20.12 Errol OTJ 28 days today 3.2 / 58

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Michele&Errol

Michele&Errol

Member Since 2013
Hi LL people :smile:

Errol still doing very well indeed. Just one question though. Once when we had a feral cat jumping onto the window sill at night, Errol started overgrooming, and I'd find chunks of hair on the floor here and there. Well, no feral cats at night now, but in the last 9 or so days I've seen he is shedding quite a bit and am finding chunks of hair on the floor again. He has overgroomed 2 patches toward the base of his tail. It's not severe but it's enough to warrant further investigation. He is also not dropping much weight, so wondered how long it takes until one can see a noticeable difference in weight? Other than that, everything is great.

Take care everyone
x
 
I'm glad Errol is doing well overall. Sorry about the chunks of hair. Do you weigh Errol at home? I bought a baby/toddler scale from Amazon and weigh Furball once a week so I can see if there is any weight change.
 
Hello Carla, I'll have to take him to the vet to weigh once a month as I don't have a baby scale. I use my bathroom scale to weigh him, which is not terribly accurate and it shows his weight is the same on that. According to it he has lost about 550grams and now weighs about 6kgs which is about 13Lbs.

I was wondering if the hairloss / pulling out of hair in chunks is anything other than stress-related? I cannot find anything which would be stressing him out and he seems happy. It's terribly hot here - we've had one of the hottest summers ever - but surely that wouldn't cause him to pull it out in chunks..?
 
It could be allergy related or fleas. That's the only other things I can think of right now. I don't know if the heat could cause a problem.

Today is a Holiday in the U.S. It might be a while before anyone else logs-in.
 
Thanks Carla. Cats never had fleas fortunately - helps being indoor kitties!, and I bathed him the other day with a non-soap shampoo. Hopefully someone will have some more ideas.
 
Have you thought about changing food? If it's an allergy, many cats are allergic to beef and fish. The other possibility is that maybe the heat is causing some form of dermatitis. You could check with your vet. When Gabby was licking her belly bare, this is what my vet recommended:

There are several options—there is a product called Allerderm which is applied once weekly to the skin which can be quite helpful for itchy or dry skin. Additional fish oil omega-3 fatty acids, 200-250 mg daily, are often helpful, but may take up to 2 weeks to really have an effect. Antihistamines are often helpful—we seem to have the best success with Zyrtec, which is over-the-counter, or hydroxyzine which is a prescription medication.

We have Allerderm here, but you may be able to order it online. Zyrtec dosage is ½ of a 10 mg tablet by mouth (in food…) twice daily, or about every 12 hours, try for 7 days. Watch for drowsiness or restlessness, although side effects from Zyrtec are not likely or are very mild. Use plain Zyrtec, or cetirizine, only—no combo meds. The fish oil product we use is AllerG3, or you can use human products.
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I don't know what's available in South Africa. If you opt for fish oil, many people here use Nordic Naturals since they have it bottled for cats and small dogs. The amount of fish oil in human supplements really varies.
 
Hi guys .. Nice solid green there errol! I don't have any advice on the hair pulling but sure hope you can find something to help him ..
 
i would think the heat or an allergy would be the first things to explore.

great to see Errol holding his OTJ status! go Errol, go! :mrgreen:
 
Thanks :smile: Hopefully it's just the heat, never seen them shed as much as they have this summer. Can cats be allergic to the raw food diet? He gets extremely little canned food.
 
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