Shedding Some Light on a Hairy Situation
By Rob Spooner
Q: My cat sheds all over my apartment. I got a shorthaired cat so that I wouldn’t have as much hair all over the place. Is this normal?
A: Shedding is a normal part of having a body covered with fur. Unlike human hair, a strand of cat (or dog) fur grows to a set length and is then shed and replaced by a new hair. Except in certain nonshedding cat breeds like Devon rex, or dog breeds like schnauzers and poodles, shedding is a normal process. Fur is shed all year long, but the amount varies depending on the season. Winter and summer coats are lost and replaced, so as the days become longer at this time of year, increased shedding is normal.
You can reduce the amount of hair in your home by brushing your cat on a regular basis. A vigorous brushing will dislodge those hairs that are waiting to fall out before winding up on your carpet. If your pet is not vacuum-phobic, you may be able to suck the hair directly into your vacuum.
Excessive shedding may indicate an underlying health problem. Poor-quality diets and vitamin/mineral deficiencies can result in a dull coat, dry skin and fur that falls out readily. A diet change, usually to a better-quality food, sometimes helps, although the effects might take a few weeks to be obvious. Adding an essential fatty acid (EFA) supplement to the diet may also help improve the quality of the skin and the coat. Salmon oil and wild fish oil are good EFA sources and are readily available in capsule form from most health food stores. Poke a hole in a gel capsule with a pin and squirt one-fourth to one-third capsule onto your cat’s food daily (a larger dose for dogs, depending on their size—check with your veterinarian).
Increased shedding accompanied by itchiness, bald patches, or red, inflamed skin, suggests a more serious health issue. These symptoms could be caused by allergies, infections, and internal and external parasites like fleas, worms, mites on the skin or in the hair follicles, and ringworm (a fungal infection of the hair shaft). All these problems can usually be diagnosed and treated by your veterinarian.
Allergic dermatitis can cause similar symptoms and can arise from sensitivity to a wide variety of substances. Food, fleas, and environmental components can all contribute to allergic reactions. Even if your pet is strictly indoors, cotton and wool fibers, house dust and dust mites, pollens, molds and dust coming in through windows can all result in itchiness and hair loss. Controlling an allergic skin problem may be as simple as administering an antihistamine during the appropriate season, but more often it takes time and patience to weed out the offending agents.
If the shedding isn’t accompanied by itchiness and seems to decrease as the change in season progresses, it may just be seasonal. If your pet seems to be uncomfortably itchy (and you’re getting itchy, too) or if the shedding results in bald patches, please take your pet to your veterinarian immediately.