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Ok guys this is gonna sound horrible but i need someones help.

My cat has several what looks to be lezions on his belly. They are round in shape, some are bigger than others. They are solid. There is redness around them but themselves are the same color as the cats skin. Somehow i was able to remove one of them. It was a orange crusty color on the top and then goes white towards the bottom. Any ideas what it could be? What should i do?

Thanks for your input as always, Shane
http://thetanklog.blogspot.com/ - [ Thanks to ScottF ]
http://www.natureaquariumclubofutah.com/main.html

Take him to the vet.

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I used to be Snow White, but I drifted.
~ Mae West

Probably cysts or something of the sort. Take him to a vet. Dont pull anymore off him, you could do damage.

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Before you criticize someone walk a mile in their shoes. That way you're a mile away and you have their shoes.

We're not vets, nor will we pretend to be.

Take him to a vet. As soon as possible.

It could also be ringworm which is contagious. Another good reason to have a vet diagnosis what it is.

Yeah it could be anything from sarcoptic mange to ringworm (actually a fungal infection) and bacterial skin infections and allergic reactions and hormonal deficiencies, and almost none of these will have a decent over the counter cure, this is a job for a vet. A biopsy of the infected tissue may need to be taken before the cause can be established. There are also some skin cancers that can do that, and they may be removable if caught early enough, but you definately shouldnt mess with them yourself.

Don't wait if it sounds severe, get it straight to a veterinary surgeon.

I assume were talking felines and not catfish here anyway

Hope the cat prognosis from the vet is good, good luck with your cat.

Guys i appreciate it. I didnt mean to remove it, it kinda just came out in my hand. Anyways i will make an appt with the vet ASAP. Thanks for the advice as always.

Thanks for your input as always, Shane
http://thetanklog.blogspot.com/ - [ Thanks to ScottF ]
http://www.natureaquariumclubofutah.com/main.html

urrggg, my friend caught ringworm from a horse. It was horrible and took ages to shift

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I like to think that whoever designed marine life was thinking of it as basically an entertainment medium. That would explain some of the things down there, some of the unearthly biological contraptions

How's the cat, any luck with a diagnosis and treatment yet?

Not yet, we are making appt to see the vet in the next few days, i worried tho because i saw another similar lump on my other cat, I dont know if its contagous or if its a nutrition problem because we feed the cats the same thing. Also we feed them science diet hairball control

Thanks for your input as always, Shane
http://thetanklog.blogspot.com/ - [ Thanks to ScottF ]
http://www.natureaquariumclubofutah.com/main.html

I caught ringworm from a rat at petco that I adopted since the idiot who had her before was going to use her for snake bait, and the snake wasn't hungry. So of course she was in horrid conditions for the week the idiot had her and was sickly(the only blasted thing a rat can give a person and I HAD to catch it >.< and I have a scar on the top of my leg from where it was so itchy before I realised I had it and scratched too much. Ew.

hope your kitties feel better

[url=http://dragcave.ath.cx/viewdragon/bNFR][/url]

Actually rats have many, many recognised zoonotics directly and indirectly attributed to them including human leptospirosis (weil's disease) which is particularly nasty sometimes causing complete kidney failure in as little as four days, they may also harbour a huge range of parasites including all the major worm groups, protozoa, fleas, ticks, etc etc, numerous food poisoning bacteria, lots of fungal species, several viruses and like many small mammals, several forms of tuberculosis. Thats why its not a great idea to touch, generally go near, or drink anything they have urinated or crapped on. Does anyone remember the bubonic plague? In fact the high similarity to disease contraction in humans and rats and high levels of zoonotic transmission has insured that lab rats remain one of the most experiment species in the world.

Having said that though, most domesticated and wild rats are actually pretty clean animals with excellent immune systems, keep them clean, and you'll be safe. Its the wild rats that are the main carriers obviously, more by virtue of their habitats and food sources than their personal cleanliness issues, but occassionally through bad husbandry and contact with wild situations and wild specimens a lot of these diseases rarely and periodically may find their way back to captive populations.

Theres no need to panic with domestic rats of course, but then again complacency isnt a good idea either .

Okay, the only Common illness that can be transfered. The CDC and the UK's version(forget its name at the moment?) only have a couple of listed illnesses, and all of those are pretty rare. I did a paper on it last semester.

Also, there is a good possibility that the plague was caused by a virus, not rats. My source is from a book called Return of the Black Death, the world's greatest serial killer. Basically if it WAS bubonic plague, like everyone says, there would have been massive rat die offs(which were the only thing not recorded if that was the case) since BP kills rats dead. It doesn't leave any survivors, and is only transfered to people after the rats died. Also it spread too rapidly to have been from rats, took too long for symptoms to appear, was too fatal too quickly and was proved to have existed in places rats did not live at the time.

But that is beside the point

[url=http://dragcave.ath.cx/viewdragon/bNFR][/url]

Rats live where humans do,almost without exception,and travel everywhere we do, so how the contrary can possibly be proven is beyond me, we also know that rats have an immune system superior to that of humans , vastly exceeding the survival time for a number of ailments, plague included.We know that the plague was blood and fluid transmittable, and ingestible, through contact and the parasites that rats carry, dogs etc also contracted it.They woulnt have been the only source by any means. We also know plague transmission relies on a number of factors Im not convinced.Other countries will have their own carrier species, plague is not the rats exclusive property, they were just a common vector in the areas they occurred. That book sounds flaky as hell. Defra only usually lists in that category the most severe diseases, most animals in the mammal category usually have several dozen zoonotic infections, usually only the most serious are listed. This is across the board for nearly all mammals.Even a damn hedgehog or deer can give you tuberculosis, which is why the singling out and persecution of badger by farmers in the UK is so bloody ridiculous. Blood disease transmission actually depends on the animal dying occassionally, with myxomitosis for example fleas jump off the host soon after death, and then await the next host , therefore ensuring that the disease is not dependant on the natural reproduction rate of the flea, consequently causing a pandemic infection rate for rabbits. If a rabbit dies in an inhabited warren its wipeout time for the other rabbits.Rabbits and rats are social species, a surviving carrier rat or rabbit will seek out its own kind, thusly continuing the disease.

Theres a hell of a lot more than that a couple of zoonotics for rats! Theres more than that for a HAMSTER. Last time I checked they generally werent living in sewers. Basically it depends what the animal comes into contact with.

http://www.cdc.gov/nasd/docs/d000701-d000800/d000752/d000752.html

From the CDC, 2 rodent borne illnesses listed.

http://www.hpa.org.uk/infections/topics_az/zoonoses/zoonoses_from_rats.htm

From the HPA, of those listed, look at the average rate of how many people actually Get them, and look at how few come from domestic animals. Even of the wild ones, a lot of them say that it was solely speculation and not definite fact that they caught the illness from a rat.

Here's another from the cdc that directly relates to rodents/other small pets

http://www.cdc.gov/healthypets/animals/pocket_pets.htm

Vs. dogs or cats:

http://www.cdc.gov/healthypets/animals/dogs.htm
http://www.cdc.gov/healthypets/animals/cats.htm

I still feel pretty safe with my rats

Or just for fun, a wiki article on the plague'ss possible alternative causes:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Death#Alternative_explanations

[url=http://dragcave.ath.cx/viewdragon/bNFR][/url]

No your not going to catch the plague from your pet rats or much else besides ringworm and fleas. About 10years back I even tamed a pair of brown barn rats and kept them over the winter but then my mom told me I had to put them back outside that spring and I didn't want to keep them caged up outside so I turned them loose again.

However in areas of the world or in past history when sanitation was not at it's peak animals like rats would pick up all the diseases that were in the area and spread them to humans. Same goes for some people I talked to today who were freaking out about cockroaches. Unless the roaches can get into something toxic or an area high in bacteria that is nearby they aren't likely to spread anything to you or your pets. That's where critters like this got a bad rap but it was earned. They survive these illnesses longer than humans and they don't stay out of areas where they could catch them like garbage dumps and sewers. Plus where there is a high concentration of humans there tends to be a high concentration of illnesses partially because there is more waste to deal with and partially because there is more hosts for the illnesses to survive on. There also tends to be more pests to eat the food that humans keep or throw away. That does make things like rats and cockroaches a sanitation concern because they have no problem getting close to humans and with digging through human garbage.

Those lists of zoonoses are by no means exhaustive (I notice neither of them actually mention ringworm from rodents!). You can get a wide range of diseases from rodents, not least of which is tetanus. This just isn't considered a "problem" in developed countries because people are normally vaccinated for it and even if you do get bitten you can get the vaccine before you get sick. I knew a girl who was bitten by a squirrel and had to go to the hospital for a tetanus shot.

And I've even had to sit through a lesson on zoonoses from a professor for one of my wildlife classes who thought it might be a good idea to inform us of such things (and what to do if you get sick when your profession involves handling wild animals). Raccoons seem to be one of the worst for harboring exotic diseases, but I don't think it's wise to clear out mouse nests from an attic or barn without wearing a face mask. You can get some pretty fun bugs from inhaling mouse urine.

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sham - around here in denver there's been known cases of squirrels with the plague. A monkey at the zoo died of it.

Take both of them as soon as possible..................... & hope they'll be fine.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/corydoras/
Member of the Malta Aquarist Society - 1970.
http://www.maltaaquarist.com

It'a highly unlikely to be anything to do with the food... my cat was on science diet hairball control for years before i got him. How's the kitty doing? What's the vet's diagnosis?

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~