Vet Blog
02/09/10
 How can I stop my short-haired burmese -mix cat from chewing off her fur?
Elizabeth
Montreal, QC, Canada
Based upon your very brief description, I suspect your cat is suffering from psychogenic alopecia, or feline trichotillomania. Many experts believe that the syndrome is related to obsessive compulsive disorder in people.
Cats with psychogenic alopecia groom themselves excessively. This leads to bald patches on the skin. The overgrooming may occur in response to stress, boredom, or mild allergic stimulation from fleas or other allergens. The bald patches most often start on the abdomen and then spread to the rear aspects of the thighs, then up the back from the base of the tail.
Any person who suspects her cat is suffering from psychogenic alopecia should see a vet to confirm the diagnosis and rule out medical causes of hair loss such as severe allergies, parasite infestation, and autoimmune disease.
Cats with psychogenic alopecia may benefit from a stable home environment and increased enrichment (this can be accomplished through training, increased activity, and altered feeding tactics). In some cases medications such as antidepressants and rarely estrogen analogues are prescribed to reduce symptoms. In general I do not recommend medicating cats with psychogenic alopecia (I especially recommend against estrogen analogues). Psychogenic alopecia is a cosmetic problem, and I generally feel that it does not warrant systemic medication.
Photo: psychogenic alopecia may start out as a bald patch on the abdomen.
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02/08/10
 Hello, I have a 12-year-old orange tabby who has developed a small bump on his one hind leg. It was pink & looked like a pimple without a head. I checked it today & it is scabby & a bit bigger. I am just wondering if this is something I should worry about. I do plan to bring him to my vet but have never seen this on any cat I have owned before. Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks for your time.
A
Canada
Based upon your description, the lump most likely is benign. Reactions to fleas, food, or environmental allergens can lead to scabby lumps like the one you describe. Cysts, benign tumors, and small areas of infections also may cause small pimple-like growths anywhere on the body.
However, you caught my attention by mentioning the mass is on a hind leg. Rabies and leukemia vaccines are administered in the rear legs, and these vaccines have been linked in rare instances to aggressive tumors called sarcomas. These so-called vaccine associated sarcomas usually appear as firm masses that develop under the skin. They generally do not cause redness or scabbing of the overlying skin. In other words, the lump on your cat’s leg does not sound like a sarcoma.
However, sarcomas are serious. I always recommend vet checkups for cats with masses in spots where vaccines are administered (the rear legs or in between the shoulders). Your cat is no exception. Your vet should be able to determine whether there is any cause for concern.
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02/06/10
My dogs were refusing to eat the Heartguard or throwing it up so i changed them to Revolution and everything seems great. what are your thoughts on this product? It’s very hard to get from our vets. Thanks.
Karen
Georgia
When Revolution was released ten or twelve years ago, it looked set to revolutionize (Heh! Get it?) parasite prevention in pets. It was billed as a once monthly topical preventative for heartworm, roundworm, and several other parasites.
But Revolution appears to suffer from being a jack of all trades and a master of none. Most dermatologists I know feel that it is of only middling effectiveness against fleas.
And more seriously, dogs’ skin appears to be relatively impervious to the active ingredient in Revolution. Many experts have questioned the efficacy of the product as a heartworm preventative in dogs. (Cats do appear to absorb the product, and therefore most experts believe that Revolution works well as a heartworm preventative in cats.)
When it comes to heartworm prevention, Revolution is probably better than nothing. But if your dog won’t take oral Heartgard or Interceptor, you may want to consider switching to Advantage Multi. It is a topical product that appears to be very effective against heartworm.
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02/04/10
Next up, more veterinary Q & A. But first I can’t resist linking to an article in New York Magazine.
Even in the suburbs, the dog’s unleashed, unfenced, carefree outdoor life is largely at an end. The dogs are in the house, even in the bed. (The doghouse is now mostly for husbands.) There are no rules to this evolving, increasingly intimate arrangement, and it can give rise to a kind of canine identity crisis. Outside of its country context, the dog plays an ever more human role. Which can make things very confusing. “We’ve seen a linear explosion in pet populations in Western countries over the past 40 years,” Serpell tells me, and notes a correlation with the depressing statistics in Robert Putnam’s Bowling Alone. “People are living more isolated lives, are having fewer children, their marriages aren’t lasting. All these things sort of break down a social network and happen to exactly coincide with the growth in pet populations. I think that what’s happening is simply that we’re allowing animals to fill the gap in our lives.”
To learn about the ramifications this has on us–and our canine companions–read the whole article.
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02/03/10
 After yesterday’s somewhat depressing post, it’s time for an unqualified feel-good story today. The original article and several excellent photos can be seen if you click here.
Hawk stuck in car’s grille returned to the wild
DAVIS, CA- A hawk that was hit and stuck in a car’s front grille earlier this month has been nursed back to health and released into the wild.
The driver who hit the hawk, Brian Hanley, was given the honor of releasing the bird Wednesday morning.
The young red-tailed hawk was struck by Hanley’s car on a Yolo County road on Jan. 6, according to UC Davis environmental sciences spokeswoman Sylvia Wright.
When Hanley realized what happened, he immediately went to the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine with the hawk still in the grille of the car.
Once he arrived at the school he found John Madigan, who is a horse veterinarian and associate director of the university’s veterinary teaching hospital.
As it turns out, Hanley was lucky in finding Madigan. Wright says that Madigan is an authority on animal rescue and leads the school’s Veterinary Emergency Response Team.
Madigan was quickly able to gather staff from the Avian and Exotic Pet Service and two other veterinary teachers to help extract the bird’s head and talons from the car.
Wright said the team first removed the grille of the car and then safely rescued the hawk.
The hawk was found not to have any broken bones and only a chest injury that surgeons were able to repair the next day.
The bird, identified as a juvenile red-tailed hawk, could have been released earlier, but raptor center experts waited for the stormy weather to pass.
Photo: LTShears
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How can I stop my short-haired burmese -mix cat from chewing off her fur?
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