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Bald patches on the head are a sign of a fungal skin infection.
Fungal infections in cats can be quite a nuisance and even pose a danger to you as a cat owner. Why this is so and how you can protect yourself and your cat from fungal infections is what you’ll find out here.
In short: Yes. Fungus on the skin is a zoonotic pathogen and, therefore, contagious to both animals and humans. That’s why it’s crucial to handle your sick cat only with gloves and to maintain strict hygiene.
Fungi can grow on any part of the skin. However, they most commonly occur on a cat’s head (especially the ears), back, legs, or tail.
Typically, these fungi cause the fur to fall out in a circular pattern or scatter across the affected skin area. This [hair loss (alopecia)] can spread to large patches across the skin.
Furthermore, the affected skin area is often dry and greasy. If the fungal infection spreads to nearby structures such as the subcutaneous tissue, hair roots, or claws, these can become inflamed and turn red.
Depending on the location and extent of the infection, sick cats may also display the following symptoms:
A vet cannot always differentiate between a fungal infection and other infectious skin diseases (e.g., bacteria) or hormonal causes at first glance. To definitively diagnose a fungal infection, they may use the following methods as part of a differential diagnosis:
After carefully removing a piece of skin, including the subcutaneous tissue with a biopsy punch, your vet sends the sample to a pathologist for examination. The pathologist then cuts the sample into thin slices and stains it. If fungi have damaged the cells, the pathologist can see the changes through the staining.
Microbiologists can grow fungi on special media. They then apply a fungal colony onto a slide and examine it under a microscope. Based on certain characteristics, the type of fungus can be determined with relative certainty.
To examine the fur down to the hair roots for fungi, the vet takes a deep skin scraping and looks at it under a microscope.
There are species of fungi whose fungal spores fluoresce under UV light or black light from a Wood’s lamp. Although your vet can perform this method quickly, they need to employ at least one of the other methods to detect non-fluorescent fungi (e.g., Trichophyton).
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To combat your cat’s fungal infection long-term, the vet prescribes special medications called antifungals. You must administer these to your cat over several weeks in tablet form (systemic treatment) and also apply ointments to the affected skin areas (local treatment). Shaving your cat’s fur is advisable so that the active ingredients can penetrate the skin better.
Find out here some tricks to give your cat tablets.
To avoid contracting the fungal infection yourself, you should handle your cat only with gloves throughout the entire treatment period and clean your pet’s environment. Also, disinfect all objects such as toys, the litter box, or the food bowl. If possible, you should quarantine your cat with the fungal infection from healthy animals.
After the therapy, the vet examines your cat again to check the success of the treatment. If fungi are still present, they extend the treatment for a few more weeks. The treatment is only complete when all the fungi have disappeared.
The prognosis for a fungal infection in a cat depends on the type of fungus. Generally, however, it heals within a few weeks or months without severe complications as long as you treat your cat according to your vet’s instructions and remove all infectious fungal stages from the environment.
There are two different types of fungal infections: dermatophytoses and dermatomycoses.
Dermatophytes include all fungi that affect the fur and claws of your cat. While cats are particularly prone to infection with Microsporum, Trichophyton is less common by comparison.
If a fungus affects only the outer layer of the skin and not the subcutaneous tissue, vets refer to it as dermatomycoses. The genus Malassezia is the most well-known dermatomycosis in cats, but our feline friends are far more likely to be affected by Microsporum.
Your pet can easily pick up fungi from contact with infected peers or contaminated objects. Whether your cat becomes ill or simply acts as a carrier depends on its immune system.
Cats whose immune systems are weakened, including old, sick, and very young cats, are particularly susceptible to fungal infections. However, healthy cats can also suffer from an infection. To prevent this, you should:
This article from zooplus Magazine is purely informative. If your pet is experiencing discomfort, contact your veterinarian for diagnosis and treatment.
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At the Justus-Liebig-University of Giessen I was extensively trained as a veterinarian and was able to gain experience in various fields such as small animal, large animal and exotic animal medicine as well as pharmacology, pathology and food hygiene. Since then, I have been working not only as a veterinary author, but also on my scientifically driven dissertation. My goal is to better protect animals from pathogenic bacterial organisms in the future. Besides my veterinary knowledge, I also share my own experiences as a happy dog owner and can thus understand and enlighten fears and problems as well as other important questions about animal health.
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