What are some common skin conditions in cats?

The things we see most are allergies. I like to break allergies into categories—environmental allergies caused by various pollens and things in the environment; Flea allergies, which are prevalent here in Fort Worth, Texas; and then food allergies, which is an allergy to a specific protein. So any combination of those occurs frequently. We often see certain infectious diseases like ringworm in younger cats, but they can infect a cat of any age. Different types of mites can affect a cat in different ways. Ear mites and different skin mites are relatively prevalent in younger cats in particular. Skin cancer, unfortunately, is not uncommon in cats. There's a variety of different types, some benign and others malignant. Skin cancers occur more often in middle-aged to older cats. Those are the broad categories we come across frequently.

We commonly see parasites in cats. Fleas are always a concern with cats. We also sometimes even will see ticks with cats. We see skin infections, fungal infections, and bacterial infections. Cats get abscesses very frequently. Food allergies are a problem with cats. There's a syndrome called an eosinophilic granuloma and eosinophilic plaque in cats. So there are lots of different things that we see with cats.

The number one condition that we see in cats for skin issues is allergies. We'll get a little bit more into that in just a second. We can also see problems with ringworm, which is caused by a fungus, not a worm. On occasion, we see issues with cancer, sadly, but they can be addressed as well. Sometimes, we'll see behavior issues that can also result in skin issues.