Nic has always been an itchy cat and prone to over grooming. When he was about 3 years old, I took him to a vet that specialized in skin conditions. She said that he had an allergy to fleas and that one flea bite would agrivate his skin. The vet suggested using the popular flea drops, this was a few years ago so I don’t remember the brand.
Well, within a short period of time, he got a bald spot on the back of his neck, at the point where the flea drops were placed. And then the bald spots kept spreading, until they covered his whole body. And of course, he groomed incessantly. I only gave him the one dose, but the balding spots went all through the summer. By fall he stopped getting bald sots, but we were well into winter before his coat grew back. The following summer he again developed bald spots, though at about half the amount of the previous year. Again, they stopped in fall and grew back by winter. The third year he was back to his normal coat with no more spots.
This was a few years ago, around ’03. I had heard that the flea spots could cause bald spots in some cases, but did not imagine that it would be as drastic or long lasting as it was. Possibly by now they have modified the medication to not have this affect – but I’m not willing to try it again. At the same time as Nic got the dose, his friend Mikey got a dose as well. Mikey got a small bald spot where the flea dose was administered but it did not go any farther than that.
I’ve since learned that these drops are not a flea repellant, but instead the chemicals work into the pets blood and the fleas then bite, drink the blood and die from the poisons. Which means the chemicals and flea poisons are moving throughout the animals body via the blood stream.
I’ll be posting pictures of Nic with the bald spots, as well as a recent photo so you can see how handsome and fluffy he is now!