The following is an email I received on 8/16/08 from my sister about her cat:
I can’t sleep, so it’s storytime. I took Zita with me to the clinic this morning because of bald spots on her legs. These showed up in just the last couple of days. Missing fur can be a sign of infestation or dietary deficiency. She sat through a skin scraping very nicely. Nothing showed up under the microscope. Zita’s recent bloodwork looked good, and it was unlikely she’d developed a deficiency since it was done. That left the third possibility as the likely one: somatic allopecia.
Yep, kitty’s licking herself bald, due simply to nerves. We looked for any big change in kitty’s world over the last few days that might have caused this. New pet? Can’t find the litterbox? Noisy new neighbors? A change in the hours I spend at home? Nope.
Nothing at all has changed in kitty’s world in the last several days. So what does that mean? Kitty is just nuts. Dr. B and Krista awed over the nearly symmetric pattern she has licked into her fur. I hope it doesn’t get worse. If it does, there’s only one way to treat it: Prozac. I find this very amusing. I must be doing really well if my cat needs Prozac.
11/14/08 Update from my sister:
Aww. Zita is okay. We started a new allergen-free food. She really snarfs it down, but it gives her the nastiest diarrhea. It’s been two weeks and I thought she’d be past it by now. It’ll be a couple months before we know if the new food will solve the problem.
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