losing hair, scratching and chewing paws!

We have been so fortunate and have never had a flea problem as of yet and I don't think we do now either but something is going on. Everybody started scratching their neck areas and above their eyes and they are all chewing on their paws. These two pics are of Stinky and she is losing hair above her right eye. She chews on her paws quite a bit (something she didn't really do before last week) and when I squeeze her paw to make the nails pop out so I can check them, I can see that the skin at the base of the nails looks reddish.
The only thing that has changed in our world is the introduction of Paddington a few months ago into the household (which is probably related somehow) and I recently switched them off bottled water which they've been on for 2 years over to the water from our newly drilled well. We had the water tested and our water guy said there was a medium level of vegetative coliform, but that we could drink it safely. Since we were going through so much bottled water with the two of us and all the cats and two big dogs it was such a relief to be able to switch over. They don't love it but they do drink it. They certainly drank more of the bottled water.
Does anyone have any ideas about what this could be? I haven't found any evidence of fleas on any of them but they are scratching and chewing. Maybe mites? Fungal issue? I think I might pick up some Revolution for each of them and see if it helps.
http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/d...stinkyseye.jpg
http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/d...959_edited.jpg

Might be cheaper to use a Brita pitcher and filter for them? You can get the pitchers cheap at a second-hand store, and there are generic cartridges.

Or boil the water?

I think it is the water, and not Paddington, because a reaction to Paddington would have happened before this.

A phone call to your vet to just ask wouldn't hurt. God forbid it is ringworm.

I'm sorry to hear this and I hope you'll be able to find out what's causing this.:( The picture that you posted of losing the fur above the eye reminds me of Storm. If he eats cat food that has a lot of fish in it then he'll loose the fur on his ears and above his eyes. He starts scratching like crazy so I really have to watch what I feed him. He's currently on a grain free diet and it does have some fish in it but he also eats a turkey based wet food. So far he's doing well.

Have you changed their diet in any way? Food allergies would be my first guess.

It sounds more like an allergy, to me. It may be seasonal, or it may be related to the water. Did you change food? Or introduce a new treat they didn't usually have?

If not, I would consider the water as the culprit first thing.

If you do use the Revolution, keep in mind it takes 3 consecutive months of regular dosing of all the pets to be sure you get rid of any and all fleas. One monthly dose will help for about a week or so but the eggs won't be affected.

best wishes!
Sandie

[QUOTE=Catty1]Might be cheaper to use a Brita pitcher and filter for them? [
QUOTE]

That was going to be my suggestion. It's what I put in my fur posse's fountain and they all love it. As for the itching, etc., do you feel little bumps on their skin? I know you think you've ruled out fleas but my Creamsicle has a skin allergy and she did the same thing and lost a lot of hair, above her eyebrows, too. We still don't know what she's allergic to but she gets a depo shot when necessary and is on prednisolone. Maybe your crew has an allergic reaction to the water or some new treats?

Thanks for the posts everybody. I did switch everyone back to the bottled water about 4 days ago and will keep them on it. We will be selling our house in the spring and we'll set up a water filter system at our new home, wherever that may be.
The thought about the food allergy is interesting because I did mix a new food in with their regular dry food 2 weeks ago. The standard mix that they used to get was Medi-Cal Preventive dry mixed half and half with Wellness Healthy Wise. The pet store was out of the Healthy Wise so I decided to try another Wellness and got the Salmon kibbles instead. But for the past 3 or 4 days though it has just been Preventive because I ran out of the other. I guess I didn't think of it because it never occurred to me that all of them would have the same allergy. But I guess it's possible. I suppose the easiest thing will be to see how they do on their regular Preventive/Wellness HealthyWise mix and see if it clears up. If not, it has to be something other than the food and water.
Maybe something in their litter has changed. We use the same kind as we have for years but maybe the content has somehow changed. We use a scoopable kind called Kitty Scoop made by Purina.
I'm still wondering about a Paddy connection because it would tie in with his overgrooming in that one area, maybe it is itchy and not behavioral? Also, he does have a few funny bumps on him in different sizes. There are never any increasing bumps, just the ones in the exact same spots. One of them is the size of a dime while others are quite a bit smaller. I asked the vet to look into his records from his old family and the file shows that they brought him to the clinic once years ago for alopecia on his inner thighs and the vet made notes about 'pustuals' (spelling?) on his skin. The family didn't opt for any kind of treatment. The couple of little bumps on his skin don't seem to bother him and after what happened with Charlie and having his lump removed and losing him I'm extremely wary of messing with it.
I think I'll google a few words like 'bumps, pustuals, chewing paws, losing hair, reddish skin" and see what I come up with.
Can you see rings on cat's skin with ringworm?

Ringworm is a skin fungus (a cousin to athelete's foot) and is so named because it frequently makes a circular ring patch of missing hair. A cat (or human) gets ringworm similar to athelete's foot in humid moist conditions. We frequently see more ringworm cases at work during very rainy or humid weather. It can be contagious. The only way to know for sure it's ringworm is to have your vet look at it with an ultraviolet light called a Wood's light and do a skin scraping.

If the new cat had a bald area and the other cats didn't have a problem before this then I would be suspect of something contagious.

Also food allergies can take 2-3 months for the allergic reaction to go away even after the food has been eliminated. Your vet should be able to give them something for the itching relief in the meantime.

Revolution isn't going to help with ringworm or food allergies.

Your money might best be spent with a vet visit to determine exactly what is going on and the best method of treating it rather than spending money treating the wrong thing and the situation gets worse requireing more expensive treatements later on because of waiting.

Thanks for the response Catlady. I probably should take one of them to the vet as you mentioned. Stinky, who has it the worst isn't my first choice to bring in though because she has the herpes virus and anytime she is put in a stressful situation the virus breaks out in full scale and she becomes quite ill. The last time I took her to the vet to have her anal glands emptied she was sick for weeks afterward from the virus. There is a vet that comes to the area I live in and makes house calls throughout the day to the community. I might find out her next date for visiting and line something up. I'll have to find out if she is able to do skin scraping etc.. while being mobile. Also, this way, she could have a quick look at all the cats and compare their symptoms.
In the meantime, I will keep them on bottled water and their usual food that they are used to eating.
I had been thinking the issue might have something to do with mites which is why I had considered using Revolution. But that could be something the mobile vet could look for as well.
I did think of one other thing earlier today that might be the cause. We have been painting inside our house. One room at a time and each time we painted one of the cats rooms, we would move them out of it and keep them out for 2 days and then put them back in after we had left all the windows open and really aired it out and when it smelled normal to us. But, maybe they are much more sensitive to it than we are and what we don't smell in the air, may be an irritant to them. I googled 'chewing paws' and found some information about irritating inhalents that can cause such a reaction. Thankfully, we are completely finished with all the painting. Just finished yesterday.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Catlady711

Also food allergies can take 2-3 months for the allergic reaction to go away even after the food has been eliminated.

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Whoa! I didn't know that. So maybe Smudge just can't eat tuna (I was worried it had hypersensitized him to all fish, and a Smudge without fish is a sad kitty!) That's REALLY useful information. Thank you!

Love, Columbine

Quote:

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Originally Posted by columbine

Whoa! I didn't know that. So maybe Smudge just can't eat tuna (I was worried it had hypersensitized him to all fish, and a Smudge without fish is a sad kitty!) That's REALLY useful information. Thank you!

Love, Columbine

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You're welcome. We went through this with Dusty when she started licking all the fur off her belly. To eliminate possibility of food allergy we had to get a prescription diet and that's all she could have for 3 months. :( Had to go so far as to get a baby gate for the kitchen so she couldn't get the other cats' food since she couldn't jump high enough to clear the gate. Turns out in her case it was an obsessive compulsive thing and she got to go back to her regular food and treats although she never did have hair on her belly again. :(

Bad thing is sometimes people find out the cause of the food allergy then after a while forget. There was a dog at our hospital quite a while back that had an allergy to dyes in foods. Things went well with the new dye free diet and dog's skin looked great until that Christmas when the neighbors gave them some red/green doggie bones. They gave him two bones and the allergy came back full force and it was like 9 weeks before the dog returned to normal even though they immediately stopped the treats after the itching started again.

I agree with Cat Lady when she mentioned Ring Worm. This is a very contagious fungus and my youngest adoptee had it above his eyes and an inverted V on his forehead. He also had a spot on the back of his neck. Because we have a 19 year old, we had to really be careful and he was segregated for about 2 months. All he knew was a little room but in the end he has bonded with us quite well and is very loving. Ring Worm can take while to heal but I didn't go for the dipping. Too chemical for me. I just used an ointment twice a day and because he was getting good food and gaining weight his immune system got stronger. I think having a vet take a skin scraping is your best bet, before you try using any chemicals thinking it is fleas. Don't buy any ring worm medicine unless it is diagnosed as that is not a good thing to do.
Good luck with your babies. They are dependent yet independent. What would we do without them. :)

Thanks Nak4cats. I'm still going to give this a little while longer before I head to the vet. Let some time pass with no paint fumes in the house, no weird food and no well water and see if things get better. They are not getting worse at this point (bald spots)which is encouraging but they are still scratching though not as much. I won't treat anybody with any chemicals until we go to a vet and maybe not even then if there are holistic approaches available.
What kind of ointment did you use on your cat's ringworm?
p.s. I thought of one more thing that might have added to or caused this. I bought some of those 'cat tuna' cans at the pet store a few weeks ago. Usually I only give them a can of this once a month or something but they were on sale and I bought 4 cans and fed them over a weeks period. They get wet food as a treat each night, just a tablespoon each of friskies or fancy feast. When the tainted food thing happened I was so scared and took them off it and only fed them expensive holistic canned food once a week but I just can't afford right now and slowly switched back to the cheaper stuff. Their crunchies, their main diet is of good quality though. Anyway, maybe it was a connection to 'fish overload' from the cat tuna?!?