The overall condition of your feline’s skin and coat are significant signs of its well-being. A sound coat should be sparkling and smooth, not coarse or fragile, and healthy skin should be flexible and clear, not oily, flaky, or uneven.
Although well-being and nourishment impact the sparkle and surface of your feline’s fur from within, daily grooming and healthy skin outwardly will likewise assist with keeping your feline’s fur perfect and free of tangles, regardless of the kind of its hair coat.
Table of Contents
Cat Losing Hair on Tip of Tail: Why and What to Do?
There are multiple reasons why your cat’s losing hair on the tip of her tail. It could be the presence of parasites, skin disease, poor diet, or even stress. Diagnosis is critical as it will help the vet decide the suitable treatment for your feline friend so she can rock a healthy, shiny coat.
1. Parasites
Parasites can cause problems in cats in a multitude of ways. Some of them can latch onto the cat such as fleas, ticks, and mites. While others prefer living in the cat’s intestines such as ringworms.
Fleas, for instance, cause a rash or an itch. Fleas often trigger the cat to gnaw and nibble on its tail to gain access to it. This could happen if you allowed her to run outside without taking preventative measures against insects.
Users Also Read: Cat’s Sides Sunken After Spaying (Explained)
All you need to do is regularly check your furry friend’s coat using your fingers. Examine her for bumps, wounds, knotted hair, or irregular patches. Insect bites are tiny, irritated, red spots. Bugs can be easily spotted, particularly behind the neck and tail region. Ringworm could be seen as round patches that might be dark or red and layered.
If you happen to find any of those, then your little one probably has parasites. For extra precaution, you could perpetually run a flea comb through your cat’s fur to make sure it’s insects-free, even if your cat doesn’t go out, better safe than sorry.
Your veterinarian will recommend convenient flea/tick care for your feline friend. However, it’s advisable to give your cat its deworming and tick/flea care dosage on time and avoid missing it. Again, better safe than sorry.
2. Boredom
Cats are boisterous; they don’t like feeling bored. They’ll chew up on pretty much anything, including their tails. Your cat’s more likely to chew on its tail if she’s still young as she hasn’t grasped the idea of her tail yet.
There are a bunch of things you could do to keep your little one entertained. First, you need to provide them with enough toys and change them up every while. Second, you could run a game of hide and seek as it helps stimulate their brains. Most importantly, you should pay enough attention to them so they don’t feel lonely or bored.
3. Stress
Stress is another reason that could be behind your cat’s hair loss. Cats are delicate beings. The slightest change in their routine or surroundings might cause them uneasiness. For instance, the difference could be in their food, the addition of a new pet, or a visit from an unknown relative or friend.
Be patient while waiting for your little one to adjust. Showering her with extra attention and care usually reduces the stress and can minimize hair loss accordingly.
Related:
– I Can See My Cat’s Heart Beating, Is That Normal?
– Why Is My Cat Losing Weight When Its Blood Work Is Normal?
– Should I Worry About Cat Xiphoid Sticking Out of Place?
4. Improper Grooming
Poor grooming and overgrooming could be other reasons why your cat’s losing hair on the tip of its tail.
Poor Grooming
Poor grooming could easily result from your cat’s inability to clean itself, especially its tail. That could happen for a variety of reasons. It could be due to the cat’s obesity or illness.
Some cats don’t know to clean themselves properly as they might have been taken away from their mothers earlier than expected.
Overgrooming
Overgrooming could surprisingly cause hair loss for your feline friend. It doesn’t necessarily have to be your fault. It’s a result of your furry friend’s impulsive licking. To explain, while licking’s a natural piece of a feline’s routine self-cleaning, they tend to over-groom, making bald spots visible.
This impulsive licking can be brought about by various variables, including hypersensitive responses, injury, stress, bugs, or other medical issues.
5. Physiological Issues
Hormonal imbalance, Cushing’s syndrome, and alopecia are the most common physiological reasons behind your cat’s hair loss. Other physiological reasons could be skin cancer or melanoma.
Some cats may experience skin irritation as a result of the dry winter conditions, especially the lack of humidity in our households.
Your veterinarian will determine the underlying issue and symptoms for your feline’s hormonal balance. It might be causing an increased feeling of thirst, excess sebum production, or coat color changes. Accordingly, they’ll advise the needed hormonal shots.
Remedies and Treatments
Before taking your feline to the vet for treatment, there’re a few stages you can take to evaluate the reason and perhaps treat her yourself.
Home Remedies
If you discover an underlying issue during the examination, eliminate it. If you think your cat’s distressed, spend extra time with it. If at all possible, minimize unnecessary pressures. If applicable, switch to a former shampoo or diet, or try hypoallergenic food.
Remove any matted fur from your cat’s body and trim its claws. Long claws may enable a cat to scrape itself aggressively. Consequently, she’ll have the urge to lick the lesion.
Feliway can be used to help soothe your cat. Feliway’s a recombinant pheromone that mimics the natural oral pheromones of cats and functions as a relaxing aid.
Use over-the-counter cat medications from your local pet store or veterinarian. Soothing creams, anti-itch sprays, and shampoos are examples of such products.
An Elizabethan collar could also be a good solution. This cone-shaped collar will keep your cat from approaching the area she has been licking.
Veterinarian Visit
As mentioned above, upon diagnosis the vet will decide what your pet needs. It could be allergy shots, antibacterial cream for infection, a change in diet, or vitamins and supplements as aids for your feline’s immunity.
Conclusion
Cats love to groom themselves as it’s in their nature. They enjoy having clean, shiny, and healthy coats. Therefore, it’s frustrating when you see your cat losing hair on tip of its tail.
It could be losing it due to parasites, feeling bored, stress, poor grooming, overgrooming, poor diet, or various physiological reasons.
You could opt for home remedies if you could correctly diagnose your pet following straightforward steps. However, if the cause’s physiological or genetic, a trip to the vet is necessary to assess your pet’s condition properly.
No matter what the reason behind your cat’s hair loss is, it’s guaranteed that it’ll grow back. If the cat’s healthy, its fur can grow back fast. It’s a lot quicker for a short-haired cat, though. It’s only a matter of a few months till your feline friend gets its gorgeous coat back.
I’ve been living with cats since 2008 and I can confidently say I have more feline friends than humans lol. I currently live with 5 cats in different life stages; two of them are less than one year old, one is 2-ish years old and the oldest two are 9-ish years old. I’ve developed a strong bond with cats over the years and I’m eager to share my experience through this blog. You can learn more about my cats here.