Could my cat's diarrhea be the reason for her sudden hair loss?

I'm sorry Mrs. B has had diarrhea! This diarrhea can be caused by eating something rotten, a foreign body, GI illness, or intestinal worms. Make sure she is up to date on her deworming treatments. I would take Mrs. B into the vet today for an exam. When a cat has diarrhea for more than 24 hours, it's time to see the vet. The vet can diagnose what is causing her diarrhea, and can treat her for it. While at the vet, they can examine her for the cause of the patchy hair loss, which can be due to fleas, mites, ringworm, allergies, or an autoimmune disease. Once the cause of that is found, the vet can prescribe her treatment for it.

Kitty should be examined by a vet to determine the cause. He could have hyperthyroidism and your vet can run blood-work to test his thyroid level. Once your vet determines the exact cause, he/she can recommend a treatment. Hope he feels better soon.

I would be concerned about fleas and allergies foremost, and recommend she be on a high quality flea preventive (seresto collar, revolution topical, bravecto topical are all good, or your vet can recommend one they carry - avoid the pet store for this because there are some sold there over the counter that can actually cause seizures in cats. The seresto collar lasts 8 months, so might be a good option for handling her less, but she may also find a way to get it off). If she's already on a preventative, I'd recommend talking to her vet about testing/treatment for allergies. There are many different ways to approach this and you're going to be significantly limited by her feral status.

Food allergies could be one of the reason for the persistent diarrhoea and weight loss, but these conditions must be differentiated from IBD (inflammatory bowel diseases) and unfortunately from more sinister conditions like tumors. Weight loss in old cats can have different causes as well, and endocrine diseases (hyperthyroidism and diabetes mellitus) are frequently associated with intestinal diseases as well. Considering all these possible clinical scenarios, I would recommend a check up and more tests (blood test+urine analysis including thyroid hormone and feline pancreatic lipase and possibly an ultrasound of the abdomen) to determine underlying cause and treat appropriately. Please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further.

Hi there! Sorry to hear that Ace is not feeling well. The clinical signs you describe are concerning as they can seen with different gastrointestinal conditions such as dietary indiscretion, pancreatitis, gastroenteritis, among other possibilities. The sooner these conditions are treated the better the outcome tends to be. For this reason, I recommend that you have Ace evaluated by your veterinarian to check for these possibilities and to start therapy based on findings. At the very least they can address dehydration if present and start him on anti-nausea medications. The hair loss is likely unrelated and it is some form of dermatitis which they can check at the time. Good luck! Keeping my fingers crossed for your boy!

Diarrhea can occur with a food sensitivity or allergy, so her current diet could be contributing to the problem. Other possibilities include persistent parasites, bacterial imbalance, or inflammatory bowel disease. You may want to consider putting her on a prescription gastrointestinal or hypoallergenic diet. A probiotic supplement may help. Lastly you may want to consider bringing her back to the vet to have a fecal test done if this hasn't been repeated. It may be that she needs a course of anti-diarrheal medication in order to fully resolve the diarrhea.

She could be suffering from a serious intestinal disease such as IBD which would be affecting the ability to absorb nutrients, that would explain the skin problem as well. You need to take her to the vet ASAP in order to get it checked, the vet will need to perform several tests to find out what is wrong.