My Persian kitten has itchy, dry skin after a fungal infection. What to do?

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern. Poor kitten! The skin looks very uncomfortable! It looks as though she may be dealing with skin mites or a severe skin infection. If her URI signs have not resolved, I would consider nebulization therapy with antibiotics along with Orbifloxacin. For the skin, I would discuss administering a product called Revolution for cats to help out with the possible skin mites. I would also recommend using a shampoo such as Douxo PS Chlorhexidine combination shampoo which can be found online and bathe twice weekly until resolved. I hope this helps and that the poor little kitten gets better soon! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further. Please remember to rate this answer as helpful or not. Thank you!

Hi, and thanks for your question. This could be due to an allergy, although it could also be infection or mites. First of all, in order to rule out skin parasites, you will need to treat with a high quality flea treatment, then ask the vet to perform a skin scrape - this might reveal an infection or a mite infestation. If all of those came back negative, the next step is to treat the allergy symptomatically and try to discover the cause of the allergy. Three main type of allergies are usually affecting pets: food allergies, flea and parasite related ones and environmental type (allergens coming from trees, pollens, dust etc etc). Some medications can be given by the vet in order to repair any possible skin lesions (like steroids and antibiotics). Hope this answer was helpful, but 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. If this answer was helpful please let us know, this will be used to improve our service!

Hi and thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! The pictures are good but it's still tough to see what is going on. Hair loss with dry/flaky skin is often indicative of ringworm especially in kittens. This is highly contagious to other animals and to people making it a zoonotic disease. I would definitely have a vet evaluate the litter and start treatment for a fungal infection right away to prevent this from getting worse. I would quarantine the litter away from all other pets and humans especially young children and the elderly since they are most likely to get infected. Even the shed hairs can contain fungal spores so direct contact with the animals is not required to get infected. It could be something else but in the pictures it is highly suspect since it looks like the paws and tail are affected. Other possibilities include mites, bacteria, external parasites (fleas, etc), dietary problems, intestinal parasite problems, among other things. Your vet can evaluate them and advise a woods lamp exam, skin scrape, fungal culture, hair analysis, etc to determine what is going on. The ears could be infected with ear mites and they could evaluate those also. Eye problems in young kittens are often due to viruses which infect the eyes and cause upper respiratory infections. These are contagious also along with the ear mites to other cats and dogs. Your vet can evaluate everything that is going on a make a plan to solve the puzzle. They can advise a sound treatment plan in addition to guiding you in preventive health care items including deworming, vaccines, flea/tick products, etc. Good luck and I hope it's not ringworm.

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern. Based on your description and the pictures you have provided, this sounds as though Boba may be dealing with an allergy. There is nothing concerning in the pictures. It is difficult to say what the cause is as there are so many things that can cause allergies. I would recommend by starting with the below recommended products. If there is no improvement, I would recommend having Boba examined by a veterinarian so that the most appropriate diagnostic and treatment recommendations can be made. He may need prescription medication to help with the main problem. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further. 1. Welactin omega 3 fish oil capsules for cats 2. Douxo PS Calm shampoo and bathe twice weekly until resolved 3. Malacetic conditioning spray and apply to the affected areas until resolved. 4. Essential 6 spot on by Dermoscent

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! This is possibly due to allergies. It really comes down to figuring out what is causing her allergies so that they can be treated or the specific allergen avoided. A secondary infection is likely and also needs to be addressed. There are many things that can cause allergies though in most cases they can be broken down into 3 big categories: flea, food and environmental allergies. Allergies are usually worked up in a stepwise fashion starting with flea allergies as this is the easiest and cheapest to take care of. If not on a flea preventative, then it would be a good idea to get started on one. If already on one then it would be a good idea to change to something else (there are many new products out in the market). If not improved in 1-3 months then it is time to move on and check for food allergies by switching to a novel diet (new protein and new carbohydrate). If that does not seem to be the issue then you are left out having to check for environmental allergies which require blood and/or skin tests. Allergies can be very frustrating to deal with at first but so rewarding at the end when we are able to treat them effectively!

This can take several weeks to months as the skin and coat need to heal after the fungal infection is resolved. We cannot prescribe medication but you can bathe her in a cat labeled iodine or fungal shampoo twice weekly. Cats are very sensitive to medication so do not use anything on your kitten unless it is specifically labeled as safe for kittens. Check at you pet store and they should be able to help you find a safe shampoo for Misty. I recommend cleaning the bedding also and washing your hands after playing with Misty. Usually as the kitten grows up they have better immunity and they will start to heal the skin on their own too. If after bathing the fungal infection isn't improved then take her to your local veterinarian for treatment. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to help you care for Misty.

Hi and thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Sorry to hear about Oreo. Skin and hair coat problems can be caused by a variety of things including external parasites (fleas, ticks, mites, etc), nutritional problems including loss of nutrition/blood by intestinal parasites, other dietary issues, bacterial/fungal infections, among many others. I don't think the food is causing a problem unless you are not feeding kitten food and I have never heard of the litter causing a problem like this unless it is getting caked onto the hair and skin. They are definitely old enough to be dewormed and I would highly advise that. Deworming should start at 2 weeks of age and be done every 3 weeks for at least 3-4 times. If these areas of concern worsen and persist, I would highly advise you have your vet evaluate Oreo to try to figure out what is going on. It doesn't seem like it's something contagious but sometimes not all kittens are affected. Your vet can advise some tests if needed (skin scrape, skin cytology, fungal culture, woods lamp exam, etc) to try to determine what is going on. Once a diagnosis is made or suspected, a sound treatment plan can be put into action. Your vet can also advise you on a sound preventive health care plan including deworming, testing, vaccines, flea/tick control, etc. Good luck with Oreo.