Why is my cat getting bald patches and losing hair on his legs?

Question

My cat is just under a year and has stuffers hair loss. It's has started to get bald patches on all of his legs. He is a black cat and if you look closely he has short grey hair in those patches, very thin. He is acting completely normal but very confused what this might be and what is causing it. Would be really great to get some advice on what it could be and how we can get it treated as a few vets are said a couple of things but it's not getting better. Pet's info: Cat | British Shorthair | Male | neutered | 11 months and 3 days old

Dr. Massimo Orioles, DVM, Cert AVP, MRCVS · Accepted Answer

There are common causes of it which are flea allergy dermatitis, psychological (stress related) overgrooming and infections (especially fungal and bacterial infections). The approach to the problem must be quite logic. This is probably due to a severe allergy, although it could also be fleas, infection or mites.  First of all, in order to rule out skin parasites, you will need to treat with a high quality flea treatment (advocate or advantage), then ask the vet to perform a skin scrape - this might reveal an infection or a mite infestation.   If all of those came back negative, the next step is to treat the allergy symptomatically and try to discover the cause of the allergy.   Three main type of allergies are usually affecting pets: food allergies, flea and parasite related ones and environmental type (allergens coming from trees, pollins, dust etc etc). Some medications can be given by the vet in order to repair the skin lesions if present (steroids and antibiotics). Please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation (where you can post pictures ) if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further.

Why is my cat getting bald patches and losing hair on his legs?

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