Cat question

[Droopy]

We have a female cat named Casper. She has a pretty, solid white coat of hair. She was a stray that we adopted about 12 years ago. We think that she's about 16 years old according to what the vet guessed her age to be when we got her. She is still in good shape, though, despite her age. She apparently still has sharp senses and she can still jump up and down from your lap when you are sitting in a chair.

Lately, Casper has been pulling out her hair in large clumps. She will just turn her head around, grab a mouthful, and pull it out. We've ruled out pests because we live in Ohio and it has been cold here for the last three months. What do you think the problem might be?

[Robeson]

1. I'm not sure I've heard of that before, but I would suggest you post this in....

...the Pets Group, if you haven't already. I'm sure you would get some good responses there.

[Dean Martin]

2. does she scratch alot?

Because ours was doing that and scratching alot and he had fleas. She can have fleas even if it's cold out, they can survive extreme cold. Plus, we weren't finding fleas on him. Only after we had pest control come to the house and started using flea drops on his neck did I see some fleas crawl out of his fur as they were dying.

Are you feeling scrabs all over him when you pet him?

[Droopy]

5. No scratching and no scabs

In fact she had a flea collar on until just a couple of days ago. We took it off thinking that might be the cause to the problem, but no dice.

[ruiner4u]

3. well...could be skin parasites...

you might want to run her to the vet if you see dry/red/flakey skin... the irritation from the buggers could cause her to do that...


even though its been cold, they can still survive

[DainBramaged]

4. I had a cat do that too for about three months last year

Unfortunately, he passed away from cancer om October 13th. He had tumors under his skin (internally). He was 13 years old and one of my favorites. he even peed in the toilet 9 out of 10 times. His name was Binx. He is the grey one in the picture.

[Droopy]

6. Looks like a visit to the vet is in order

R.I.P Binx.

[hickman]

7. My son rescued a little old lady cat a few years ago.

She'd do that every once in awhile. The vet told me to try a humidifier. It worked.:shrug:

[pokerfan]

8. Time to see the vet

http://www.vetinfo.com/cathair.html#Cat%20pulling%20out%20fur

There are several reasons that cats pull out their fur. Sometimes it is a
behavioral thing but lots of times it is due to problems such as fleas,
mange, ringworm (a fungal infection), allergies, immune mediated disease
and bacterial infections.

Even if you never see fleas, you can not assume that they are not present
on a cat that has skin disease. Cats are extremely good at removing fleas
from their body and cats that are allergic to fleas are usually even better
at than other cats. So it is almost always best to use a product like
fipronil (Frontline Topspot Rx) or imidoclopramide (Advantage Rx) that will
kill fleas. These products also kill some of the types of mange mites that
affect cats, so they help if that is a problem, too.

If using a flea control product does not solve the skin problem, then it is
a good idea to have your vet examine your cat and determine if one of the
other skin diseases is present. This can take several visits since the
conditions look very much alike and it is easy to believe that one problem
is present and decide to treat for it rather than do a lot of testing. If
the treatment doesn' work, then testing becomes much more important.

Behavioral hair pulling is usually a diagnosis that is made after other
causes have been ruled out and the problem still persists. There are
medications that help many cats with this type of problem and sometimes
relatively easy to implement changes in the cat's lifestyle can help. I
really think that behavioral problems should be considered but I also
really think it is important to eliminate most other causes before relying
on this diagnosis.

I honestly think it would be best to get Frontline or Advantage, if you are
not already using one of these products. If they do not produce a lot of
improvement in two to three weeks, then it would be best to have your vet
examine Samantha and start the process of diagnosing her problem.

In the meantime, some cats respond favorably to antihistamines.
Chlorpheniramine (Chlortrimeton TM) 4mg, 1/2 tablet twice a day is an OK
dose for most adult cats but it would be best to ask your vet to help you
determine the dosage specifically for Samantha if you want to try
antihistamines.

Hope this helps.

Mike Richards, DVM
8/22/99

[LaurenG]

9. Take her in for blood work

My mom's cat did that and it was due to hyperthroidism, It could be something else I'm sure, but take her in. He' had it for years and is about to be 20 years old.

[Droopy]

10. I'm going to take her to the vet

Judging by the responses here I guess it could be just about anything. I appreciate all of the suggestions everyone.

[Dean Martin]

11. Yes, get her to the vet asap

Please, always get them to the vet asap when this kind of stuff starts. Don't put it off if you can afford it.