Question:
My Cat is Doing the strangest thing... He is losing the hair around his tummy back legs and now .. on his front left paw... its just coming off in strips.. like someone has shaved him.

A little back ground info on my lil boy.. A few months ago He was having diarrhea with the food I have been feeding him for 7yrs.. So the vet told me to try Iams food..Which worked out ok.. NO more diarrhea.. no more bleeding.

BUT suddenly everyone starts telling me Iams is REALLY bad for causing Urinary stones in Male cats.. so I try to change foods... AGAIN.. The diarrhea started again. and the bleeding..

That was last week.. then I noticed the fur loss.. it started with the other food.. I noticed he was thinning on his belly.. but now it seemed MORE.. I mean I REALLY started to worry .. The bleeding made me go back to the iams last week.. the bleeding has stopped. but i cant tell if the hair loss is worse.. it looks the same.. I am not sure...

My cat doesn't act upset.. or sick.. hes still cuddling.. eating and social. Can the hair loss be from the food that made him have diarrhea???? maybe a lack of nutrition??? AN ALLERGY??? hes 100% an indoor cat SO he cant have fleas.. Can fleas cause hair loss??. does anyone have a clue?

I am flat broke.. But I would take him to the vet if I thought there was something really wrong.. ... but i dont want to panic and sell my kidney if theres something I can do first.. but I dont want him to be at risk either. Can Anyone Help???

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here are a few pics of his hair loss... they arent great pics... bear with me.. I am definatly not ansel adams..

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front paw too...

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He's very handsome.

When you say the hair is just falling off do you mean you pet him and it comes of in a strip or just appears to be falling off?

It could be the food as other's have said Iams is really not a good food anymore. If he will eat canned food that can sometimes help with preventing crystals since it has a high water content it helps to flush the bladder by making him urinate more also low ash content. If you try another food switch gradually. Say if you feed 1 cup a day(just an example) give 1/4 new mixed with 3/4 old for a few days and then add a little more of new less of old for a few days etc... until it's all the new food. If offering canned start with small amouts for him to get use to since mixing dry and canned is a little harder to do. Or even just encorperate some canned into his regular feeding schedule once you find the right food.

I have seen other cat's with his hair loss symptoms. Has there been any changes in the home, anything that would be new to him even a change in schedule. Some cat's deal with stress and anxiety by over grooming and the result is typical to the hairloss you see, usually starts with the belly. My male did it for awhile after we moved but once he settled he stopped I also distracted him every time I saw him do it. If it was fleas they generaly attack their back end at the base of the tail on their back and you would see sratch marks and scabs.

I am not real good with the foods that are available in the stores as both my cat's are on prescription diets, but I know there are a lot of people on here that are well educted about food and in time will respond.

Sometimes cat's that are stressed, or if their stool is really hard will have some blood in their stool. I assume your vet did a stool sample and whatever else to determine it wasn't something more. If the change in food was sudden that can sometimes be enough to stress a cat out(for the hairloss).

Just my thoughts from what I have experienced. Best wishes and keep us posted, again he is very handsome and seems like quite the cuddle bug.

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Looking at the photos, the first thing that comes to mind is this: Is your cat's belly always that distended?

Hair loss is not always allergy related. Perhaps something more serious is occuring. I'm afraid you'll need to bite the bullet, scrape a few dollars together and go to the vet if at all possible. Just my worth.

Answer:
Donna S.,

Your little boy is gorgeous! Two months ago I went through EXACTLY, detail for detail, the ordeal you're going through. We have 4 cats of varying shapes & sizes, so I've gotten a tremendous amount of first hand experience. We were also lucky to have found a brilliant vet who has helped us through every ordeal we've encountered so far with simple, practical advice. I hope this helps.

You're actually dealing with two seperate, rather common & easy to remedy problems. The first problem is diet. Our cats took turns having bleeding & diahrea difflicuties. Upon the standard advice we continued switching their dry food until we discovered the absolute perfect dry food for this problem. 'Meow Mix Indoor Formula' was a complete & total success for all 4 of our cats. Worried that this formula was not as nutritious as some other brands, the vet encouraged us to ignore the hype & assured us that the Meow Mix brand was just as healthy for our cats as the other higher priced, 'scientifically tested' brands we'd tried. The diarhea & bleeding stopped immediately & completely on the 'Meow Mix Indoor Formula', never to return in the last 2 years we've been feeding it to them. They have access to a constant supply of their dry food in a 'self-feeding' container & are fed a small amount of wet food mixed with the 'Indoor Formula' dry once in the morning. They have remained incredibly healthy & full of energy on this diet. With our vets stamp of diet approval, I've continued to recommend the 'Indoor Formula' to family & friends who are experiencing the same bleeding/diarehea problems with their cats, with the same instant & positive results. Please remember that only the 'INDOOR FORMULA' of all the Meow Mix flavors eliminated the bleeding/diahrea problems in our cats. I hope you have the same positive results we did.

The second problem of hair loss is a result of the never-ending nuisance of fleas. I panicked when our little female kitty suddenly started having the same hair loss issues you described. I was convinced she was dying of some horrible cat disease! We didn't consider it could be as simple as fleas because all our cats had been treated with 'Frontline' flea treatment & I didn't really see a flea infestation problem when I examined her fur. She steadly & rather quickly lost fur in patches & then strips on her stomach, left side, front & back legs & rearend. Just as you described, it looked like someone had shaved her!

We took her to our wonderful vet, after worrying that we had waited too long & was told that it was indeed nothing more than fleas. I told the vet that we never saw her scratching or licking & asked why she was the only one of our cats suffering this indignity. He said that cats scratch & lick frantically 'in private' when no one is watching & she was apparently more sensitive to flea bites than the other cats. He recommended that we switch to using 'Advantage' flea treatment because in his experience 'Frontline' takes longer to work & doesn't seem to be quite as effective on all animals as 'Advantage'. We used 'Advantage' on all our cats & the fur loss stopped within a week. Her fur has been growing back in over the last 2 months & she looks almost good as new! I hope these simple solutions work for you & your beautiful little boy. Keep us updated on his progress.

Pat M.

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"AN ALLERGY??? hes 100% an indoor cat SO he cant have fleas.. Can fleas cause hair loss??"

Yes and Yes. It could be an allergy and fleas can cause hair loss. My Jo Cat is allergic to fleas, one bite can take the hair off both back legs and part of her tummy, or her neck and both front legs, and the bite is not always in the naked patch. It is possible that you carried a flea in and it got her. She usually requires an inexpensive steroid shot, but has been known to clear up on her own. If it is not bothering her, I usually wait a few days before going to the vet.

Have you changed your clothing detergent, or cleaned the carpets recently?

Do you bath him? If so, give that a try, with his regular shampoo, you might find the bite, or if it is a contact allergy, wash off the problem. If you don't usually bath him, I would NOT start now, more stress (which could be the cause anyway) and another change to what he is in contact with.

Did the vet tell you what he thought was causing the diarrhea/bleeding?

What are you feeding him now? I don't know a lot about the foods, but others here might have some insight.

Hope he is feeling better soon! (He is handsom by the way, even with a few bald spots)

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Ohh thank you to everyone who has replied.. I will try a flea dip as that seems to be one of the main ideas here...

I am back on the Iams... No more Diarrhea. I guess I should have explained that he was on the "other food" for about a month before the bloody diarrhea and hair loss.. I have been using preformatrin for years.. but then he started with the diarrhea so I switched.. I have tried several foods.. Most leave Tav with Watery Diarrhea stools..that are thin and small.. But When he eats the Iams his stools are thick and Soft no Diarrhea and no Bleeding.. The vet mentioned it might have something to do with Fibre content.. The "other food" was preformatrin Holistic food $$$$ All natural .. with mostly meat and cranberries and flax stuff. which sounds great..

A lot of people mentioned stress as well.. There is a homeless kitty living on my back porch.. and Tav seems very upset and jealous of him.. So maybe that has something to do with it. I have been hugging him and cuddling MORE because he seems so sensitive about me feeding another cat.. also.. maybe the fleas have come from this fellow..although there is No Direct contact between them.

LOL - Distended Belly... ohh the vet is well aware of the BIG belly of my not so lil boy.. hes a whopping 18lbs.. considered obese.. he loves food.. and frequently eats his sisters food.. I have tried weight management foods.. but he just eats more.. I put down a cup of food each a day.. and sometimes it gone very early.

As for the question about how the hair is coming out.. it just seems very course, hard and stringy..with sparse amounts.. Tav has always had a thick SOFT beautiful coat.. this has never happened before.. The hair just disappears..

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Looking at the pics,your kitty looks like a carbon-copy of my Chico,except for the tummy right down to the hairloss.
With my Chico it was not allergies,fleas or anything like that,but simply stress.
I never saw him over-grooming much,but that is what he did.
Cats are generally thin-skinned and a strange cat outside will often cause stress in the indoor cat,a new pet or any changes in his environment.
My vet gave me some cream(Variton) to put on the bald spots and the hair grew back quickly.
I would not bath the cat,especially not a fleabath it would only make him more stressed and it will not make the problem go away.
If you have noticed any fleas and you would certainly see if there was any,then treat the cats with Advantage,no sprays or baths!!
But I doubt very much your indoor cats have fleas.
I am not going to comment on the food-choice,but I have to say Meow Mix,is probably as bad as it gets IMO for nonhealthy ingredients,but each to his/her own.
Now,I am not a vet,your kitty could be suffering from other things,he could be diabetic seeing he is obese,so I think a vet-visit is the best thing for him.
Good Luck!!

Answer:
First off, very nice looking kitty! I miss my black cat

Diet foods are usually pretty crappy. Just feed less of a better quality food. You say you put a cup down each morning. Try putting 3/4s cup down instead. I feed 3 cats Innova Evo and between all three they only get 1.5 cups a day.

Secondly, any vet who suggests that quality food is just "hype" doesn't deserve to be a vet. Meow mix is a nasty nasty food. How can anyone say nutrition isn't important to an animal. Honestly. if you ate bags of chips, chocolate bars, MacDonald's, every day, how can that be considered good for you? Sure you'll live, but its a terrible diet.

Look at these ingredients
Chicken By-Product Meal, ()Corn Gluten Meal (), Ground Yellow Corn(), Brewers Rice(), Powdered Cellulose, Beef Tallow ()Preserved with Mixed Tocopherols (Source of Vitamin E), Turkey-By-Product Meal(), Salmon Meal, Fish Meal() (Source of Ocean Fish Flavor), Brewers Dried Yeast, Soybean Oil, Calcium Carbonate, Animal Digest(Yeah that sounds nutritious) , potassium chloride, Alfalfa, Gelatin, Phosphoric Acid, Tetra Sodium Pyrophosphate, Salt, Choline Chloride, Taurine, l-Lysine, Zinc Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, l-Alanine, Dl-Methionine, Yellow 6, Manganese Sulfate, Niacin, Yellow 5, Vitamin E Supplement, Copper Sulfate, Red 40, Calcium Pantothenate, Blue 2, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin A Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, Rosemary Extract, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Sodium Selenite, Folic Acid, Calcium Iodate, Vitamin D3 Supplement, biotin, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (Source of Vitamin K & cancer!)

There is almost nothing good in that food. How any vet could suggest a food that has that much crap in it boggles my mind. wow

I would suggest going to a pet store and getting several samples of wet food. Try them out until you find one that agrees with him. And don't fret right away at runny stool. It may take a few days to sort things out. I'll suggest Felidae/Innova Evo as my top food choices. No Iams or meow mix.

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Ps.If there was fleas both your cats would have it and if it would be more difficult to notice on a black cat,they would be clearly visible on your white cat

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