A cat's belly is going bald: physiological and pathological reasons, what to do, how to treat it

Why does a cat's belly go bald: reasons

The process of changing fur in cats is called molting. There are physiological and pathological molting. Nature has decreed that cats have thicker fur on their backs than on their bellies. Therefore, with severe hair loss, the stomach is exposed first.

Physiological hair loss in cats

The cat has adapted to living in an apartment or house. Seasonal molting, characteristic of wild animals, does not occur in cats. Old hairs are gradually replaced by new ones.

However, at certain moments the intensity of hair loss increases for the following reasons:

1. Juvenile shedding: begins in kittens older than 5 months and lasts up to three months. The baby's fur is replaced with a new one.
2. Pregnancy and lactation: under the influence of hormones, the hair on the belly falls out. In newborn kittens, thermoregulation is imperfect, so it is necessary for the mother to warm them with her bare belly. In order for the cubs to quickly make their way to the nipples, there should be no hair around.
3. Old age: in older animals, the hormonal status changes, chronic liver diseases occur, which lead to thinning of the coat.
4. Congenital anomalies are caused by the physiology of the cat. Hypotrichosis begins to develop in kittens older than four months. The fur on the belly comes out first. Gradually, the pet's entire body becomes bald. He looks healthy, but is constantly cold and needs clothes.

Be sure to read:

Sores on a cat’s neck that itch and hair fall out: normal or pathological, reasons, what to do

When to be wary: 8 pathological reasons

The following factors cause hair loss on the abdomen:

1. Imbalanced diet . Eating economy-class food or natural products leads to a lack of building material for hair formation. Pathological molting is caused not only by a deficiency of vitamins, but also by an overdose due to the uncontrolled use of feed additives or fortified treats.
2. Lice eaters are ectoparasites that feed on wool.
3. Helminths: secrete endotoxins that damage hair follicles and also interfere with the absorption of vitamins from the gastrointestinal tract.
4. Stress - moving, traveling, visiting exhibitions, the appearance of a new pet in the apartment, fear, can cause an inadequate reaction and shedding of fur.
5. Allergy : to food components, household chemicals, cosmetics, hair of other animals, insecticides. The skin itches, the cat intensively licks problem areas, including the stomach and hind legs, which leads to ripping out hairs from the hair follicles.
6. Physical and chemical factors. If the apartment is hot, the air is dry, thermoregulation is disrupted and the animal tries to escape from overheating by shedding excess “clothes.” Frequent bathing contributes to hair loss: detergents destroy the protective shell of the hairs. They become brittle and crumble.
7. Hormonal imbalances that occur due to diseases of the thyroid gland, adrenal glands, and uncontrolled use of steroid drugs.
8. Chronic intoxication occurs when consuming feed contaminated with fungi or containing toxic substances. In order to get rid of poisons, the body uses all mechanisms: diarrhea, vomiting, shedding hair.

The main manifestations of various causes of baldness

You can understand what causes a receding hairline by paying attention to a number of symptoms. They often allow you to find out, even without examination, the reason why hair is growing on your cat’s belly.

If your cat's belly is going bald, it is imperative that you consult a veterinarian to determine the cause and carry out proper treatment.

What to do if your cat’s stomach and hind legs are going bald: treatment

Treatment consists of eliminating the causes of the disease:

1. Conduct a diet analysis and switch to premium or higher hypoallergenic ready-made food. With this approach, no additional vitamin supplements are required.
2. Bring content parameters in accordance with standards. Move the cat's bed away from the heating radiator and use a humidifier.
3. Use antiparasitic insecticides to kill lice eaters, fleas, and at the same time helminths. Drops of Spot-on, IN-AP or analogues are in demand.
4. Discontinue medications that may cause allergic reactions. Report this to your veterinarian.
5. Use anti-stress medications: Stop-Stress, Stop-itching, Vetspokoin.

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If the measures taken do not lead to the desired result, contact a specialist.

Treatment

As a rule, an accurate diagnosis for balding cats is made by a veterinarian. He also prescribes the necessary treatment. It is usually aimed at treating hair loss and combating the underlying disease. Therefore, there are several different ways to restore hair:

1. If a cat becomes very bald on its belly due to poor nutrition, a special diet is prescribed for it.
2. If alopecia is associated with allergies, then the first step is to exclude contact with the allergen, after which the animal is prescribed medications to strengthen the body’s immune system.
3. Alopecia caused by skin diseases is treated with a course of antibiotics. The most common use is amoxicillin, but you should consult your doctor before using the drug.
4. When abdominal hair loss is associated with stress, the animal is prescribed sedatives.
5. In the case when a bald spot on the stomach is formed due to blood-sucking parasites, the cat must be treated with special substances, and immunostimulants and vitamins must be added to its diet.
6. For demodicosis, it is recommended to give the animal regular baths with the addition of one percent sulfur-selenium shampoo.

The most unpleasant treatment for both the cat and the owner will be if ringworm is detected. In this case, you will have to shave your pet’s hair and give him the following medications:

• Ketoconazole;
• Itraconazole;
• Griseofulfin.

For better absorption of the latter drug, it is recommended to give it along with a small piece of butter.

Each individual case is treated individually. Before starting treatment, you must consult a specialist. And in order to prevent alopecia, you can carry out special prophylaxis for the animal.

Medicines for bloating

To help combat bloating caused by a lack of digestive enzymes, medications containing enzymes similar to those produced by our body can help.

What should a drug “be able to do” to improve digestion?5

• overcome gastric juice without loss of effectiveness;
• distributed throughout the food bolus;
• quickly enter the intestines and become active;
• digest fats, carbohydrates, proteins.

It is difficult for tableted forms of enzymes to enter the intestines, unlike the tiny particles in the form of which Creon® is produced. The tablets should not be divided, crushed or chewed, as this leads to a decrease in the effectiveness of the active substance.

As a rule, to eliminate heaviness after eating and other unpleasant symptoms, 1 capsule of Creon® 100006 is enough. 10,000 is the number of units of lipase, the enzyme that is responsible for the breakdown of fats. There is no need to be afraid of this number. Our bodies produce up to 720,000 of these units during each meal7. Thus, the dose of Creon® is only a support for your own digestion. Creon® has no analogues in the group of enzymes, since no other drug is available in the form of minimicrospheres8.

What are statins

Statins are a group of lipid-lowering drugs. They slow down the work of one of the main enzymes involved in the synthesis of cholesterol - HMC-CoA reductase. This leads to a decrease in cholesterol synthesis in the liver.

A decrease in cholesterol synthesis in hepatocytes increases the number of receptors for low-density lipoproteins (LDL-C) and their subsequent uptake from the bloodstream. In addition, there may be some reduction in the formation of LDL due to inhibition of the synthesis in the liver of their precursor, very low density lipoproteins (VLDL). Thus, statins help reduce total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol and VLDL cholesterol in the blood plasma. At the same time, drugs in this group can reduce the level of TG and slightly increase the level of “good cholesterol” (high-density lipoproteins). The effectiveness of lowering blood cholesterol levels depends on the dose of the drug. To obtain the desired level of reduction, fairly high doses are required.

Their numerous additional properties also contribute to the benefit of statins:

• improving the functional activity of the endothelium;
• stabilization of atheroma (atherosclerotic plaque);
• anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory and antithrombotic effects;
• positive effect on bone metabolism.

Minuses

But there are also unresolved issues in statin treatment. Thus, from 40 to 75% of patients stop taking statins within 1-2 years after starting treatment. Patients name the reasons for this: fear of developing undesirable effects from the instructions for the drug (46%), disbelief that the medicine prolongs life (29.4%), taking a large number of other pills (27.6%), forgetfulness (26.5 %), poor control of blood cholesterol levels while taking medication (18.8%), drug withdrawal by a non-attending physician (13.5%). At the same time, the actual development of undesirable effects on statin therapy was observed only in 11.7% of patients, and their manifestations were mild and moderate in severity.

Muscle symptoms

The incidence of symptoms of muscle damage is 7-29%, according to various sources. These include:

• muscle pain;
• muscle weakness;
• muscle inflammation, determined based on examination of a sample of muscle tissue and/or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI);
• myonecrosis - muscle damage, determined by a significant increase in serum creatine kinase (CK) levels;
• rhabdomyolysis - destruction of muscle tissue with acute kidney damage with an increase in serum creatinine;
• autoimmune myopathy is a rare complication accompanied by severe muscle damage even after discontinuation of the drug;

The reasons for this are not well understood. According to one version, there is a decrease in coenzyme Q10 in muscle tissue and a decrease in the level of vitamin D. The work of mitochondria is affected.

Muscle symptoms occur in 7-29%.

Symptoms usually appear in both arms or legs. The period of appearance is about 4-6 weeks after starting to take statins. Sometimes, with diseases of the joints and ligaments, pain increases. This may be due to muscle weakness. Unusually, physically active people are more likely to suffer from muscle symptoms. One study found that athletes were less tolerant of lipid-lowering therapy.

According to research, these symptoms are rare. But the studies themselves often exclude older patients, those with impaired liver and kidney function, and those taking certain medications, that is, it cannot be said that this is an ordinary elderly person with a “bouquet of diseases.”

Diabetes mellitus and insulin resistance

It has been established that long-term use of statins under certain factors can contribute to the development of insulin resistance and diabetes mellitus. This is evidenced not only by research data, but also by national recommendations of some countries.

Risk factors for developing diabetes when taking lipid-lowering drugs may include:

• high body mass index (BMI);
• elderly age;
• heart failure;
• myocardial infarction in the last six months and high cardiovascular risk;
• family predisposition to type 2 diabetes;
• Asian race;
• smoking, alcohol abuse.

Effects on the liver

When taking statins to reduce the negative effect on the liver, you must avoid taking:

• alcohol;
• drugs that are metabolized in the liver along the same pathways (for example, amiodarone, sulfonamides, methyldopa, cyclosporine).

Statins can negatively affect a damaged liver.

They should not be prescribed for active viral hepatitis until liver parameters return to normal.

Drug interactions

Statins have multiple effects. This is due to the fact that they do not act in isolation, but affect many chemical reactions in the body. This is especially important in patients taking multiple medications for cardiovascular diseases.

Indications

Drugs in this group are prescribed only by a doctor and he selects which active ingredient is suitable and its dosage. Usually, for this purpose, the risk of cardiovascular events is determined using a special scale, questionnaire, and tests are taken to determine the lipid spectrum and biochemical blood parameters. Today, statins are prescribed not only after heart attacks and strokes as secondary prevention. Under certain high-risk conditions, a doctor may use statins in the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease.

Dry patches with scales

Pink, raised, dry patches on the body and head may indicate psoriasis. With this dermatological pathology, raised plaques appear on the skin of a person - psoriatic papules. They protrude above the surface of the skin, cause intense itching and flake, and tend to spread and coalesce.

Psoriasis is a chronic autoimmune disease in which rashes are most often localized on the elbows, head, knees and groin. Dry pink spots covered with white scales are foci of chronic inflammation. Under the influence of internal autoimmune processes, epidermal cells divide several times faster than necessary. As a result, small flakes of dying skin cells are constantly separated.