Our question this week was:

My cat has a patch of hair missing, right under his tail area. He is a HOUSE CAT, he is never outside without supervision.

Carol Berry


Answer

Hi – thanks for your email. You emailed about your cat missing a patch of hair only in one spot under his tail. I can't quite picture where you mean but I'm guessing on the underside of the tail.

Reasons for hair loss can range from local infections, trauma, skin irritation, allergies, etc. Does the skin under the area look normal? Is there evidence of hair loss anywhere else? Is he scratching or licking at it? If the answer is no, the skin is normal and only in one area – I wonder if there was some trauma that scraped or injured it. Cats can get their tails caught and suffer skin trauma while indoors only.

An article that might be helpful to you is on our Petplace.com is "Alopecia in Cats".


Best of luck!



Dr. Jon



P.S. I love learning from my clients. Do you have any tips about this problem or any other general pet tips? I'd love to read it and maybe will even include it in future newsletters. Send me your pet tips!


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