What is going on??

[MalteseGurl]

Hi there, sorry for the long explanation but it is probably needed, if not sorry for the ramble...
I recently caught a stray cat, whom is apparently feral according to the vet. At first we were going to keep her but with three dogs the finances and space just aren't there for another animal.

As for the feral part, she may be but she seems to be pretty tame. She is coming around wonderfully, loves to be rubbed, tolerates the dogs, explores the house... she just HATES to be picked up.

Anyways we've found a organization who is looking for a suitable home but in the meantime we've agreed to foster her. My concern is that she is losing massive amounts of hair, and even seems to be tearing some of it out on her own:confused: As a result she is throwing up hairballs like twice a week.

I've told this to the organization, stating a vet check might be necessary but they told me they did not have the funds for it. Unfortunately (sp?) neither do we. Any ideas as to what could be causing the massive hairloss and causing her to tear her hair out?? We did bring her to the vet when we first got her and she was given a clean bill of health and was given revolution which she told us would kill any parasites she had.

[Punkygirl0101]

She is most likely stressed out, and has alot of anxiety. The change in her life is going to be difficult to tolerate for a while, since she was a stray. Shes probably confused. We had a cat that did the same thing when we moved. She pulled out her own fur. I am sure she will get over it pretty soon, our cat did. If you didn't see her pulling her fur out, and she was just losing it I would reccomend vet, but since you saw her pulling it out, she is definatly stressed.

oh, does she have fleas? If so, she could be trying to bite them off.. but most likely it is the anxiety.

[MalteseGurl]

Thanks punkygirl I thought it could be stress, but she's losing a lot of fur. Actually it's both she's tearing it out and it's falling out - when you rub her you can easilt get a handful. She doesn't have fleas, the vet checked for that and gave her something to kill anything that was on her.

I forgot to mention in the first thread that she's coughing up A LOT of hairballs too. This is the thrid day striaght that she has. Is this because she's losing so much fur? Will it stop when she's more used to her surroundings? We've had her a month.

[Punkygirl0101]

if she is coughing up alot of hairballs, its because she is eating alot of her own fur. Could it be mites? Or did the vet give you treatment for that? Is her bald skin scabby, or smooth?

[MalteseGurl]

she doesn't have any bald skin... yet. the stuff the vet gave her was supposed to kill everything, she said it was for lice, fleas, mites, and worms.

[maherwoman]

Punkygirl's right...it could be the stress of an environmental change...especially if the place you got her from said she was feral. In the meantime, try to get her some hairball remedy food (Purina has a version of it, if you're looking for a less expensive type of food...otherwise all of the other brands should have a hairball remedy formula as well). Now, granted, I've never tried using hairball remedy food, but I hear it helps.

Also, you might want to ask your vet about what you can give her to help her deal with the excess fur. Have you tried brushing her?

Another thing to keep in mind, if she was a stray, she was probably malnourished, and it might be a side-effect of that. How long have you had her? Is she taking any sort of vitamins? Does she seem skinny? Is she spayed?

[MalteseGurl]

yeah we've tried brushing her and the fur will continue to come out as long as we brush. I've told the organization we are fostering her from that she may need to see a vet but they told me they just had a serious operation on one of their animals and can't afford another vet appointment any time soon...go figure. I would bring her myself but I don't have the finanes either...

I will pick up some hairball remedy and give that a try, hopefully it will help some. I'm hoping that it is stress, although she does seem to adjusting quite will, maybe she just needs a little more time.

[brandy pup]

Could be many differnt things as simple as fleas or as difficult as health problems. I would give her a real good brushing, advantage flea stuff (over the counter is bad) and give her some decent food. Thanks for helping her, you can also contact other agencies to assist in placing her. Make sure she is altered also, that is a must before going to a new home.

Tallys Cat 101
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Pointe/9352/owners.html