Louis Catorze’s above-eye fur is thinning, and the skin around his eyes is starting to look a little thick and leathery. Given that these signs often indicate a resurgence of all his old problems, this makes me very anxious indeed. I am also somewhat baffled as he has been well for such a long time, and I cannot imagine what could have triggered this.
We have had the central heating cranked up unusually high lately, and, historically, his issues have been worse in cold weather. But, other than that, there have been no changes whatsoever in anything we have done. He is eating exactly the same food, and everything in his environment is as it has always been.
He is perfectly fine in every other way – eating, drinking, screaming and sprinting around the house with bulging psycho eyes whilst chasing imaginary prey (or at least I hope it’s imaginary) – so I guess he can’t be THAT unwell. But, to be on the safe side, I am turning the heating down when I can, even if this means the rest of us are cold.
Cat Daddy, shivering in two jumpers and a blanket: “[Unrepeatable mutterings.]”
Please keep your fingers crossed for him – Catorze, I mean, not Cat Daddy – and let’s all hope that it’s nothing rather than something.
jesuisleroisoleil 
You know it just might be something to do with the temperatures. I lived in Riga, Latvia for over 20 years. There I adopted my cat Sid. He has long fur. In the winters in northern Europe there were periods the temps went down below zero and stayed there for a while. The house had to be heated and Sid went through many changes. He had the thinning fur about the eyes, he had fur coming off once leaving bald patches on his back. Well, we thought hail and farewell this cat is not long for this world. Then suddenly the temps changed, things got better and he was back out in the garden running around like crazy. Through all this time of good and bad he continued eating like a horse. My life drastically changed and I returned to my homeland the US. I brought my Sid with me. He is know 12 years old, no more problems, still eats like a horse, and is now the king of the rooftop of the house where I live and he loves his Bohemian lifestyle. I hope that it is just some changes your cat is going through also.
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Thank you for your lovely story about Sid! He sounds like an absolutely delightful cat. Is he a black cat? I think the thinning fur is a black cat phenomenon, but Sa Maj’s is looking especially bad at the moment. 😐
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If the heat has been on, is it drier inside? If so, humidity might help… I tend to feel itchy when my skin gets dry, I tend to scratch… have you noticed him scratching?
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He has been scratching a bit, but when we adopted him we were told that he’d always be that way inclined. That said, my skin has been drier than desert sand lately despite me generously layering on the moisturiser. I will try adding some bowls of water around the house and see if that helps him. Thank you!
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I became acutely aware of how dry air can get in the wintertime when we lived in Alaska (ages ago)… The air was so dry that you could throw out a cup of hot coffee at 70 below and only dry specs would land on the ground. The quickest way to add humidity indoors is boiling water.
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Fingers crossed!
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I’m thinking that Le Roi has a bit of a VEt addiction…
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It’s been some time since he last went! Really hoping he doesn’t have to go back quite yet.
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All fingers, toes and paws crossed here xxxxx
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