Cat Weight Loss Hair Loss

cat weight loss hair loss
Skinny Cat whose black hair is turning red?

I feed some feral cats in my yard. One has become very skinny even though there is plenty of food. She is a totally black cat but a lot of her hair has turned red which I understand can be a sign on anemia. Several times I have been able to get behind her while eating and put Revolution on her which gets rid of round and hook worms. I understand hook worms can cause anemia. I saw her stool once and it was firm. At one time it wasn’t. However, would tape worms also create this problem. When I look up the symptoms of tape worms on the internet it just mentions a little rice in the stool. It doesn’t mention weight loss, anemia etc. I hope we can catch her and get her to the vet which probably won’t be easy.

Her eyes are very clear and she shows no respiratory problems.

She could have some sort of disease such as feline leukemia (FeLV) or feline aids (FIV) both of which cause cats to become unhealthy and skinny before eventually killing them. Unfortunately, there is no cure and the diseases are common especially in ferals because they are much more exposed. If you do manage to get her in to the vet, thats probably the first thing they’ll recommend. Worms could be a possible cause, but they don’t usually make them really sick unless they are extremely infected. She could have something going on with her kidneys/liver.. who knows. If the FeLV/FIV combo test comes up negative, it would probably be a good idea to have bloodwork run if you’re willing to spend the money. Like I said, feral cats are a lot more exposed to disease, so sometimes there’s not much you can do for them.