How to treat cats with skin diseases? Diagnostic test technology for cat skin diseases! Allergies and other endocrine disorders and nutritional disorders can cause some skin abnormalities such as hair loss and dermatitis. In order to clarify the cause and prescribe the right medicine, the diagnosis technology of skin diseases is very important. The diagnosis not only pays attention to the understanding of all aspects of the consultation, but also has detailed inspection and laboratory methods to assist the inference of the disease.

I. Consultation

Main consultation The cat's performance in the early stage of the owner's illness, what medicines have been used, how the symptoms have been relieved or aggravated, the cat's living environment, whether there are carpets, mats, contact with other sick cats and dogs, what shampoo to use, and how to use it Shampoo and bathing method and frequency. Is it itching and so on.

Second, general examination

Partial observation of skin: Whether the hair is reversed, whether it is shiny, whether the hair is shed, whether the hair is bilateral, the elasticity of the local skin, stretchability, thickness, whether there is pigmentation, etc.

lesions: location, size, shape, several or scattered, unilateral or symmetrical, indicating condition, smooth or rough, wet or dry, soft and hard and color and so on.

Three, assay techniques

Hair collection: hair plucking Place on clean scotch tape and affix to a glass slide or place a drop of paraffin oil under a coverslip. Check the tips for signs of breakage or damage, and for sudden, blunt or frayed ends instead of normal tapering tips. These lesions indicate that the animal was biting or licking excessively, and pathological hair shafts also occur in dermatophytosis. Examination of hair roots to assess whether the hair is in the anagen phase (with bulbous roots) or terminating (barbed or damaged rod roots). The number of anagen and telogen hairs can be used to estimate the current number of primary and secondary hairs. Abnormalities in hair structure are found in cases of coat birth defects, dysplasia, and genetic defects. Blackheads and follicular casts may also be detected, where the roots of plucked hairs are wrapped.

Plucking assays can detect Demodex mites, especially on the toes and skin around the eyes. When dermatophyte infection is suspected at the same time, plucking can also be done for microscopy and fungal culture.

The scotch tape method: It is practical to sample the skin surface with scotch tape, which is then adhered to a glass slide for microscopic examination of ectoparasites and eggs. This method is ideal for small mammals where it is difficult to scrape samples. Sampling of the sheared skin surface can also be stained (Diff-Quick or Gram) for microscopic examination for microorganisms such as Malassezia.

Smear of hair follicle extrudate: This is a very effective method of collecting Demodex mites from hair follicles. Squeeze the skin and spread the extrudate onto a clean glass slide for staining microscopy. The extrudate can also be collected on a scalpel and transferred to a glass slide. Without staining, drop a little mineral oil (or liquid paraffin) and cover with a coverslip.

Smear of ear wax or ear secretions: Debris from the external auditory canal is usually collected with a cotton swab and applied to a glass slide. Ear mites and their eggs can be found under a microscope. A cotton swab moistened with liquid paraffin can help secretions adhere to it, or it can be dropped onto a glass slide to separate the sample from the swab and then covered with a coverslip.

Skin scraping: Skin scraping is mainly used for the diagnosis of Demodex (deep scraping) and scabies (large area shallow scraping). For Demodex cases, samples should be taken from the blackhead. For scabies mite cases, the main lesion site and the site without ulcers should be taken. Multiple sampling is necessary. Papules or crusts at the edges of the lesions are the best sites for sampling. Snip off the coat with a blunt scalpel to collect the sample.

Treasure: If ringworm is suspected, we should sample from the edge of a newer lesion, including hair plucking and skin scraping. Ringworm elements are best found in potassium hydroxide solutions; opaque and structural loss of hair due to fungal infection can be found in paraffin oil. Hyphae can be found in broken hair shafts and in scales. The spores may be within the hair (Endophyton spores) or more often in the hair shaft (Exophyton spores). Drop a drop of blue-black ink or Lactophenol Cotton Blue on the glass slide, and the structure of the ringworm can be seen more clearly.