Why is my new kitten losing hair and has dry, ashy skin?

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.

I recommend to have your kitten examined by the veterinarian. The hair loss could be related to ringworm which can spread to humans. Other causes include poor nutrition or heavy internal parasites (some of which can also spread to humans). You veterinarian will treat for any parasites or ringworm and get your new kitten started off on the right foot. Make sure to feed a high quality kitten food such as Royal Canin or Science Diet. I hope this helps.

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern. With Nola being so young it is possible that she has a skin parasite or skin infection that needs treatment. I would recommend having a veterinarian examine her so that the most appropriate diagnostic and treatment recommendations can be made. She may need an anti-parasite medication or antibiotic for treatment. I hope this helps guide you in the right direction. Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further.

Based on your description I would be suspicious of ringworm, which is a fungal infection that commonly affects young animals. If you can find a shampoo with ketoconazole that may be helpful, but she likely needs a prescription of an oral antifungal such as itraconazole. Please practice good hygiene after handling her as ringworm is contagious to people as well. Of course this is not a diagnosis, just an assumption based on your description. Best of luck and I hope she improves soon!

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!

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! This could be due to a number of reasons such as allergies, a bacterial infection, mange, among many other reasons. It does sound like you think he may be feeling sick as well so I highly recommend that you have him evaluated by a veterinarian for further assessment and treatment so that he can be started on the right therapy. Best of luck!

Thank you for using PetCoach. Sometimes skin infections can develop in bottle babies because they don't have a mom to groom them. Be sure they are staying clean with no formula, urine or feces on their fur. This may entail daily sponge baths and changing bedding/towels at every feeding. If they do not improve, discuss other things with their veterinarian such as testing for ringworm or parasites. Here's a bit of info on orphan kittens http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=576 Good luck, they're adorable.