My cat has black/beige specks on her skin. Is it fleas or mites?

Question

Hi, I was petting my cat and found these black/beige specks on her. The biggest difference being these are only in two small areas. One on her lower back, and one on her tail. Roughly the size of a toonie. I thought it might be fleas or flea dust but the images I found are not quite what this stuff is. I did the damp paper towel test and there was no residue on the paper towel. What is it? Pet's info: Cat | Mixed Breed | Female | spayed

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

This is probably due to an allergy, although it could also be infection or mites. First of all, in order to rule out skin parasites, you will need to treat with a high quality flea treatment (even if the test you did was negative!), 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, pollens, dust etc etc). Some medications can be given by the vet in order to repair any possible skin lesions (like steroids and antibiotics). Please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further.

My cat has black/beige specks on her skin. Is it fleas or mites?

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