Cats Hair Feels like Straw....Any Suggestions

Our cat Fiona has been scratching at herself and she's been having thinning of the hair around her head and neck and she lost hair on her ears. At first it seemed that it was just on her ears that she lost hair and then we noticed she lost hair around her neck and head b/c she's long hair cat and she didn't look right.

I've been keeping track of her and noticed that her hair feels really dry and straw like. I feed her Purina One Chicken and Brown Rice and before that she was on kitten chow a few months back or so because we had some kittens in the house and it was just easier to feed them all one brand of cat food and everyone did find with that. I used to feed her Purina One Chicken and Brown rice so this isn't anything new that she hasn't had.

Back in April I started to use Cats Pride Fragrance Free cat litter which seems to help our cats with asthma. I have to have a low magnesium food for our cats because Osiris tends to get bladder infections so I have to watch the food I'm feeding them. I didn't know if anyone else here has had a problem like this or not.

I have a feeling a vet trip is needed.

I've attached a photo where you can see her ears a bald which is just weird because she doesn't scratch at them and I've checked them for ear mites and they are super clean. Everyone was given flea medicine too about 2 weeks ago just as a precaution since we had 2 kittens in the house for about 2 hrs that had fleas.

She does have some marks on her but I can't tell if that's from her scratching at her neck or not. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks! Melissa

(She's the long hair tortie)

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Without a vet visit all I can think of is adding a bit of salmon oil to her food. She might need it where the others don't.

All my cats get it in their morning food and they have beautiful coats...except my fluffy boy needs grooming as well!

Maybe talk to the tech in your vet's office and see what they think.

She sure is beautiful!

I had a scat name Marina Mar who suffered from baldness on the ears and scratching. after many different kinds of tests my vet took a piece of her ear and had it biopsied. It turns out she had pemphigus aerolus. it's a disease that attacks the body's cells that makes new skin. it was so far advanced it was in her nail beds and it was very painful. that something that you might want to mention to the vet.

I wonder if there is a vitamin supplement for your Cat.
Is it dry in your house?:)

It is definitely something worthy of a vet trip - a friend's cat had fur like that, and it turned out to me an endocrine imbalance.

My first thought is that it could be food allergies. When I first adopted my RB Storm, he also lost the fur on his ears. The vet at first thought that he might have ringworm but the test was negative. I was feeding him canned & dry food that had a lot of fish in it. It turned out that he was allergic to fish. Once I stopped feeding him food that contained a lot of fish in it, his fur grew back. She could possibly even be allergic to chicken even if she wasn't before. Hopefully you'll be able to find out what's causing this. Good luck.:)

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Originally Posted by Karen

It is definitely something worthy of a vet trip - a friend's cat had fur like that, and it turned out to me an endocrine imbalance.

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i had that issue in myself and it was hypothyroidism. It can also be from hyperthyroidism.

Sam doesn't groom himself since he is just a tad too large and he doesn't let the others groom him, although he will groom them. WEIRD. Anyway, his hair is coarse and he has dandruff, but it's not falling out.

Emily has facial alopecia above the eyes, very bad. She's 14.

I know we are all on shoestring budgets these days, but you might want to check the food. Grains are bad. Mine a grain free, not as a choice, but Spunky, and now Jane and Emily, are sensitive to grains. Spunky just throws up.

Good luck.

Hyperthyroidism was the first thing that popped to mind; however, that's one of many other symptoms. It could very well be seasonal allergies, or it could also be dry skin with the cold, dry weather moving in (unless that isn't the case in your neck of the woods!). I wouldn't think 'food allergies' since she's been on this food before with no incident. But... since you temporarily had her on a different food, it COULD POSSIBLY be a reaction to that food you had her on.

If it were my pet, I would bring her in for a vet checkup, because as you see here, it can range from "no biggie" to "biggie".