Bad skin disease to identify, please help

[Ida]

(Hello. I'm here partly on behalf of the Finnish sphynx community, and will refer to it as "us".)
There's a homeless sphynx cat in shelter, and she has a terrible looking skin condition. We cannot identify the disease, nor the treatment. I'm posting pictures here in hopes you having bigger circles would have someone in your midst to recognize this illness.
We hope to have her adopted asap despite her appearance.

Ichthyosis and milia (milium) have been mentioned in the conversation, but with lack of photo references they have not been confirmed.

 

[Yoda mom]

I am not familiar with but wanted to say welcome and sending healing hugs and that you find some answers here on the Lair

Please keep us updatd! I am sure others will chime in!

 

[Ida]

Thank you for warm welcome. I'm hoping to have her disease identified as fast as possible, because the sooner she gets diagnosed, the sooner she will get adopted to a loving home and can start treatment. We don't know if she's in pain, and she's been in the shelter for at least a month already.

 

[Yoda mom]

@Ida , Is there a shelter vet or a nearby vet familiar with Sphynx that can give a second opinion to get some relief?
Sometimes skin issues are food or litter allergies ?

What is she eating ? Is she using in scented or unscented litter? Some brands of litter makes these guys prone to yeast infections-
Just trying to brain storm?

Perhaps there is a vet you can contact that will do a complimentary diagnosis for the shelter especially since this poor baby needs some relief - perhaps email some photos to a vets office ?

(( healing vibes))) sent! Please keep us updated!

What is her name? She looks soo sweet

 

[Ida]

I don't have any information of her previous living conditions. I've read that she has been "found", outside I suppose. So she may have been abandoned. At the moment I suppose she receives basic supermarket-grade food and uses cheap unscented litter, since shelters aren't quite rolling in money.

Nevertheless, it seems her condition has gotten slightly better since she arrived at the shelter. Her caretakers described her to have looked like a "toad" when they first saw her. There's only this teensy image of her, but perhaps you can see some difference.

It has been suggested that her previous owner oiled her skin, which resulted in this. (Note; generally we don't use any oils or moisturizers on sphynx skins, but opt for very mild shampoos for sensitive skin or babies.)

 

[Dallassummer]

Look up demadex and sacoptic mange, it looks alot like that!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mange

 

[Dallassummer]

Warning: these pictures are sad to look at.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5d/Demodectic_mange_2.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dc/Street_dog-Gianyar_Bali-2009.jpeg

 

[Ida]

Good morning folks. It's quite certain it's not mange, since she doesn't scratch her skin. Also the shelter would have tested for mange if there was any suspicion. Does anyone have information on water warts (molluscum contagiosum)? Is it even possible for a cat to have them? I read that if these warts get treated with cortisone the condition worsens.

I was also told about her diet. She gets grain-free dry food, some kitten food and her diet is high on protein. She also gets bathed, and they clean her ears too. Her eyes are okay, there's some gray discharge in normal levels. Her teeth are fine apart from a little bit of tartar.

 

[Toa and Ross]

Hello @Ida and welcome to sphynxlair for you and the Finnish Sphynx Community. Good to have you here.

I have no idea what it can be. I just spoke to my vet, she is specialized in sphynx and showed her your pictures. She says she never seen anything like that so bad. She said she has seen sphynx with wrats but never this much. Skin conditions can take a long time to clear up, she says, so if you see progress after a month then it will get better slowly!

Hope others chime in and give some suggestion. And I really hope somebody will look into the eyes of this girl and want to adopt her. She deserves a loving home.

 

[Catzzzmeow]

Since this baby has not had a consistent diet or care, it is probably going to be everyone's guess what the issue is. Once she is adopted and they can rule out allergies to food, litter etc hopefully things will start to improve. I hope you continue to fill us in on this story.

Patti

 

[Ida]

Thank you so much @Toa and Ross!! I really appreciate you seeing extra effort by contacting your vet! Hopefully there is someone, a vet or not, who knows what this is. Spreading the photos might prove useful.

At least we now know cats can have warts. It's also good news that skin heals slowly. Since she's gotten a little better in a month, perhaps she will keep on getting better. Maybe it's not a disease, but coming from wrong or no care. Maybe all she needs is time, grain-free food and baths? I'm quite hopeful!

 

[Ida]

Oh right, I've forgotten to mention; she's on the smaller side, and her age is something between 4-8. Her skin is not broken, and they appear somehow like whiteheads. If someone has experience with milia or whiteheads or something similar, I would love to have some photo references to show to others.

 

[Yoda mom]

Thank you for the additional info-
Sending prayers someone can help this sweetie

Are they sure it is a Sphynx? I ask because in my previous job i saw furred kitties with such bad skin conditions like
Dallassummer mentioned

Any vet nearby to contact?
Perhaps a veterinary teaching. University to send photos to?

Sending healing hugs!

We will keep researching answers here for kitty

 

[Hairless Blessing]

Welcome to sphynxlair, good to have you.
Glad you are going to give her a wonderful home. She deserves it.
Keep us updated on her. Best wishes.

 

[NinaGato]

I am at a loss for what this is. It might just take time a patient owner to love this cat and let her heal

 

[ilovemysphynx]

I agree with @Yoda mom are they sure it is a sphynx? the long whiskers are throwing me off.
I would test for mange again as @Dallassummer mentioned. we had a dog years ago with it and it took 3 vets and 10 tests to get a positive test result, it can be missed very easily under the scope.

 

[Yoda mom]

@Ida, how is sweetie doing?
What is her name?
Has there been any skin biopsies , blood tests, urinalysis?
http://www.cat-health-guide.org/cat-skin-problems.html

I would definitely agree with a skin scraping to rule out demodex , etc
This can be more prone in siamese and Burmese from what I read

I want to look up more about things along this too
http://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/skin/c_ct_dermatoses_vesiculopustular?

Has anyone come forward to adopt her and get a diagnosis and treatment plan?
She looks like such a sweetie that deserves a forever home.

Please keep us updated- I worry ahoy this poor sweetie

 

[Toa and Ross]

@Ida After @Yoda mom suggested that the cat maybe isn't a sphynx and also @ilovemysphynx is doubting due to the long whiskers I hurried back to my vet (I have to be there constantly cause one of my boys has some problems so it no extra effort at all).

The vet can't see it very well and out if photo she's hasitate to say something. She says she had een sphynxes with long whiskers. We think we see a little hair on the body. Is that correct? She thinks it's also possible the cat isn't a sphynx, specially cause she never did seen a skin conditions like this with a sphynx. But, as she said, she've seen a lot of sphynx but of course not allso you never know. There can be a disease that's she's not familair with.

So no clear answer, advice or tip but I wanted to share cause maybe it can help you in your search!

 

[Ida]

I suspected her breed too, because she has fur inside her ears and eyebrows. She's pretty surely a Don Sphynx, they have varying levels of hairlessness and have longer whiskers than Canadian Sphynxes. She does have a line of sparse fur going down her spine, you can see it in the photos if you look closely. She also did have blood in her stool when she came to the shelter, but that problem is gone.

She doesn't have a name, poor thing, since she was found. @Hairless Blessing, I personally cannot adopt her but there is one in our sphynx Facebook group who went to see her. She became a bit hesitant though, since the skin condition is very bad, her treatment might cost a fortune and it's not even sure the cat will heal. She's also afraid of the cat being in pain if touched, so obviously we don't want to push her to commit. We do have several members volunteered to pitch in for payments to have skin scraping and other tests made, we'll have to see how it actually works when the cat is still in the ownership of the shelter.

The shelter has made basic vet check-up, but no tests yet. I don't think the shelter can afford it, since they strongly recommend the new owner to take her to a vet specialized in skin conditions.

 

[Yoda mom]

@Ida, awh- she needs a little nick name
I am glad you are trying to get her in for the skin scraping-
We have a local vet that volunteers on weekends for the low cost shot clinics and often does special cases at very reduced costs- perhaps some calls around to vets and other shelters and explain the shelters circumstances - perhaps a referral

Perhaps they can start with the skin scraping first to rule out mites then blood tests after to save costs?

Thank you for keeping us updated on little sweetie

*** a long shot, but perhaps contact the local tv news media and run a story on the news to ask for help? Because of the unique circumstances?

 

[rasvavihannes]

Hello all and thank you for your replies to this topic!

I'm the one who took those photos and visited this poor cat at the shelter. She is a very, very sweet girl. I have one blurry pic of her face, for those who suspect her sphynxness.

 

[Ida]

@Yoda mom, I don't think media is a good idea. Sphynx is still a very small breed here, and it still has a bad reputation outside of cat circles. The shelter would consider this to be bad publicity too, and since it's located in the capital city it would be hard to keep it as "local news". Thank you for the idea, though. I'm sure it would work great in other circumstances!

We contacted one vet clinic specialized in cats, and they can look at the photos for free. Yess!

 

[Yoda mom]

Great news the clinic is looking at the photos!
Keep us posted on little miss crinkles

 

[Hairless Blessing]

Please keep us updated on her.

I suspected her breed too, because she has fur inside her ears and eyebrows. She's pretty surely a Don Sphynx, they have varying levels of hairlessness and have longer whiskers than Canadian Sphynxes. She does have a line of sparse fur going down her spine, you can see it in the photos if you look closely. She also did have blood in her stool when she came to the shelter, but that problem is gone.

She doesn't have a name, poor thing, since she was found. @Hairless Blessing, I personally cannot adopt her but there is one in our sphynx Facebook group who went to see her. She became a bit hesitant though, since the skin condition is very bad, her treatment might cost a fortune and it's not even sure the cat will heal. She's also afraid of the cat being in pain if touched, so obviously we don't want to push her to commit. We do have several members volunteered to pitch in for payments to have skin scraping and other tests made, we'll have to see how it actually works when the cat is still in the ownership of the shelter.

The shelter has made basic vet check-up, but no tests yet. I don't think the shelter can afford it, since they strongly recommend the new owner to take her to a vet specialized in skin conditions.

Hello all and thank you for your replies to this topic!

I'm the one who took those photos and visited this poor cat at the shelter. She is a very, very sweet girl. I have one blurry pic of her face, for those who suspect her sphynxness.

 

[Ida]

The cat clinic mentioned responded. They just write her skin looks very peculiar, and they can't really guess what it is from the photos only. They, too, recommend to have a skin sample taken.

It's unlikely to be mange, since I think people handling her would've caught it too already.

Her breed still raises questions, since apparently Don Sphynxes don't tend to have fur inside their ears. Another naked breed, Peterbald, is considered too. The shape of her head and face indicates she's not a common housecat or any cat breed with rounder face. She can be a mix, and could have originally had full body of hair. There has even been suggestion that her hair has been removed, resulting her skin condition. I think that's a horrible thought, and luckily I don't believe it's the case since her hair would have started to grow back already and those bumps don't look like ingrown hair.

Her potential adopter, @rasvavihannes called the shelter and they're figuring out if someone else can take her to the vet. The shelter doesn't have enough resources to take her themselves, but it's unclear if and how an outsider could take her. For her bathing, they use medical shampoo, in addition her special diet, so they take very good care of her.