My cat has a big chunk of fur missing, why?

[Kirsty.SUFC 10]

Hi everyone,

 

I have a British Shorthair female cat, I think she's around 6 years old now. She doesn't wear a collar because she always manages to get them off or get stuck. She stays outside, hates to be inside, when she came to the back door earlier, I noticed a really big chunk of fur missing from her back but when I looked closer, there was no blood, bite marks, puncture wounds or anything. My mum said she may have got caught on something, but I was unsure.

 

Anybody heard of this before/smiliar experience or any advice? It doesn't look sore or anything so I am confused.

[medusa 16]

Whereabouts on her back is the bald patch? Is it just that patch with a sharp border around it, or is there any other thinning of the fur around it?

[Kirsty.SUFC 10]

I managed to get a picture of it while she was sat on my knee, really strange the shape.

 

http://s1100.photobucket.com/albums/g401/kirstycleary1/?action=view&current=IMG00206-20110614-1529.jpg

[purple.sarah 10]

Could be ringworm? That can cause bald patches like this or this (that last one is on a dog but it looks a lot like your cat's bald spot.)

Or another cat could have torn a clump of her hair out in a fight, I've seen cats tear hair off each other without causing other injuries.

[Kirsty.SUFC 10]

We've been sat outside earlier & she seems very 'put out', she wants to sit with you & be nursed. She hasn't left the back garden & she usually ventures into the woods as the woods are over our fence. See what she's like tomorrow, if it carries on or gets worse, we'll make an appointment with the vet just to make sure she's ok.

[medusa 16]

If the skin underneath the fur is as calm, cool and uninflamed as it looks, then I don't think it's ringworm. If you feel the skin under a ringworm bald spot the skin has a ridge that you can feel around the ring and the skin is textured.

 

It also doesn't look like a flea allergy as that causes irritation and inflammation.

 

If she's a bit out of sorts and clingy it could mean that she's had a scrap with another cat, or even a dog, which has left her with a bit of her back waxed. If that's the case then the next thing you need to do is to give her a full check over to make sure that she's got no other injuries, particularly around the base of her tail, along the rest of the fur along her back, her paws and around her ears, cheeks and top of her head. Bite wounds are usually extremely small as they are puncture wounds which disappear under fur. The problem is that before the wounds closed up they had bacteria pushed into the flesh by the other cat or dog's teeth, which cause the most horrific abscesses needing vet treatment, antibiotics and loads of love to sort out.

 

Please check her over carefully, but if you find no evidence of other wounds and she's not running a fever then I'd just chalk this one up to 'something strange got her' and give her lots of cuddles.

[denlin 12]

Have you used a flea treatment on your cat recently because mine had a reaction when I used Bob Martins instead of Frontline once and caused a bald patch by licking. Won't make that mistake again. she's fine now:D