My senior cat has ear fur loss. Is melatonin safe with her lymphoma?

I would recommend that Patches get checked out by a vet. Common causes of hair loss in cats include fleas, mites, ringworm, allergies, or endocrine disease like hyperthyroidism. Since she is older, I would recommend testing her thyroid to prevent other issues related to this disease. Some cats will lose hair on the ears as they age, but they do not usually also lose it on other furred areas.

There is a possibility that your dog is suffering from hypothyroidism, so your vet should also do a thyroid test. Hypothyroidism can also cause hair loss as you describe. Another possibility could be seasonal alopecia, also called cyclic follicular dysplasia which causes hair loss on the flanks and back, just as you describe. The treatment is melatonin. It will not be a remedy showing success within a few days, so the melatonin will have to be given over several months, if not life-long. In some dogs the hair will never grow back. Your vet may want to take a skin biopsy and send it in to a pathology lab. This can also give valuable information about the cause of the alopecia.

Melatonin does help with stress if that is what you vet thinks is causing the alopecia. I would just get a high quality brand like natures made and I think tablet or capsule is fine. Just be sure it has the correct milligram your vet recommended. For stress, there are also composure chews that help. See link below. Neither of these supplements work on everyone though. If this only happen during certain seasons, you may also consider this being an allergic reaction. If he is itchy, I would talk to your vet about trying an allergy medicine like apoquel. This will help to decrease the itch and help the hair grow. I hope this helps! VIP-_-92700026086767577&kwid=p26086767577&device=m&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIoK2R5PiR2AIVRR1pCh2zdQarEAQYASABEgLVPPD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

I have never used it as a transdermal gel. Since it isn't commonly compounded in that way, I would think it doesn't work very well. You could ask your vet or call your compounding pharmacy to ask this question of a pharmacist, who should be able to give you a better answer!

The location between the ear and the eye in cats generally has very thin fur, so it is a common area to lose hair as they get older or with any irritation. You are correct that topical products there are a bad idea. Biotin is safe since it is a water soluble B Vitamin, so it does not buld up in the tissues. I have attached a definition of water solution below. https://www.cancer.gov/publications/dictionaries/cancer-terms?cdrid=560347 So, Biotin would be safe, but I have not personally found that it helps with hair growth in areas of hair loss (especially after 2 years). I wish I had a good solution for you, but you may just have to live with the hair loss. I hope that was helpful. Thanks for using PetCoach.

Given her age, steroid side effects from long term use tend to become less of a risk if the benefits are clearly improving her quality of life. Depending on the nature of the growth, low level chemotherapy medications may provide an opportunity to halt growth or even reduce the mass but this would require assessment by a specialist

This is a tricky question because a bacterial skin infection, ringworm, and skin mites can all appear very similar. The only way to tell them apart is by either treating for one of them or doing specific skin tests like a skin scrape, a skin cytology, and a fungal culture. I think it is ok that you are using the Malaseb shampoo for now. If the issue does not resolve over the course of a week or so then you may want to have your cat examined by your vet to determine the exact cause of hair loss. I hope this helps. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Best of luck.