My indoor cat has a red spot on her back. What is it? Should I worry?

Hi and thank you for posting your question on Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Sight unseen, it is hard to say exactly what the cause of the spots are, but I can certainly offer a few possibilities. Red sores and spots can have many causes. Food allergies being one of them! It is possible she was allergic to the food she was eating. If you switched foods and she is now better with no sores or spots any longer, then perhaps a food allergy was the cause. However, there are other causes such as a flea allergy, other environmental allergy, fungal infection (ringworm), bacterial infection. The feline herpes virus causes on and off upper respiratory symptoms like sneezing, coughing, and ocular infections. Sores are not typically caused by the feline herpes virus. If the sores are not getting any better or appear to be getting worse, you may want to take your cat into a veterinarian so she can be properly diagnosed. If the sores looks very red and infected, your vet may prescribe an antibiotic. I hope this has helped and I wish you and your cat the very best!

Sylvestor's skin lesion looks quite inflamed and could be due to a skin infection from underlying allergies, ringworm or mange. I recommend taking him to the vet to rule out ringworm and mange, as these can be transmitted to people or other animals. If these issues are ruled out, Sylvestor may need topical or oral antibiotics to manage a skin infection, likely caused by allergies. Allergies in animals often occur to fleas (even one flea bite can cause issues in sensitive animals!), food or the surrounding environment, which then cause an animal to itch and develop a skin infection from itching. The vet will be able to prescribe appropriate medication to clear up this issue before it worsens. I hope that all goes well!

It doesn't look too bad in the picture. Poppy may have injured herself by rubbing her face against something in the home. I would keep an eye on it for now. if it gets bigger or appears infected (redness, swelling, warm to the touch, pus), then have her seen by a vet. I hope this helps!

This is probably caused by an allergic reaction. first of all make sure you flea Bull regularly every month with a high quality spot on (ex. Advantage) as fleas are by far the most common reason for these reactions. If the fleas are not the problem, it could be an allergic reaction to food or an environmental factor. this is more complicated to treat and will sometimes require medications such as Steroids, anti histamines or cyclosporin in order to stop the allergy.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! There is just no way to diagnose this just based on a description. This may be due to allergies for example. This could also be some sort of infection perhaps. This requires further diagnostics which would be done based on an exam. Your veterinarian would be better able to proceed with the needed diagnostics to try to determine what may be wrong. I would highly recommend you have him reevaluated by his veterinarian since things have worsened again. They may be able to proceed with further diagnostics and treatments accordingly. Good luck!

Hello and thank you for reaching out to Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Based on its appearance, that resembles a hot spot, or a moist-dermatitis brought about by licking. If it is at the base of the tail, this is a common place for cats to have a flea allergy/infection. I recommend having Baloo seen by a veterinarian who can perform a skin scrape test/cytology to see if there is evidence of secondary bacterial infection and/or other types of external parasites, such as fleas or mites. Baloo will need to wear an Elizabethan collar so that he does not continue to lick at this area and cause further trauma. He will also need to be on monthly topical flea and tick preventatives, purchased from your veterinarian. Flea and tick products that are available in food and pet stores are NOT effective OR safe for use on cats or dogs. I hope this is helpful!

It's difficult to compare the size of the area in the 2 pictures, but if the area is getting larger, then I would certainly recommend having your veterinarian examine Muffin. The best way for us to decide how to treat skin problems is to do some simple skin tests and examine a sample under the microscope. That will determine if there is a bacterial infection, fungal infection, yeast infection or even a parasitic infection like mites. I wish I could give you an answer by just looking at the picture, but since Bacitracin isn't working it's time for some additional testing to figure out what is going on. Good luck! I hope that was helpful. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.