When Vets Scratch Their Heads #2: What is that bare patch?


 


Our white cat Murjan (pictured here) had a very thick fur, but one day a bald spot showed up. and then it grew larger. The vet scratched his head and gave us some salve. But the spot grew even larger. Now, we could see it right off, without even having to look for it through his fur, and the fur around the bald spot pulled out easily making the bald spot even bigger. 

We took Murjan to a specialist. The specialist scratched her head and then gave us flea medicine for all the cats.

By then, Murjan was not the only balding cat. Two others among the six started showing the same signs. So, the specialist asked us to bring in one of the other cats, too. She was able to pull a larger patch of hair from that cat to analyze -- and sent both samples to a lab.

It turned out to be scabies. No one had considered that because these were indoor cats. However, a neighbor's cat had come into the house and spent some time with our cats. That cat was an outdoors cat, and the neighbor did not pay adequate attention to the cat's condition. (We would have loved to have adopted the cat and given him a real home, but that would not have been possible.) The specialist thought that perhaps the neighbor's cat had infected our cats. It made sense, but the neighbor was not about to do anything for her cat that cost money. So, we would never know. Sad! (Instead, the cat seemed to disappear right after this. We are not friendly enough with the neighbor to ask questions -- she is prickly -- so we do not know if the cat became indoor, was re-homed, or died. We hope the cat found a new -- and better -- home, but we will, sadly, likely never know.

Apparently, scabies iks quite rare, and many vets never see a case. However, the thought never crossed the vet's or specialist's minds because they knew we did not allow our cats to go outdoors.

The lesson? Think of all the unusual circumstances to share with the vet even if they seem irrelevant -- like the visit from the neighbor's cat.

It was a tussle cleaning up scabies in all 6 cats, but we managed. And we do not allow outside visitors anymore.

Here is a picture should any of you run into it so that you can avoid the weeks of sleuthing it took out vets.




 

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