Poor pissed off flower!

Hivemind question for pet people:

Lucy (looks exactly like brenda's Lucy, for reference, breed, and size) is almost twelve. She's been pretty healthy, although last year she had awful fleas, and no matter what we did, she was scratching and digging and a mess. They're gone (thank god) but in the last month or two, she's been losing hair on her back. She's happy and healthy otherwise, so we've been in wait and see mode with it. She's getting up there, agewise, so.

We adopted a stray cat recently, too, and one of the things that struck us (aside from her partially missing tail) was how healthy she seemed for a stray. Fat and happy with a beautiful coat. She started living indoors when winter rolled around ... and now she's losing hair on her back, too.

Which is a little distressing, because now I'm wondering if it's something in the house. When it started with Lucy, we checked all her food against the recall lists, and she's never eaten any of it, so we figured it wasn't that. But both the cat and the dog, obviously, drink our water.

We don't, much. We used bottled, and all my water for tea is boiled. But the fact that the cat came indoors to live and started losing her coat, just like the dog, is weird and upsetting.

Any thoughts?

Thanks, y'all. Yeah, I'm fine and the cat is fine and all our stuff is fine. Unfortunately, I was in the midst of a bad asthma attack and the fire did nothing to help that at all. Went to the doc yesterday and had 2 breathing treatments and am much better today. It was a scary few hours, though. I kept imagining my apartment flooded, burned, or some combination of both.

Due to our maintenance staff, no one was hurt at all, so that was good. And the fire dept. contained the fire pretty well.

Is it wrong of me that the pissed off flower kitty made me laugh?

ChiKat! Jesus, I'm a horrible, guilty skipper.

::hugs ChiKat::

Pissed off flower kitty was posted for laughter, so not wrong at all.

Amy, you might want to take them to the vet. It sounds a bit like mange.

I looked up mange on wikipedia but it says it's uncommon in cats and the hair loss is more widespread and accompanied by a lot of scratching and biting.

still I'd be thinking it's vet time

Yuck. Okay. Thanks, sweetie. Sorry about the credit stuff from way earlier, too. That seems like a vicious circle.

Wow. I just looked at that page. I'm the worst pet-owner ever. I mean, I don't know if that's what it is, but still.

I can't find anything about mange passing from dog to cat. In fact the only thing I can find [in five minutes of web research] that passes from dog to cat is ear mites. Maybe you should stop petting them on the back so hard! (kidding)

You are SO NOT the worst pet owner ever!

I know. I just ... I need to take them both to the vet, and it's just not in the budget right now. I mean, at least the poor cat was fed and warm all winter, but she still has to have her tail fixed. When I say, "partially missing tail," I mean, she's got a STUMP. And it's by no means completely healed. Or, um, attractive.

Not that I was the one to run it over, of course. At least.

Amy, have you ruled out a flea allergy or a reaction to some sort of vegetation? Both of these can cause itchy, scratchy hair loss.

Is the stump seeping or inflamed? If it's not infected, then there really isn't much that can be done except to keep it clean and let it heal. Bandaging seldom ever works on the tail.

You have probably already thought of this, but local shelters usually contract with vets who are willing to offer services at a low rate for rescued animals.