# persian cat with skin problem



## blackcat38 (May 31, 2008)

Hi 
I recently took in a Persian cat from someone I know who couldn't look after him properly. He came to me in quite a state, had cat flu, urinary tract infection, crystals in his urine, had blood samples done to check his kidneys, ulcers in his mouth, hadn’t been neutered nor had any vaccinations and his coat was in really bad shape. I took him to the vet and had everything sorted out apart from his coat, I thought I’d tackle that myself, and it cost me around £400 

I tried brushing his coat but it was just too matted and I noticed dandruff in his fur as well. So I gave him the lion cut to give him a fresh start. When I shaved his fur off there were a lot of scabby skin at the base of his tail and bottom of his back. I thought maybe it was because of his fur being dirty before I had him as well as the matted fur; it might have been irritating his skin? I gave him a bath after shaving and the scabs went, but now his fur is starting to grow its getting scabby again producing flakes of dry skin. Does anyone know what causes this? Interesting note- the fur that’s growing in the scabby area is really course and prickly, feels like little whiskers, but everywhere the skin is normal his fur is extremely soft. He’s eating and playing like normal and doesn’t seem to scratch the area or is bothered when you touch it.

Has anyone experienced anything like this with their cats?
I would just take him to the vet if I hadn’t already spent £400 on him, so I’m really low at the moment and hopefully someone on here might be able to help me for free :2thumb:

Heres the man himself, his name is Frankie - a before and after the hair cut

















If anyone can help that would be fantastic
Rachel x


----------



## Shell195 (May 31, 2007)

Well done you Ive fostered many neglected Persians over the years and always have at least one that stays with me 4 ever.They are such a neglected breed. First off have you deflead him? Presuming you have it
sounds to me like he is just in poor condition. His skin will reflect the neglect hes had in the past(which is wher the scurf comes from). Feed him a good quaility diet, maybe hypoallergenic to start with and his skin should start to recover. Matted coats dont let the air get to the skin which creates sore skin sort of like wet excema this usually clears up once the coat is clipped off though so hopefully your gorgeous boy will soon be back to his former glory. Sometimes the clippers can make the skin flake if its not in good condition to start with 
If I remember rightly the cats weve had clipped have had a spiky feel in some parts as the coat has started to regrow
Hope this helps you a bit

ps Obviously if the skin condition gets worse you will have to take him for a vet check in case its something more serious


----------



## Shell195 (May 31, 2007)

Forgot to say hes a stunner :flrt::flrt::flrt: Well done for helping him out:notworthy:


----------



## blackcat38 (May 31, 2008)

Thanks for the reply, hopefully it will be because he's not a 100% and now his skin can breathe it might clear up. Yes he was wormed and defleaed as soon as he got home. If it gets any worse I will take him to the vets, there’s no point spending all that money and moaning about a couple more quid. 

I have to other cats, when he first came home the wouldn't have anything to do with him, they're really close and are always together and then I bring Frankie home and they're thinking what’s going on mum?! Bless him he didn't know how to play, didn't really wash himself, wasn't litter trained, and couldn't even jump up that well. Now he's like a new cat! he always plays with the other two and plays with toys by himself, and might I add is now litter trained :2thumb:

Thanks for the help 
Rachel x


----------



## minniemax (Mar 13, 2008)

He's lovely well done for giving him a loving home. I have 2 chinchilla persions who refuse to be brushed so they both have a lion cut every 6 months. Don't worry about your cats skin, as the other person said its probably just because his fur has been matted for so long. It will soon clear up. Enjoy him.


----------



## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

Poor cat! Thank goodness someone came along who cared enough to sort him out and by the sound of it he was badly in need of that someone!

Well done you! I'm sure Shell's right and he's just suffering from the neglect of a bad diet and totally matted fur close to his skin. Hopefully things will right themselves when he starts to pick up physically.

I take it he is neutered??


----------



## blackcat38 (May 31, 2008)

He wasn't when he first came home so had some behavioural problems around my neutered male cat (peeing in his bed) but he’s been done now and the vet gave me some tablets, zylkene, to de-stress him.
They all get one fine now and he's made his home with us


----------



## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

Ah! I see!

The reason I asked was because I was thinking maybe the problem with the top of his tail was actually a condition known as "stud tail" which, although it can affect neutered cats, is worse on entire males because of the hormonal secretions

Stud tail is actually feline acne and a similar condition to human acne - in other words it's an accumulation of greasy secretions from glands that are at the top of the tail.

These greasy secretions matt the fur and then dry up, causing scales and crusting which would be like flaking skin and scabs under the hair.

So, now that I know he wasn't neutered when you got him, I think the problem is stud tail and now that he's neutered it will improve. Clipping out the hair also helps and you've done that too. It would help if you bathed him in an acne preparation like Biactol or a medicated soap.

Just out of interest does he have any blackheads or black greasy bits in the hair in his chin? This is the other area where feline acne hits and feeding out of plastic bowls has been found to make the condition worse.


----------



## blackcat38 (May 31, 2008)

To be honest I've never noticed greasey hair or bits on his chin because his face is always either dirty or wet from eating and drinking so I have to wipe down his face with a damp cloth a couple of times a day. My other cats wash themselves all the time but he doesn't seem to, he's stated washing his face after eating but I don't see he grooming himself like the others.

How often should I bathe him? I bathe twice a month at the moment.

I only noticed it on his lower back but I've checked his tail skin (I didn't shave that) and its very greasey so I think your right. It's greasey up to about half way of his tail, do you think I should shave his tail too?

Thanks For you help
Rachel x


----------



## blackcat38 (May 31, 2008)

blackcat38 said:


> To be honest I've never noticed greasey hair or bits on his chin because his face is always either dirty or wet from eating and drinking so I have to wipe down his face with a damp cloth a couple of times a day. He eats and drinks from ceramic bowls too.
> My other cats wash themselves all the time but he doesn't seem to, he's stated washing his face after eating but I don't see he grooming himself like the others.
> 
> How often should I bathe him? I bathe twice a month at the moment.
> ...


I checked his chin, there is no greasiness on his fur


----------



## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

blackcat38 said:


> I only noticed it on his lower back but I've checked his tail skin (I didn't shave that) and its very greasey so I think your right. It's greasey up to about half way of his tail, do you think I should shave his tail too?
> 
> Thanks For you help
> Rachel x


No, you misunderstand me. Stud tail affects the top of the back at the base of the tail, it's not on the tail at all, it's just called stud tail. I understand you said it was worst at his back which is why I think that's what it is. There's no need to shave his tail, because you've shaved the base at the back which is where the problem lies.

I suspect his matted coat and general physical condition might have had something to do with him stopping grooming himself - there's nothing like a loss of self esteem to make an animal depressed and not care about himself. Now that you're caring for him and loving him and keeping him clean, he's beginning to feel better about himself and as you say starting to groom a bit. Hopefully he will continue.

As far as bathing him is concerned, you don't need to bath all of him, but you could bathe just his back where the scabbing and scaling is every week to 10 days with Biactol or a medicated soap and it will help get rid of it. However, like I said now that he's neutered and his hormones are raging as much, the condition will hopefully gradually calm down, so it shouldn't be long before he's back to normal.

The problem with chin acne is that it can be something as bad as this:










to something as mild as this










So you can see from the second picture that you're looking for little blackheads when it starts, to small bits of black grease that are secreting out of the skin after the blackhead stage, along the line of the gums and down into the chin. Your problem is that you've got a black cat and looking for blackheads on a black cat is much harder - a bit like looking for a black marble in a coalhouse!


----------



## Mosha (Mar 6, 2009)

*...*

Mite sound stupid but couldnt you try rubbing 100% Aloe Vera into his skin? You can buy it at boots, ive used it on one of my lizards as he doesnt shed well. Iv even used it on my head when its been shaved and have a few shaving nicks etc. It cools my skin and doesnt sting. 
Its just a thought lol.
Oh btw, he is bloody gorgeous. We had a white persian when we were younger, he didnt like being brushed and we had to wear welding gloves to do it :lol2:


----------



## blackcat38 (May 31, 2008)

I can't feel any scabs on his chin and the fur is grease free. the scabs at the bottom of his tail look like the scabs on the picture pic in this link, but not as bad
Feline acne and stud tail

But they are on his tail too and the fur is really greasey next to the skin. His tail looks fine to just look at it but when you dig down to the skin it looks like his back. I know I've shaved his back but do you think I should shave his tail to allow me to remove the grease and let his tail skin breathe?

Also I was horrified when I saw the persian with the dirty face condition on that link, I've never heard of stud tail until now


----------



## blackcat38 (May 31, 2008)

Mosha said:


> Oh btw, he is bloody gorgeous. We had a white persian when we were younger, he didnt like being brushed and we had to wear welding gloves to do it :lol2:


Thanks, he is quite handsome isn’t he :flrt: He’s not that bad when it comes to brushing but I was a bit worried when I came to shave him, I didn’t know what to expect and I’d never shaved a cat before, but he was really really good and let me do it with no problems :2thumb:


----------



## blackcat38 (May 31, 2008)

he also as one or two scabs around the bottom of his neck, is consistant with stud tail too?


----------



## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

blackcat38 said:


> I can't feel any scabs on his chin and the fur is grease free. the scabs at the bottom of his tail look like the scabs on the picture pic in this link, but not as bad
> Feline acne and stud tail
> 
> But they are on his tail too and the fur is really greasey next to the skin. His tail looks fine to just look at it but when you dig down to the skin it looks like his back. I know I've shaved his back but do you think I should shave his tail to allow me to remove the grease and let his tail skin breathe?
> ...


Well if his tail is bad, then maybe you should at least shave off a bit from the base of the tail where you can feel the scabs. Or you could try bathing it once a week with Biactol and hoping that it will clear it up instead because you've reduced the hormone levels that cause the grease secretions. By the way my sentence in my last post should have read "_now that he's neutered and his hormones_ *aren't* _raging as much, the condition will hopefully gradually calm down, so it shouldn't be long before he's back to normal_", but I presume you guessed that?

Well it's not a condition most pet owners would ever see or need to know about, cos most pet owners neuter their males.


----------



## blackcat38 (May 31, 2008)

feorag said:


> By the way my sentence in my last post should have read "_now that he's neutered and his hormones_ *aren't* _raging as much, the condition will hopefully gradually calm down, so it shouldn't be long before he's back to normal_", but I presume you guessed that?
> quote]
> 
> Yeah don't worry I guessed that lol
> ...


----------



## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

That's Persians for you - brain dead! :whistling2: 

The theory is that because their faces are so short, there's not as much room in the skull for a decent sized brain! :lol2:


----------



## pigglywiggly (Jul 19, 2008)

feorag said:


> That's Persians for you - brain dead! :whistling2:
> 
> The theory is that because their faces are so short, there's not as much room in the skull for a decent sized brain! :lol2:


:lol2:

one of my cats suffers with stud tail, my sunny gets it all down his top half of his tail .
i use oxy10 face wash on him and get shredded for my pains

he`s an ungrateful bugger.

well done you for taking him on, he looks a very gorgeous cat! now he`s in a happy home, on a good diet and without his juwels, his hormones should settle and his spots`ll clear up!


----------

