My old cat has hair loss patches on his back, but seems healthy.

You're right, it doesn't sound good. Possible causes for the bloat and decreased appetite include pain from arthritis, hairballs, food allergy, GI blockage, intestinal parasites, IBD, intestinal lymphoma, systemic disease (liver, kidney, pancreas, diabetes), among others. The shedding and change in coat texture could be due to a decrease in nutrition from not eating, but is likely caused by not grooming as frequently. I recommend that James go to the vet as soon as possible. After a thorough physical exam, your vet may recommend additional diagnostics like x-rays or bloodwork to try to determine the cause of his symptoms.

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!

Those spots on Tippie could be several things including allergies, skin mites, flea bites, ringworm (which humans can get) or a bacterial infection. You can try adding in an omega 3 fatty acid supplement for pets, this can help improve the skin health. Certainly check him for fleas with a flea comb (look around his lower back by his tail and in between his hind legs) and/or treat him for fleas. You may also try changing his diet to something like Royal Canin or Nutro as they are aimed at skin health. Protect the areas from licking or scratching. If they don't start looking better within about a week or if they get worse, have him examined by the veterinarian who may prescribe medications. Best of luck and please feel free to post any additional questions.

Hello, sorry to hear about Levon. This non-specific hair loss could be associated with different conditions. Most commonly, contact allergies from environmental allergies (dust mites, skin dander, detergents, grasses, heat) may cause this. Other causes could include anxiety and excessive grooming. External parasites or skin infections that could also cause constant itching, and finally, any metabolic endocrine diseases (diabetes and hyperthyroidism) may cause this. Less likely a hair disorder like becoming bald but he should not have had hair re-growth after his first incident. Oral supplements like essential fatty oils will help keep his hair shiny but may not promote his hair growth. If his hair loss progresses or continues, then he should be seen by his veterinarian to further discern between the different causes of hair loss. Hope this helps and best of luck.

Poor Crookshanks (great name!) and his friend! The most common causes of patchy hair loss are from contagious infectious conditions, such as ringworm or mange. Both ringworm and Sarcoptic mange can be transmitted to other animals and humans. I recommend taking both cats to the vet for exams and fungal cultures (to rule out ringworm) and skin scrapes (to rule out the mites causing mange). From there, the vet will be able to determine the best medications for the problem at hand. Also make sure that both cats are receiving a high quality flea preventative (such as Advantage or Revolution) monthly to prevent any skin issues due to fleas. I hope that all goes well!

HI, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Poor Jimmy! He has pretty bad skin disease. You can't tell the cause by just looking at the skin but a few possibilities are Demodex or Scabies (both are mites), ring worm (fungal infection), bacterial skin infection (from allergies to environment, food or atopy) or fleas. Jimmy needs to be examined and have few tests done to see what is causing the scabbing and hair loss. I wish you the best!

If there is fit missing I’d recommend seeing your vet for a physical exam. Tyler might have a skin infection, allergies or parasites like fleas. I would guess that Tyler might be grooming more than usual as well.