! (He is not a lap cat...he likes to sit as close to a person as he possibly can, but doesn't like to be placed on a lap).

If I don't see any difference in the next day or two, I'll head over to the vet and see about getting a cream for him.

Thanks!

Angela

Just a thought....

Do you use any of the once a month flea control products on your kitty? They can often cause a spot of hair loss and itching in the area where they are applied. Even if you've not had the problem before.

If not, I'd go for the ACV treatment and see who it goes. Actually, I'd do the ACV even if you think it came from the flea control stuff!

I did have a cat with a horrendous case of ringworm on his face. The spots were moist and red and looked nothing like the ringworm pics I've seen in books or on the internet. We treated him by giving him the ringworm vaccines!

Hope I helped a little:)

Tami T

Sounds like you've gotten great advice and suggestions. I just wanted to say that I hope it gets better soon. Nothing like worrying over your pets.
:wink:

Just a thought....

Do you use any of the once a month flea control products on your kitty? They can often cause a spot of hair loss and itching in the area where they are applied. Even if you've not had the problem before.

That happened to one of my cats. He'd never had a problem before, but when I treated him last time I noticed that there was a big pink spot and a couple of little lines leading off. Anywhere the treatment touched his fur it fell out. It lasted about a month until it grew back in...but I don't recall it being moist.

Getting There: No I am not using a flea control product on my cat at the moment but that would be a great explanation if I was! It is right in the spot where you would apply it.

To update, I must say that I now think that Apple cider vinegar is the miracle cure! This morning when I went to put some on him I saw that all the nastiness from the two previous days were gone and now he is pretty much just left with a bald spot!

I am going to continue this for the next day or two and see how it goes, I am quite relieved!

Thanks all for the advice!

Take care,
Angela

Yay! Glad to hear your cat is doing better!

Glad to hear he's okay!

FYI re: ringworm, I use topical Lamisil cream for my me and my cats whenever it crops up. Ringworm is only athletes foot that isn't on feet (in people and cats), and can be treated with the same stuff.

Yay!!! Give kitty another hug and kiss! ;) LOL

That's good to know about the ACV. I hope your kitty is feeling better soon.

I've been using a weak neem tea on my cat to help with itching from fleas. She's been treated for the fleas, but they aren't all gone yet and she is still scratching. I sponge bathe her with a washcloth soaked in the tea, and it seems to help. I was going to spray it on, but kitty didn't think too highly of that idea.
Using the washcloth is like petting, only wetter.

:)

:rockerdud Angie - good to know about the ACV.

Undoubtably not the problem but I always feel like I HAVE to mention it - after a round spot if your fuzzball starts acting weird for any reason have them tested for Lyme's disease - we almost lost Boy Dog because all of us were looking for something more mysterious last year.

Yay Kitty ... :inlove: ...g

Thanks again everyone for your advice!

My cat's wound is still fairly red (being in school from one to ten meant that I couldn't keep up on the ACV as much as I was the day before), and I think the fact that he can lick it is aggravating it somewhat.

Gabi: I don't know if I would be able to discern abnormality in my cat, lol! He is a little on the strange side as it is!

Teacherbear: I did give him another hug and kiss, but made sure to keep my lips away from the sore :grin: .

Bunniee: My cat has "spray-bottle immunity" I tried to use it to keep him from scratching my couch and it wasn't long before it didn't faze him anymore. I just bought a scratching post for him the other day and all he did was give it a sniff and proceed to knock it over!

Anna: I read that creams used for athlete's foot were a good way to get rid of ringworm. If the AVC doesn't continue to work, I will definitely try it out.

I just hope that it goes away soon. I am starting to feel guilty about aggressively disenfecting myself everytime I touch my cat!

Take care,
Angela

Just wanted to touch base and find out how kitty's doing?

Just wanted to touch base and find out how kitty's doing?

Well...my cat's wound seemed to be healing up for a little while and then got worse. It scabbed over quite badly mainly because he was aggravating the area by licking it.

I am still not sure if it is ringworm or a hotspot, but what I have started doing is cleaning the area with Selsun Blue, which is supposed to get rid of ringworm. I had some left over from when I had a really bad breakout of serrobeihic (spelled that wrong, but I am too lazy to look it up :)) dermititis.

I have a feeling that if it was ringworm, I probably would have ended up wish a case of it already myself. At the same time, it couldn't hurt to treat his skin condition with the shampoo as it is known to cure a number of skin ailments. I just make sure that I rinse his fur off thoroughly so that he doesn't ingest it.

I will keep you posted on whether or not that works! Of course as I said before, if it gets too bad, I will take him to the vet and see what he/she says.

Someone also suggested that it could be due to me changing his diet, so I will have to look into that as well.

Take care and thanks for asking :),
Angela

Sounds like trying Bitter Apple would be worth a shot - you can get it at pretty much any pet store - spray it on the wound (after you get done cleaning and dressing it) and for most fuzzers it will prevent them from licking - it's either that or cone head :silly: ...g

Sounds like trying Bitter Apple would be worth a shot - you can get it at pretty much any pet store - spray it on the wound (after you get done cleaning and dressing it) and for most fuzzers it will prevent them from licking - it's either that or cone head :silly: ...g

That's a good idea, thanks! I went to two local pet stores to try and find remedies for my kitty and found one little container (costing $18.00) for hotspots. Because I wasn't sure at the time whether it was a hot spot or ringworm, I couldn't justify spending that much (that I couldn't use on my own skin, lol!) on something that might not work.

I will have to see if I can find Bitter Apple to keep him from licking the wound. I thought about cone head...but the mental image of my forlorn kitty with a cone around his head is just tragic! Mind you, a pet owner has to do what they have to do right?!

Thanks for the suggestion Gabi!

Take care,
Angela

Mind you, a pet owner has to do what they have to do right?!

Thanks for the suggestion Gabi!

Take care,
Angela

Oh yes :silly: and be prepared for Pissed Off *****cat, either way actually, my pack runs when they see the Bitter Apple bottle ... remember, all Coneheads must be photographically documented :gabigrin: ...g

Well, my cat's sore seems to be improving. Fortunately I have not had to resort to the "cone head", lol...so no photo documentation for the time!

All the redness is gone and he is left with a bald patch on his shoulder blades. I guess the Selsun Blue worked!

At least I have been able to put that shampoo to use on my cat rather than myself! Though I found that it worked for my scalp "issues", I found that it made my hair smell weird. Being an indoor cat, my Spaz doesn't have to worry about offending other kitty's noses!!

Take care,
Angela

My bunny had a small round bald spot too the other day - and did this time last year too but nothing like it since then, until now. Very strange. He had a small scratch in the centre each time - last year I used lavender oil (neat) on it safe in the knowledge that any ingested will further help his body fight germs. Last year's one turned into a crust of skin which later dropped off and the hair grew back quickly, this one just looks like a healing scratch now and isn't so obviously bald. It was probably him scratching his own side that caused it rather than one of our cats. I might give his back claws a little clip if he lets me.

I hope your kitty heals fast, they certainly don't like being messed with - all the smelly preps we subject their delicate noses to!! :flower: