Cat Losing Hair After Groomer Visit

by Lori R
(Dallas, Texas, USA)

We recently took our 9 year old Persian to a cat groomer where he received a bath and a lion cut. When we picked him up afterwards, I noticed that his ear was a bit red around the edge like it had been cut and the areas around his neck where he had mats looked like they had just been pulled out, the skin in these areas looked irritated and the hair was missing. I never called to talk with them about it, but my husband and I decided to find another groomer next time.

It's been about 2 weeks now and I've been noticing small clumps of hair on our furniture and on the floor every morning when I wake up. The hair on his neck and head area seems to be thinning out and last night I noticed a red blister like area on his back near his shoulder blades. It's about the size of a pea and it looked fresh. At first I thought maybe our dog and accidentally hit him or stepped on him with his huge paws but today I was grooming him and noticed that he has LOTS of small red blisters and scabs all around his head and grey blisters/bumps along his back.

We groom our pets regularly and have not seen any sign of fleas. They are all strictly indoor animals. He doesn't scratch or seem to itch excessively, in fact, I'm not so sure it bothers him, but it concerns me. I'm wondering if this is something I should bring up with the groomer or if I should take him to see a vet. He was groomed and cut before by the same people about 3 months ago and I did not notice skin or hair conditions before other than the usual shedding. We did recently adopt a kitten and they play often, but the wounds seem a little bit too large to be inflicted by her.

Any advice?



Veterinarian Recommendation: Cat Hair Loss After Visit to Groomer



Hello Lori,

I do think it would be in your cat’s best interests to be seen by a veterinarian. The list of possible causes for skin lesions like you describe is quite long. A physical examination and a few laboratory tests are usually required to get to the bottom of cases like these. I generally start by running a skin scraping to rule out mites, a fungal culture for ringworm, and skin cytology to identify yeast or bacterial infections.

It is possible that the grooming session may have been an instigating factor, your new kitten may have brought something into your home, or your cat’s skin disease may be completely unrelated to either of these two factors. Whatever is the case, you run the risk that his condition will worsen, possibly spread to other individuals in the house, and become more difficult to treat if it is not addressed in a timely manner.



Best of luck,

Jennifer Coates, DVM