homeless cats in neighborhood

Question
I started feeding a feral cat in my neighborhood and have attracted another cat. The first cat has healthy looking fur and tail, but the other cat has very coarse fur and a looks to have a bald spot at the base of his tail. I saw another cat last night with silky healthy looking fur, but this cat had the same looking bald spot at the base of his tail.It appears that both cats' tails gets thinner at the base. Do you know if the appearance of the tail being thin is lack of nutrition, or something more serious? Thank you.

Answer
The cats are probably scratching at the base of their tails due to fleas... if you can trap them to get them spayed and neutered so they don't have tons of kittens in the spring, you will be doing the entire neighborhood and the cats a big favor - and the cats can be treated for fleas while under.

For info on how to help feral cats by trapping. spay/neuter and return, go here:

http://www.alleycat.org/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=285

another way to reduce fleas on the feral cats is to sprinkle diatomaceous earth in areas where they sleep or hang out (never apply directly to pets and do not breath the dust):

http://www.ghorganics.com/DiatomaceousEarth.html