Hiya

I've recently resued a kitten - literally - we run a pet care company with our head office based on an industrial estate and someone came in and said there was a kitten on the side of the road and could I do somthing - I went out and found this little very wet, scarred and bedraggled baby kitten. I took him to the vets and they asked what was I going to do with him - "well keep him of course!" what else could I do :-).... the vet gave him 3 days max because of the state he was in, that was nearly three weeks ago.... after lots of nursing, care and attention I am now the proud owner of a mad, typical playful kitten :-)

I would like to get him a playmate soon but have a serious concern - as i'm not sure of my little George's background, and read lots about rescued and stray cats/kitten or ferral cats, one of my concerns is feline HIV, I'm not being dramatic as he is not showing any symptons and appears to be really healthy but.... he is losing 'tuffs' of hair, they come out like darts, i've looked up hair loss but nothing seems to match, these tuffs are specifically down one side of his body - i have a appt at the vets on friday but just would like to know if ayone else has experienced this.....???

you can have him tested at your vets for all these things that are worrying you by request. as for the tuffs i couldn't say as i'm not a vet just a student nurse. some kittens lose fur with stress and some will lose fur from an injury some will lose with allergies or flea/mite problems. best thing to do would be to take him back to the vets and see what they say.

Tufts of hair sounds very much like ringworm, but if it was that you would also expect bald patches on the face - and not just one side. I wonder if it is possible that he got spashed with something nasty that has caused the hair to die off? Hopefully if so it is only a temporary thing.

Liz

What a lucky Kitty. Not sure about the tufts of fur but they could be old 'scabs' falling off, but I am sure your vet. will be able to tell you more, he will also give advice on anything you need to test for. Good luck.
Mary
x

I think it is great you have taken on this little kitten, poor little thing sounds like he has been through a lot. (In case you haven’t already done so) It might be worth putting up a few posters and contacting your local cats protection / RSPCA to let them know about this kitten, they only reason I say this, is sometimes little kittens escape from houses when they are really too young to go out, because they have not been out before they can get lost very easily.
As for FIV, I’m afraid I don’t really know anything about, except he wouldn’t be able to have a playmate (or go outside), but then I was thinking, if you got him tested and did have FIV, then maybe you could take on another FIV cat because they would be able to play together (I think).

Thanks for all your replies on this one.

I have an appointment tomorrow with the vet for his first set of jabs so will speak to him about it then.

He did have scabs on his body, quite a big one above his shoulder blade and that did come of in a tuff so this was one of my thoughts too but by the amount that keep coming out I didn't thing he could have that many, second thought was also one that you mentioned, being found on an industrial estate maybe he had got splashed with somthing nasty and his body is trying to repair itself. My worry over FIV was also because of the scabs as many strays / ferral cats do carry this virus mainly due to being uneurtered males fighting - We are in close contact with the RSPCA and Cats Protection as we donate alot of stuff to them, so the local branches are aware of his existence and pleased it was me who found him (he has the best of everything :-) They are waiting, like me, to find out if he is ok or not as I do want a playmate for him - never thought that if he did have FIV about adopting another one with the same - great idea thank you for that - feel better already as either way George will have a new friend :-)

xx

I've never heard of 'rain scald' - I suppose anything is a possibilty at this stage but will keep you all posted after my visit to the vet :-)

horses can get dermatophillus/streptothricosis.
but i don't believe cats and dogs can.




curious to see what your vet thinks! keep us posted.

Well we've been to the vets today - I'm not really any further forward yet - the vet was really impressed with his progress, he did say 'my George, haven't you got a big belly..... asking what he meant was this good or bad, he said obviously I'd been feeding him well :-) I smiled too and agreed so will now start to feed as recommended and not on demand..lol (well he deserve it - didn't he ;-)

I expressed my concerns so we decided not to give George his first jabs as that includes the lukemia vaccine, we have gone for blood tests, which were taken today and wil have the results tomorrow - I do feel quite positive as the vet hadn't really come across this before (the tuff hair loss) but he said he thought because of what George had been through and what his body had endured both physically and internally, that his internal problems were probably coming out through his skin- the skin will go through a 30 day recycle mode and he thinks it will repair itself......

Would like to put my pics on here too have uploaded some but my profile pic doesn't show!!!

So fingers crossed on the results tomorrow

xx