raw skin patch

Question
My stray cat that I adopted as a kitten one year ago, now appears with a raw patch of skin in her neck (under her chin). What could tnis be?

Answer
My apologies for not responding sooner to this question -- I have been having some health issues and had to restrict my typing time.

Does this cat go outside or have any contact with other cats/dogs?  If so, it may be a fungal infection such as ringworm. While not life-threatening, this can be a very serious health issue because it is one of the things that animals can pass on to humans. You would need to take her to a vet to determine this.  Very important -- if the vet DOES think it is ringworm, you should know that the preferred medication, Sporonox, is incredibly expensive. I'm talking well over $100 to treat one cat. There is an older medicin, Griseofulvin, that has more side effects, but it is about half the price. Hopefully your vet will explain the pros and cons and let you make the choice.

I may be jumping to conclusions here but there seems to be a lot of ringworm infections cropping up lately after a long quiet period. I'm hearing a lot about it. So that is my first guess. However, it is also possible that the raw patch could result from a food allergy or some other type of skin infection.  It is really something that your vet will have to diagnose, however, and I hope you will take your kitty in as soon as you can.

Hope this helps

iris