Skin diseases in cats

Our fluffy pets are sensitive creatures. Any kind of deviation from the usual norms in care, nutrition or conditions of detention can affect their health. In cats, such abnormalities are primarily manifested in the form of certain skin diseases. In addition, dermatitis (a common name for skin diseases) can be a manifestation of some hereditary pathologies.

Cat's skin diseases

First of all, after discovering changes in the behavior of the cat, deterioration of its appearance (foci of peeling or hair loss, combing the individual parts of the skin), it is necessary to turn to the veterinary clinic to determine the causes of the manifestation of a particular pathology. Well, in order to navigate the peculiarities of the behavior of your pet when manifesting the symptoms of the disease, it is useful to get acquainted with general information about skin diseases in cats. So, problems with skin in cats can arise as a result of the defeat of a fungal infection. The main symptom of this disease is the appearance of bald, scaly skin areas. The skin of the paws, head and ears is affected. The most common fungal disease in cats is ringworm. The next kind of dermatitis is bacterial infections. Can appear in a dry and moist form and affect only the outer layer of the skin - the epidermis. To the causes that cause bacterial pathologies of the skin in cats, it is possible to attribute allergies of all kinds, stress, genetic predisposition. Various inflammatory processes can also be caused by metabolic disorders, the presence of tumors, and kidney disease.

Symptoms of bacterial dermatitis - itching, hyperemia, wet sores, pustular rash, the formation of seals and crusts with a dry form. Dermatitis can be caused by the presence on the skin of the animal of all kinds of parasites (ectoparasitic dermatitis) - fleas , lice, mites, heiletellae. This is perhaps the most common type of skin diseases in cats and is accompanied by pronounced itching and scratching of problem areas. The problem is that the wounds caused by scratching can be infected, which in turn can lead to serious problems.

All sorts of skin diseases (or rather, problems) can manifest themselves when the animal comes into contact with certain plants, household chemicals, when taking medications or vitamins, with malnutrition. These are the so-called allergic dermatitis, the main symptoms of which can also be itching and rash.

Very rarely, but sometimes skin diseases in cats occur as a result of viral infections (herpes, leukemia).

Treatment of skin diseases in cats

As mentioned above, if you have any symptoms of skin pathologies, you should contact the veterinarian to establish the exact causes of the onset of the disease and to prescribe adequate treatment. As a rule, with simple forms of dermatitis (parasitic or allergic), the effect of treatment depends on eliminating the root cause of the disease: parasitic dermatitis prescribes preparations to remove parasites from the wool; when allergic dermatitis, first of all, the allergen is fixed and eliminated, and also preparations that remove itching, swelling of the skin or eliminating rash and peeling are prescribed. In other forms of skin diseases, various drugs of both local and general action are prescribed. Sometimes, in especially severe cases, there is a need to prescribe antibiotics or hormonal drugs. The expediency of using these medicines can be determined only by a doctor!