Molting period cat

Losing hairs is perfectly normal for all animals which have hairs and plumes. The most spectacular example is the ermine: This animal molts his white winter fur in spring and gets a brown summer fur. This brown summer fur molts in fall and the ermine will get a snow-white fur.

Our pets also have a winter and summer fur and the period in which the exchange will take place is the molting period. It isn’t true that the animal will not lose hairs between these 2 periods: Each hair has a cycle of arising, growing, dying off and losing, but the lost takes place sparsely while the lost is mass in the molting period.

Normally the spring molt starts as soon as it has been warm for some weeks and the molt lasts 3-4 weeks, so mostly in the months: April, Mai, June. The fall molt starts as soon as the temperatures decreases and if it stays cold: October, November, and December, also during 3-4 weeks.

The skin of cats which only stay inside the house reacts less well: He doesn’t experience real temperature changes. Such cats have an extended molt, so that the owner practically notices hair lost the whole year.

The normal molt may not be treated, it is a natural process and you should realize this when you purchase an animal. Also consider this when you choose a certain breed: Hairs of a long-haired cat strike more and are harder to remove than those of a short-haired cat etc.

The only thing which you can (and by the  way should do in order to keep the skin in condition) in order to reduce flying around hairs as much as possible is combing the hairs daily and rub the cat with a moist cloth after having brushed him.

Loose hairs stick to the cloth and the fur itself becomes less static.

Brushing also makes sure that the molt is over much faster, it gives a good massage to the skin and it causes less hair balls. After all, the cat cleans its fur by means of licking and swallows loose hairs while doing this. Those hairs form a hair ball in the stomach which causes vomiting or constipation if the balls end up in the intestine.

Abnormal much molting
Such an extended molt can have various causes, varying from certain shortcomings in food until ecto parasites, allergy and general diseases with effect on the skin caused by a condition decrease of the body.

Just a few frequently occurring problems:

a) Shortcomings concerning fatty acids.  This is a shortcoming which occurs a lot and which is often overlooked. The skin gets drier, you sometimes see scales. The hairs are a bit dull and easily lose.
Extra unsaturated fatty acids must be supplied through the food. For a cat you usually use a fluid oily solution. After all the cat swallows liquid easier than powder or capsules.
Which type of unsaturated fatty acids you should use and which dose varies from patient to patient. The choice is determined by two factors: how bad is the skin and which food does the animal eat.

b) Shortcoming concerning general vitamins
This only seldom occurs nowadays since most cats eat good commercial food which contains vitamins and minerals in right quantities. It occurs however that an animal doesn’t digest a certain food completely and because of that eats insufficient or badly balanced nutrients. On long term this might cause skin and fur problems.
Animals which get food cooked by the owner himself can also have shortcomings or imbalance of certain nutrients. This occurs with cats. Cooking well for a cat is difficult: Often the cat will only eat the meat out of the food and will leave the vegetables/rice/bread behind. It goes without saying that in such cases a lack of vitamins/minerals will arise which has an effect on the skin.
The solution is the following: If you use certain commercial food, you can switch brands now and then or give a specific vitamin mixture, in consultation with your veterinarian. The owners who cook themselves must always give extra vitamins/minerals.
Vitamin/mineral mixtures exist in various forms: liquids, powders or tablets. One animal prefers the powder, the other the tablets…..the owner should test this.

c) ecto parasites (external parasites)
The presence of parasites on the skin at least brings itch and irritation, so that a dog or cat will excessively scratch or bite.
Because of this the animal will lose more hairs than usual. The most occurring parasites of the skin are fleas and louses. Louses can be destroyed easier by spraying the animal.
Fleas must be handled with a flea collar, flea drips, flea tablets or injections. If there are fleas you should also spray the house with a vlododende spray since fleas make nests in the house.
Other skin parasites are itch-mites, amongst others the scabies mite and the demodex mite.
The scabies mite can be controlled relatively easy with injections and lotions. The dermodex mite is much more resistant and gives more problems when you treat it.

Both mites must be diagnosed through microscopic research of a skin scrape.
When the skin parasites have been killed, the skin complaints like excessive molt will disappear.

d) Allergy
Allergy frequently occurs with pets. A human being usually reacts on it with breathing problems (sneezing, asthmatic coughing), the allergic animal usually has itch.
The itch causes the dog/cat to start scratching/biting more and the first symptoms therefore are excessive hair lost.
The solution for this is to find the cause of the allergy and do something about it. Causes might be: food (protein in the food), grass, trees, household dust, skin scales of human beings, dog or cat etc. Once you know the cause of the allergy you can “desensitize” it. This takes place by a number of injections so that the body is immunized with respect to the allergy-stimulant material. With this method you cure the allergy.
With medicines you can control the allergy but you cannot cure it. And there isn’t much choice when it comes to medication. Animals only react on cortisone preparations. The often used antihistaminic for the human being, doesn’t work for animals.

e) Bacteriums and scales
Skin infections (bacterium) or skin moulds affect the skin with symptoms like excessive hair lost. This hair lost is partly caused by scratching (itch) and partly because the hair follicles (the spot where the hair rises) are affected by the bacterium or mould.
Bacterial skin infections must be treated with right antibiotics. Usually a “culture” is taken from the skin bacterium in order to be able to see which bacterium it concerns and which antibiotic should be used.
Mould therapy consists of lotions and in worse cases: tablets. These tablet must be swallowed a long time (about 6 weeks) since the mould will otherwise easily return.

f) Hormonal problems
There are different kinds of hormones which, if there are too many or too few present, amongst others might cause skin problems. It goes without saying that a number of other symptoms will be present when it comes to hormone problems; the owner however will often first notice the skin problems.
In the beginning excessive hair lost will occur with each hormone problem.

*Deficit of female hormones with the castrated cat.
It might sound illogical for the layman: a tomcat produces a certain amount of female hormones in the testicles, next to male hormones. In case of castration the testicles are fully removed. Some tomcats get skin problems only after a long time because of the fact that the female hormones have been gone. The solution is rather simple: Giving female hormones through an injection which results in a beautiful skin. The disadvantage is that some tomcats get very thick.