Hello,
At least 6 months ago, I began to notice small spots on my cats outer-ears starting to form. Upon closer inspection they appear to be patches of hair loss, though it is quite difficult to tell, since his hair is so short. The patches appear to have increased in number, and possibly size/diameter. I took him to the vet over a month ago now, and the veterinarian said he had no idea what was causing the patches. No tests were done, such as blood tests or skin tests. He did say however that it was not ringworm, and it was unlikely to be a viral or fungal infection. He suggested it could be an autoimmune disorder. He gave my cat a corticosteroid shot and told me to see if there was any improvements in around 1 month to 6 weeks. It's been 6 weeks, and i have not noticed any improvement. The patches have seemed to increase, if anything.
I have been unable to find any other examples of these hair loss patterns on cats ears on the internet, and i am starting to get more worried. It looks like the patches have begun to move down closer to the base of his ears now (though as i said it is very difficult to tell since i had no baseline pictures from when i first noticed them). Before he did not seem bothered at all by the patches, but now i see him shaking his head after you touch his ears, and scratching them frequently enough to make me believe the spots are causing him some discomfort.
Here are some pictures:
http://oi35.tinypic.com/vrgimw.jpg
http://oi37.tinypic .com/2mmh8jk.jpg
http://oi35.tinypic.com/1fvad3.jpg
http://oi37.ti nypic.com/dqnbrk.jpg
http://oi34.tinypic.com/t7zf4g.jpg
http://oi3 5.tinypic.com/1zqynb9.jpg
I apologize if any of these pictures are not of my cat's ears. Tinypic is crap and overwrites your pictures within a few days. I can take more pictures if necessary. These pictures are all around a month old now. His right ear appears to have more bald patches now than it did before.
His ears dont appear to be inflamed, however they are quite warm to the touch (not sure if that is normal). I am curious if a food allergy could cause this? Keep in mind these patches have developed over a period of months. I fear that there is either something wrong with his organs and this is a red flag, or he will begin to lose hair all over his head, and the lesions might become much worse as they get larger, or that right now his skin is able to repair itself, but over time it will lessen and either scar or continually blister. I also fear the hair loss may be permanent.