cat fur regrowth

Question
my cat is a very handsome tuxedo semi-longhair. he had both sides and his tummy shaved for investigations into what turned out to be severe acute pancreatitis and severe inflammatory bowel disease. obviously his fur is the least of his problems but i am curious about the regrowth.

it's been around 5 months now and the 'black' regrowth is about an inch long. however it's grey and fuzzy like it's all underhair. i thought it was the guard hair that grew back first? (the white tummy regrowth isn't so obvious as it's just white).

will he get his soft silky luxurious black coat back eventually?

many thanks in advance.

Answer
Pamela,

Barring any medical reason for sparse hair growth (this can include compulsive over grooming) I see no reason why your cat's coat shouldn't grow back nicely and be just as beautiful as before. As with humans some cats take longer to grow their fur back once it's been shaved or clipped short. If you are at all concerned about the way that your cat's coat is growing back or how long it's taking to grow back by all means please consult your veterinarian just to be sure that there isn't some sort of medical issue at play here.

Hopefully your little guy is feeling much better since his diagnosis. In my experience (my older male kitty has issues with pancreatitis and inflammatory bowel flare ups periodically) feeding your kitty a top quality canned food or homemade diet should help to alleviate his symptoms. I've found that offering several small meals each day as opposed to one large meal also helps because the kitty's body doesn't become quite as overwhelmed trying to process their meals and it's closer to how their meals would happen if they were wild (typically wild cats don't get one or two large meals, they graze throughout the day on several small meals of prey). Adding fiber to his diet in the form of pure canned pumpkin or even cooked butternut squash that you've pureed and added to canned food can also help his body to cope with the bowel related issues and ensure that his pancreas isn't overburdened trying to cope with excess amounts of fatty food. A point of interest about kitty kibble: It tends to be highly processed and fat is sprayed directly over the finished kibbles to add to palatability. Once we stopped feeding kibble as a regular staple our boy with bowel and pancreatic issues settled down dramatically.

Hopefully this information helps. If you would like I would certainly be interested to hear updates on your kitty's condition and how his coat is growing back. If you have any further questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me again at any time - I'm more than happy to help in any way that I can.

Kind regards,

Ali