2 Cats with similar symptoms

Question
In September I purchased a cat for my 2 kids. The cat was abut 10 months old. After a couple of weeks went by, he started showing these following symptom, which had progressively got worse on a daily basis. First his eyes got crusty and brown all around the edges. Then he started losing his hair around the outside of the ears. And then eventually  lost hair straight down from the ears down to the eyes. On both sides (down from both ears down to both eyes). Well, we took him to the vet. Without testing, he said that the symptoms looks typical of Auto Immune Disease. And he gave him a steroid injection. he said if it was Auto Immune disease, we would start to see improvement within a week. If it was Auto Immune disease he would need daily medication for his entire life. Well,not knowing specifically what was wrong, we gave the cat away to someone who could give him better care. well, a couple of weeks later, which was just a couple of days ago, we adopted 2 kittens(not from the same litter though) they are about 10  or 11 weeks old). Well, I just took a look at one of them, and It looks as though she may be getting one of the same symptoms as the other cat. She looks as though she is losing some hair starting up from the ears down to the eyes. Well, this seems too much of a coincidence to be autoimmune disease. Could it be some kind of allergy. could they possibly be allergic to the same thing. Maybe something in that room that they stay in that is triggering this same symptom? Are cats ever allergic to a brand of kitty litter? I cannot figure out what this could possibly be. Could you have any insight? Thank You. Roberta  

Answer
Symptoms of allergies and auto immune disease are very similar.  With more than one cat having the same symptoms, I think you're more likely looking at some sort of irritant in the air.  Could be the brand of kitty litter.  If you use Febreeze around the house at all, I would stop using this.  It causes hair loss and skin irritation in lots of pets.  

I think the possibility of a fungal infection or mange should also probably be considered, since these are highly contagious, even though the cats never met (they can be spread through bedding, etc.).  These usually cause a typical pattern of hairloss or skin irritation that is easily recognized.  However, there are always atypical cases.

I'm at a loss as to why the vet panicked you about treatment, however.  Most cats with auto immune disease or skin allergies will respond to one or two injections with cortisone and then be fine for a long period.  I've got several cats and a dog with auto immune disease, and they've all gone years between needing cortisone shots.  There are few who end up needing daily treatment.  

Hopefully, this will be something easy to solve, but I do recommend this kitty see a vet, as well.  Honestly, I'd recommend seeing a different vet because I personally feel this vet gave you a much worse treatment forecast than was reasonable at the time.  And remember that no kitties come with lifetime health guarantees.  Like us, every one of them will need health care throughout their lives, and we never can be sure what that will entail.  You might want to consider pet health insurance to help you pay for unexpected vet expenses.  There are several companies out now.  You can check out one company at http://www.petinsurance.com/