Page 52 - Complete Cat Care: How To Keep Your Cat Healthy and Happy

Coat and skin disorders

Cats by nature keep their coat and skin healthy by grooming themselves.
However, skin disorders can still affect them. Such problems are usually
easy to spot, and will need prompt attention from a vet.

Allergy The most common cause of allergic
Allergic skin conditions can occur skin disease and miliary dermatitis
Signs of a problem when your cat’s immune system, is a hypersensitivity to fleas. Your
which protects the body from vet will check for infestation by
■ Dull, greasy coat infection, overreacts to a certain running a fine-toothed comb
■ Scaly, scabby, or crusty bits substance, such as a type of food, through your cat’s coat and may
on skin and in coat pollen, or parasite (see pp.52–3). take skin scrapings for microscopic
■ Skin rash or spots Signs could include many of those examination. If your vet suspects
■ Hair loss listed in the box (left). In a reaction that your cat’s allergy is caused
■ Color change known as miliary dermatitis, the by certain foods, he or she may
■ Itchiness with excessive licking skin breaks out in little bumps, advise a hypoallergenic diet for
50 or scratching
■ Unpleasant smell from coat scabs, and crusts, usually along the a few weeks, and then gradually
■ “Hot cat” (cat whose skin feels back and at the base of the tail. reintroduce the original diet to try
to identify triggers. Treatment of
This condition often progresses to
burning hot)
Your cat’s health that need to be treated with an as corticosteroid or cyclosporine, or
allergies may include drugs such
weeping areas of infected skin
■ Bumps or lumps
a course of desensitizing vaccine.
extended course of antibiotics.
Antihistamines or omega-3 fatty
acids may also be helpful.
Ringworm
This fungal infection is highly
contagious and can be transmitted
to or from humans as well as
between animals. In cats it may
cause gray, scaly, crusty areas on
the skin and patches of fur loss,
commonly on the head, ears, back,
or paws. However, there may be no
signs at all, and ringworm may not
be diagnosed until a person in
contact with the cat develops an
itchy skin lesion (the infection
rarely causes itching in cats).
To make a diagnosis, the vet will
examine the cat’s hair using an
ultraviolet lamp (Wood’s lamp).
Areas of hair infected by ringworm
sometimes, but not always, glow
◁ Excessive scratching
Scratching may further aggravate itchy
skin, and the cat’s claws can infect the
area with bacteria.

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