Umm where did the hair go?

[melon_mayhem]

So i was petting my cat georgina today (she's 8 years old) and she lifted up her neck and under her coller she was completely bald!! The coller was not tight at all if anything it was a little too loose. All the hair on the underside of her neck is gone and there seems to be scabs on her neck but she also has them all over her belly. We know she has fleas and we are treating them slowly but surely but anywho heres some pics, maybe someone will know whats going on!
This is George:

Here's some pics of her neck:

(these pictures may look kinda similar but they're all pictures of the underside of her neck from one side to the other)

 

[ryelle]

what kind of collar does she wear?

 

[Ewa]

hmmm ... looks like the collar did it ... but i am not sue , please keep me posted though , that is so strange

 

[jorats]

Yep, the collar can do it. It can also be a symptom of other illnesses so keep an eye on her.

 

[melon_mayhem]

Its just a regular cat collar from walmart we kept it really loose i think it was on the second to last hole
heres a few pics

On the two middle pics there is also a bit of blood on the collar from the scratching. But i've taken it off and i've called the vet, so she has an appointment at 5 today and i'll bring the collar with me so that he can take a look at everything. George has always had sensitive skin (she's allergic to pine tree's as well :roll

I have notice that now that the collar is off when she scratches her neck a bunch of hair flys off!!

 

[jorats]

This happened to my dog Jax but he also had other issues. But the collar made him lose all his fur there.

 

[ryelle]

Ah, i was thinking the collar might have had some sort of plastic or metal buckles on or something that could have caused irritation.

Let us know what the vet says. I hope everything goes well

 

[melon_mayhem]

Ya i hope everything goes well too.

I know when george was younger she would climb up the christmas tree (thats how we found out she had that allergy) and a month or so later she was losing a bunch of hair. So we took her to the vet and she ended up needing a really expensive steriod so i really hope this situation isnt the same!

 

[Moon]

Lots of things can cause hair loss in cats. Food or environmental allergies, mites, a bacterial or fungal infection, auto immune diseases, etc.

My brother in law's cat had a large patch of skin on her neck that was loosing hair like crazy, in big clumps. She was taken to the vet and he said she had a mild autoimmune issue. It cleared up fine.

You need to worry if there's sores, though.

If she has fleas I'm inclined that she's been very irritated by the fleas, and scratching at her neck would cause her collar to twist around and loosen the hair.

Oh, I just realized that you're off to the vet with her... well that's good. LOL

 

[melon_mayhem]

I really hope that its something that will clear up, i dont like her being itchy all the time it makes me feel bad for her

 

[melon_mayhem]

Okay so the vet said that he was really concerned by the amount of hair loss in such a short time so he agrees that i should leave the collar off.

He gave her an allergy shot i think then he gave me this ointment called Animax to put on her neck twice a day. He said that this should clear it up but if it doesnt i definetly need to come back in!

He also said she was obese because she is 13 pounds :crazy2: !! He suggested that she lose 6 pounds...boy she's not going to be happy about that, i'll have to keep the dog away from her incase she gets hungry :wantsome:

 

[xxchelle]

13 pounds isn't thaaat bad. My fatty cat Jackson is 13 pounds, but he's just a big cat. He doesn't look chubby though, he's got really wide shoulders.

From the pictures, it looks like the collar. My sister's dog had something similar, and it ended up being just the collar. I'll keep my fingers crossed that it's nothing more serious!

 

[Moon]

13 pounds could be bad on a very small cat! I have a tiny girl who is 6 pounds soaking wet, and she's not even really slender. She's just smaaaaall.

 

[xxchelle]

I guess Jackson is just a big cat! Haha. Funny, he's my biggest cat, and his sister is my smallest (at around 6.5 pounds).

 

[emerson]

I was going to say it looks like it could be an allergy/irritation to the collar. Some kitties are more sensitive to allergies and skin stuff, justl ike humans. I'm glad you took her to the vet. She is SO adorable, she looks so soft and sweet.

 

[melon_mayhem]

Well she looks pretty fat but we have another cat who weighs 14 and she has a very dainty bone set up so i think that she could do to lose some weight!

And thanks emerson she's the sweetest lap cat ever, fattyness and all!!

 

[whoknew]

the exact same thing happened to my boyfrien'ds cat.
he's been wearinga collar all his life, and now he doesnt (he's about 20 now) and the constant rubbing on his neck of the collar (even though it wasnt tight) just caused the hair to stop growing.
vet said it was just the friction... same thing would happen if we wore a headband in our hair all day every day for our whole lives. the hair would just stop growing.

 

[melon_mayhem]

His cat is 20 :wow5:
Thats insane!

 

[the-boys]

I had that with my cat and it was the collar, but as she got old she was a housecat only, so we took it off. It grew back a little but not by much.

Edit - My cat was 21 when she died - survived numerous run ins with cars, diabeties and kidney stone and bladder infections ! Talk about 9 lives !!!!

 

[melon_mayhem]

Oh wow no kidding!