? Skin/Fur Issue

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Emily Alsip

Emily Alsip

Member Since 2022
Hi Everyone,

It's not letting me post a photo here, but two days ago on our FB page I posted a before/after photo of my Holland's nose. The tiny hairs are gone and skin is discolored. Any ideas? Due to diabetes or unrelated?

I'm Emmy Liz there if you're looking for the photos.

Thank you!
Emily
 
Emily Alsip said:
I tried obvs. Can't figure it out. I only have a phone. Maybe it's only possible from a laptop?
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With my apple phone, I go to the photos and copy the photo and then go back to my post and then I touch the screen in the text box and click paste. That puts the photo in there.
 
I would take Holland to the vet. I recently had a kitty with an eye problem with discharge and it was affecting the skin and tiny hairs down below the eye and toward the nose. The short fur there was starting to come off and it was quite red. She needed both antibiotic eye drops and also oral antibiotics. I'm only mentioning this because I was thinking that I would just treat her at home without going to the vet -- because I have plenty of veterinary ophthalmic eye drops and ointments at home. But since her eye was involved and I don't like to mess around when dealing with eyes, I took her to the vet -- bottom line was she needed oral antibiotics as well to deal with the skin problem that was occurring below the eye. Without the oral antibiotics, she would not have gotten well.

These things are frequently bacterial in origin and antibiotics are warranted. I haven't seen the photo, of course, and probably couldn't say what it was anyway, but by advice is to take your kitty to the vet to have them look at it. It could also be an inflammatory/allergic process, and you would need a vet for that as well for appropriate treatment. I hope your super cute Holland will get better very soon. Hugs to you!
 
Yay. Thank you. Tech is not my strong point. We have an appointment for follow up from her initial diagnosis on Tuesday, so the vet will see it then. The only other time I've seen hairs disappear is w ringworm. And it doesn't have that appearance. I've seen that on lots of shelter babies where I used to volunteer.
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Emily Alsip said:
Yay. Thank you. Tech is not my strong point. We have an appointment for follow up from her initial diagnosis on Tuesday, so the vet will see it then. The only other time I've seen hairs disappear is w ringworm. And it doesn't have that appearance. I've seen that on lots of shelter babies where I used to volunteer. View attachment 64946
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What did the vet say? What was the diagnosis? Was any medication prescribed - even a topical med? Yes, we’ve had ringworm in some foster kittens in past years- mostly on their ears. That does look bad - I mean, that’s a lot of fur lost and a larger area than I had imagined. Best of luck at the follow up appointment.
 
I was assuming that a Wood’s Lamp examination of the area was done and/or small skin scrapings for microscopic examination under the microscope right there at the vet’s office. That’s why I asked what was the vet’s diagnosis and what meds were prescribed, if any? That would be the way to diagnose ringworm @Emily Alsip.
 
Hi All,

Thank you! Our appointment is on Tuesday. I'll follow up here and let you know. I'd be surprised (and horrified!!!) if it were ringworm. No other spots, and none of the other kitties have anything going on.

Emily
 
Thanks, Emily. I thought you had already taken her for this! Sorry. You said a follow up appointment, and I thought you meant that you’d already taken her to the vet about the skin problem — but you meant following up after her initial diabetes diagnosis. Good luck and do let us know. She’s so pretty. I hope the vet will know what it is and will be able to help!
 
Hi All,

Hollnd's vet said it wasn't ringworm and didn't recommend any treatment at this time. Not infected, not inflamed, just hairless! She said keep a close eye on it, and if it's not improving by our next visit she might recommend a skin biopsy.

She's not anemic anymore. Mildly anemic at last visit. We're waiting for blood work to check kidney numbers but she was pleased with changes in BG. Thanks to all of you! Depending on blood work and kidneys, we might do a med change for her IBD.

Thank you!
Emily
 
Emily Alsip said:
Hi All,

Hollnd's vet said it wasn't ringworm and didn't recommend any treatment at this time. Not infected, not inflamed, just hairless! She said keep a close eye on it, and if it's not improving by our next visit she might recommend a skin biopsy.

She's not anemic anymore. Mildly anemic at last visit. We're waiting for blood work to check kidney numbers but she was pleased with changes in BG. Thanks to all of you! Depending on blood work and kidneys, we might do a med change for her IBD.

Thank you!
Emily
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I’m glad she doesn’t have ringworm, but I do wonder what happened. What kind of med change for her IBD? I see that she takes Prednisolone daily. I have a cat with IBD who takes Prednisolone daily and he does fairly well. I was supposed to switch him to every other day dosing, but every time I try it, he has a flare up of symptoms.
 
Also, very good news about the anemia. I have another cat who’s been mildly anemic. Her numbers have improved since I started her on B-Complex and give her B-12 injections.
 
Yes! They gave her b-12 today and sent me home with a little vial for weekly use 4-6 weeks, then 2x month after that. She thought it could help make up for poor intestinal absorption and help prevent anemia too.

I think she's waiting to see kidney numbers and also if anything is pointing toward development of SCL instead of IBD. We discussed chlorambucil and budesonide as alternatives to prednisolone depending on what she sees.

Both of us are concerned because Holland's BG is overall so much better (110ish-190ish) but she continues to lose weight and just be kind of lethargic.
 
Emily Alsip said:
Yes! They gave her b-12 today and sent me home with a little vial for weekly use 4-6 weeks, then 2x month after that. She thought it could help make up for poor intestinal absorption and help prevent anemia too.

I think she's waiting to see kidney numbers and also if anything is pointing toward development of SCL instead of IBD. We discussed chlorambucil and budesonide as alternatives to prednisolone depending on what she sees.

Both of us are concerned because Holland's BG is overall so much better (110ish-190ish) but she continues to lose weight and just be kind of lethargic.
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I am glad they gave you the bottle of B-12. That’s so important for IBD kitties and is so important for so many body systems. I have also had a cat whose IBD morphed into SCL. He did amazingly well on chlorambucil. Really really well!
 
Good to hear I had a kitty with SCL in 2005, and he did not do very well. Died 9 months into treatment. But that was before I got more involved in vet care, plus just 17 years ago! Treatments have improved.
 
Emily Alsip said:
Good to hear I had a kitty with SCL in 2005, and he did not do very well. Died 9 months into treatment. But that was before I got more involved in vet care, plus just 17 years ago! Treatments have improved.
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Yes. I had a sweet tuxedo boy named Inky. He had IBD turned SCL - even had a laparotomy done to biopsy everything (never will allow another of my cats to go through that, but that’s another story) this was back in 2003-2004 timeframe. He did okay for a while on Prednisolone and Z/D cat food (those were the only treatments that were offered to me.). We did lose him in 2006, which is maybe all we could expect without chlorambucil. I don’t know when they started using chlorambucil in cats for SCL.
 
Aww, it's so sad. My guy had chlorambucil, epogen, and I don't recall what else. I think it's a lot for their little bodies when they're already unwell. Probably so many more meds or dosing protocols now.
 
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