Alopecia in cats is baldness, that is, hair loss. There can be many reasons for this condition in a pet: from skin infections and diseases of internal organs to stress or depression.
As a rule, the owners of the animal, faced with a similar problem, first of all buy vitamins intended for the growth of wool. Secondly, they acquire all existing medicines for various parasites and skin diseases. And only after the pet’s condition does not improve, the cat is brought to the vet.
What can cause hair loss?
Most often, alopecia in cats is caused by various skin infections and internal diseases. Among skin infectious pathologies, the most common causes of hair loss are:
- bacterial folliculitis;
- ringworm;
- demodicosis.
Of the internal diseases that become causes of baldness, most often veterinarians diagnose the following:
- hyperadrenocorticism, or Itsenko-Cushing's pathology;
- allergic reactions;
- violation in immune and hormonal processes;
- special conditions of the body;
- arthritis.
Special conditions of the body should be understood as pregnancy, advanced age, recovery period after long treatment or feeding kittens.
Often, developed alopecia in cats has more common causes. The hair of an animal may fall out due to the presence of fleas. A cat, just like a dog, combes bite places and tries to catch parasites with its teeth. As a result of such actions, the animal literally tears its hair out with its claws and gnaws at it with its teeth.
If the pet does not have any internal pathogenic processes, allergic reactions, traces of parasite activity, or infectious skin diseases, but the hair falls out, then the cause of alopecia is the psychological state of the animal.
What is psychogenic alopecia?
Psychogenic alopecia in cats is similar to nerve loss in humans. That is, the hair begins to fall out due to experiences, stress, both long-term and short-term, but strong.
For example, a person often has hair loss after experiencing the death of loved ones, observing a car accident or fire, due to a parachute jump or visiting the "free fall" attractions. This is a state of short-term stress, that is, a bright and strong emotion, fear, compassion, or some other feelings. A characteristic feature of this condition is a very strong shake of the nervous system, followed by a kind of rollback. That is, after a while, the consequences of the experience arise, among which baldness is often found.
A cat may experience the same thing. If a pet is very frightened, upset, or impressed, then some time after this event hair loss may begin.
Long-term stress is a condition in which an animal experiences discomfort and negative emotions for many days, and sometimes even years. Unfortunately, the most common source of prolonged stress in animals is their owners. For example, a cat may begin to lose hair due to the fact that the owners are constantly dissatisfied with it, chased from the couch or not allowed to go anywhere, scolded, do not pay attention.
Many people, in principle, do not think about how they show their own pet. Not all animals and people are psychologically compatible. For example, an independent and intolerant cat will be indifferent to the fact that the owner ignores it, if only the food appears in the bowl on time. But the sociable, affectionate animal, bored for the whole day of loneliness in the walls of the apartment, the indifference of a person who returned from work can cause deep psychological trauma.
Of course, in addition to human behavior and attitudes, other factors can be a source of the development of a condition such as alopecia areata in cats. For example, vibration from an audio speaker or the presence of an aviary with birds in the apartment. Sources of prolonged stress can lurk at every turn. They are always individual, each animal reacts in its own way to what surrounds it.
How is psychogenic alopecia of a pet different from human?
Psychogenic alopecia in cats, the treatment of this pathology and its manifestations, of course, differ from nervous baldness in humans. In addition to various medicines and external care products used in therapy, there is a difference between the alopecia of a cat and a person in the causes of alopecia.
It consists in the fact that the cat is able to acquire a conditioned reflex to scratching, licking and, accordingly, depriving oneself of hair. This occurs, as a rule, after experienced and cured skin infection or internal disease. Often the cat, which was deprived of kittens, begins to lick itself, and does it with such frenzy that it tears out the hair. In humans, such a reflex is not formed.
There are also cases when reflex psychogenic alopecia in cats becomes a consequence of itself. That is, in cases where the cat survived hair loss caused by stresses, it can also continue to scratch and lick reflexively, preventing the fur from growing back.
What are the main causes of psychogenic feline alopecia?
As with any disease, in the case of a diagnosis of alopecia in cats, treatment begins with identifying the causes of this condition and eliminating them.
The most common causes of hair loss due to psychogenic factors are:
- long and short-term stresses;
- experienced skin infections and diseases;
- pregnancy and childbirth.
Eliminating the cause of alopecia is an important part of therapy. If the factor causing hair loss in a cat remains in her life, then no treatment can prevent baldness.
How is such alopecia located?
Symmetric alopecia in cats usually accompanies mental trauma, stress, or other psychogenic factors that cause hair loss.
The most common manifestation of psychogenic hair loss is hair loss on the ears. In some animals, they are able to become naked literally overnight, and when the source of anxiety is eliminated, they also grow quickly.
Psychogenic alopecia can develop on any part of the body, and slight asymmetry in its location is possible in cases where the disease has a reflex type of development.
Which cats are prone to psychogenic alopecia?
Any cat can lose hair on the background of stress or due to other reasons associated with nervous activity.
But in some breeds, the tendency to psychogenic hair loss is much higher. These cats include:
- Siamese
- Burmese
- Anatolian;
- Abyssinian;
- lop-eared;
- Bengali
- Bombay
- American Shorthair;
- British Shorthair and Blue.
Endocrine alopecia of cats among representatives of these breeds is also more common than in other animals.
Are cats resistant to alopecia?
There are no animals absolutely resistant to nervous shocks and stresses. However, there are breeds for which hair loss due to psychogenic factors is rare.
These cats include:
- classic persian and exotics;
- Norwegian Forest;
- long-haired American bobtail;
- European Shorthair;
- Makeups
Of course, these animals are also able to get sick on a nervous basis, however, representatives of such breeds are less prone to strong feelings.
Does psychogenic alopecia have symptoms?
The only symptom of psychogenic alopecia is the loss of cat hair without objective reasons for this. That is, when fleas, ticks, internal diseases, endocrine and hormonal disorders are detected, there can be no talk of the psychogenic nature of hair loss.
With the development of alopecia due to nervous reasons, the hair falls out unevenly. On one day, the amount of lost fur may be greater than on others. If a cat exhibits unusual behavior before it, then it is urgent to fully examine the animal, since with psychogenic alopecia, the pet’s habits do not change.
How is alopecia treated?
The main thing in the treatment of all psychogenic disorders of animals, including alopecia, is the elimination of a factor that negatively affects the condition of the pet. This is precisely the main difficulty of therapy.
No specific medication is required to treat such disorders. As a rule, medicines are limited to sedatives, vitamins and immunomodulators. In addition, special care is recommended with the use of external agents that activate the growth of wool.