My cat is losing its hair

Is it normal for a cat to lose its hair?

Yes. Every cat loses hair, the long-haired as much as the short-haired, and it is the normal renewal of the coat. The hair grows, lives a few months, dies, then falls to make room for the next one.

This shedding intensifies twice a year, in spring and at the end of summer: these are the two moulting seasons. In the warm months the animal gets rid of the thick coat that protected it from the cold. In autumn it builds a denser one instead. The first of the two waves is by far the more spectacular, and it is the moment most owners start to worry. Spring and autumn remain the two markers, but the spring moult is by far the heavier: that is when a cat sheds the most, and when the loss worries people most.

A cat living in a flat, lit and heated all year round, sheds continuously rather than in two clear waves. Its body no longer receives the light and temperature signals that trigger the renewal. This is not an anomaly, it is an effect of the way it lives.

The moulting seasons, one by one

Renewal follows day length far more than temperature. It is the lengthening days that set off the departure of the winter coat, and their shortening that starts the building of the thick one.

From March to May, the moult is the most visible of the year. The animal gets rid of its winter undercoat, and the volume that comes away can surprise even a seasoned owner. This is the moment when a daily pass with the brush really changes something.

From September to November, the second wave is more discreet: it parts with its summer coat and builds a denser cover. It often goes unnoticed on short-haired cats and stays obvious on long ones.

The rest of the calendar, shedding is continuous but light. Each hair follows its own cycle and falls when it reaches its term, whatever the season. An indoor cat, deprived of daylight cues, sheds regularly all year round rather than in two marked bursts.

Normal moult or abnormal loss: telling them apart

The useful question is not whether your cat sheds a lot, but where and how it thins. A moult, however heavy, leaves an even coat: it thins everywhere at once and the skin stays covered. Abnormal loss, by contrast, draws zones.

One last marker, and it is the simplest: a moult settles in over a few weeks and then ends, whereas abnormal loss spreads. If your cat's moult is still going two months after it began, it is no longer a moult, and it is the right moment to seek an opinion.

The causes of excessive hair loss

When the loss goes beyond the seasonal renewal, several causes come back regularly, and knowing them saves you from panicking.

Fleas. This is the leading origin of thinning in cats. Some develop flea allergy dermatitis: a single bite is enough to set off intense itching, and the animal pulls its hair out from scratching and licking. The affected zone is typically the lower back, in front of the tail.

The diet. Hair is made of protein, and a dull coat that falls too much is often the first visible sign of a dietary imbalance. A quality diet, rich in protein and in fatty acids, maintains the coat from the inside. Foods rich in fibre also help the transit of what is swallowed.

Tension. A house move, the arrival of another animal, a disrupted rhythm at home: stress often shows as compulsive licking that ends up clearing a patch. The loss is then sharp, localised, and the skin underneath stays healthy.

Allergies and parasites. Mites, ringworm, food or environmental allergies produce similar pictures. Only an examination can settle it, and that is the practitioner's job.

These causes often overlap: an allergic cat scratches, the area thins, and the tension of a busy household makes it worse. So one looks for a mechanism rather than a single cause, and that is also why skin diseases are so easily confused with a simple moult.

Age and general health. An elderly cat grooms itself less well and its coat maintains itself less on its own. Thinning accompanied by a change in appetite, thirst or behaviour should always prompt an opinion on its general state of health.

Alopecia and skin disease: the vet's territory

The word alopecia simply means an absence of hair where there should be some. It is not a disease in itself but a sign, and alopecia can be parasitic, allergic, hormonal or behavioural in origin. That is why no grooming brand can tell you what your animal has: only an examination can.

A few pictures come up often. Symmetrical alopecia, affecting both flanks in the same way, points to a hormonal imbalance or to excessive licking. Alopecia in round medallions, with crusts and flaking skin, suggests ringworm, a contagious disease including for humans. Those zones are not treated with shampoo. Thinning concentrated on the lower back with small crusts is the typical picture of flea allergy dermatitis.

In all these cases the management is medical. It may combine a background antiparasitic treatment, care of the lesions and sometimes a different diet. A grooming shampoo can accompany that management if the practitioner recommends it, but it never replaces it.

One practical point: an antiparasitic only works if it is applied to every animal in the household and to their environment. Parasites spend most of their cycle in carpets and fabrics, not on your companion's body. Treating only one of the household's cats leaves the problem entirely in place.

What the vet will be looking for

A vet does not look first at the quantity of hair on the floor, they look for the origin of the phenomenon. The consultation almost always follows the same path, and knowing what awaits you saves you from putting off the appointment.

Examination of the coat and the skin. The practitioner parts the hair to look at the skin itself, checks for lesions, redness and dandruff, and looks at whether the hairs break or fall with their root. A hair that breaks and a hair that falls do not tell the same story: the first points to licking, the second to true shedding.

The search for parasites. A fine comb run over the animal brings back parasites or their droppings. It is often the first move, because it is the most frequent cause and the simplest to treat. A trial antiparasitic treatment is sometimes prescribed before any other examination.

Samples. A skin scraping looks for mites, a Wood's lamp and a culture look for ringworm. These are quick tests, done on the spot for the first of them.

The blood panel. In an older cat, diffuse hair loss with increased thirst and appetite prompts a search for a hormonal disease. This is why a thinning coat should not be treated as a simple grooming problem: general health can be read on the coat.

What is done next depends entirely on what that examination finds. None of these steps can be replaced by a product bought off a shelf, ours included.

Dogs and cats do not, in fact, present the same causes. In the cat, allergic reactions and stress dominate the picture; in the dog, hormonal disorders hold a far larger place.

Does a cat shed more than a dog?

The question comes up often among people who have both. Weight for weight, a cat leaves less material behind than a dog with a double coat, but its hairs are finer and shorter, so they cling to fabrics more and show up more. The impression of volume is often misleading.

The most important difference lies elsewhere: cats swallow what they shed, which dogs and puppies hardly ever do. In dogs the dead hair falls to the floor; in the cat it ends up in the stomach, which adds a health matter to a cleanliness one.

Long coats need more sustained upkeep in cats as in dogs. A dog with a double coat leaves more on the floor, a cat swallows more of it. It is not a question of species but of fibre type and undercoat density.

The cat breeds that shed the most

Every cat loses hair, but not in the same proportions. What makes the difference is not the visible length of the coat, it is the presence and the density of the undercoat, that short, woolly layer that insulates against the cold.

A pedigree is no guarantee either way. Two Maine Coons from the same litter do not shed the same quantity, because diet, health and living conditions weigh at least as much as genetics.

Our selections by breed bring together the products suited to each coat type, from the Maine Coon to the Chartreux.

Kitten, elderly cat, pregnant queen: the special cases

Age and physiological state change the reading entirely. The same volume on the floor does not mean the same thing at six months and at fifteen years.

The kitten. At around six to twelve months it replaces its baby down with the adult coat. This loss is clear-cut, sometimes alarming for a first-time owner, and perfectly normal. A kitten that thins in patches, on the other hand, calls for medical advice without waiting: ringworm is common in young animals.

The elderly cat. Past twelve years it grooms itself less well, arthritis keeping it from reaching its back and the base of its tail. The coat turns dull and matted there while the rest of the body stays clean. This is not a skin disease, it is a problem of access, and brushing that area solves it. Diffuse hair loss with weight loss, on the other hand, warrants a health check.

The pregnant or nursing queen. She sheds more, particularly on the belly, and it corrects itself after weaning. Her nutritional needs double over that period, and an insufficient ration shows first on the coat.

The convalescent animal. After an illness, an anaesthetic or a heavy treatment, hair loss delayed by a few weeks is classic. The follicles put on hold during the episode all restart at once, and the loss concentrates into a few days.

Brushing, the one thing that really changes matters

Against a moult, brushing is the only genuinely effective move, and far more so than people imagine. The dead hairs you take out will end up neither on the sofa nor in the stomach.

In the middle of a seasonal wave, brush every day. The rest of the time, once or twice a week is enough on a short coat, and two to three times on a long one. Work first with the lie of the coat, then against it on the back and flanks to reach the undercoat, which is where the dead hair gathers.

A cat that dislikes the brush almost always accepts it if the sessions are short and regular rather than long and rare. Two minutes a day beats a quarter of an hour on Sunday.

Which brush for which coat

A badly chosen tool slides over the surface without lifting anything, and that is the first reason an owner ends up concluding that brushing is pointless. What counts is reaching the undercoat without scraping the skin.

The right technique comes down to three rules: follow the lie of the coat on the first pass, ease the pressure as soon as the tool catches, and stop before irritation sets in. The belly and the base of the tail are worked with a comb and never with a slicker, the fibre there being fine and the skin sensitive.

Our carders, brushes and grooming combs are gathered in the brushes and accessories section, and the products that ease the passage of the tool on a long coat in our detanglers and care range.

A session your companion will accept

Regularity beats duration, and you get it by making the moment pleasant rather than by imposing it. Two minutes repeated every day give a far better result than a quarter of an hour wrenched out once a week.

Choose the moment. Just after a meal or on waking from a nap, it is relaxed and receptive. Never during play, never just after it has shown irritation.

Start with what it likes. The chin, the cheeks and the top of the head are places a cat offers spontaneously. Starting there, the tool becomes a caress before it becomes an instrument.

Move on to the useful places. The back and flanks first, the breeches and the back of the thighs next, the belly last and only if it allows. Many will never give you their belly, and that is not a problem.

Stop before the limit. A session that ends on a flinch teaches it that the tool announces a bad moment. A session that stops while it is purring teaches it the opposite.

What happens in the food bowl

The fibre is made from the inside. It is built of keratin, so of protein, and its manufacture consumes a substantial part of what is eaten each day. A poor nutritional intake shows first on the shine, then on the density.

Animal protein first. A quality diet puts meat or fish at the head of the ingredient list. Omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids maintain the suppleness of the skin and the shine of the coat, and are found in fish oils and certain seeds.

Fibre next. A ration rich in fibre eases the transit of what is swallowed during grooming. That is the point of cat grass and of so-called anti-hairball foods, and it is the natural complement to the brush.

Water last, and it is almost always forgotten. A cat drinks little by nature. An exclusively dry ration exposes it to a quiet dehydration that leaves the skin drier and the fibre more brittle. A bowl placed away from the food and refreshed daily, or a fountain, markedly increases intake.

Supplements, brewer's yeast and salmon oil chief among them, have a real but slow effect. Allow six to eight weeks before judging: that is how long it takes to renew a good part of the cover.

The home, the light and the quiet

Cats living in flats are under artificial light at a constant temperature. Their bodies no longer receive the seasonal signals, and the renewal spreads over twelve months instead of concentrating into two waves. Regular exposure to daylight, near a window, restores a clearer rhythm.

Dry heating makes it worse. The air in a heated home often drops below 40 per cent humidity in winter, which dries the skin and weakens the fibre. A bowl of water on a radiator, or a humidifier, changes more than any product applied to the coat.

Upset shows on the coat. A house move, the arrival of a baby or another occupant, a litter tray shifted or hours disrupted: compulsive licking is one of the first answers to lasting tension. Three things almost always reduce it: hiding places up high, a litter tray placed away from the traffic and from the food bowl, and stable hours.

On the housework side, a washable throw on the sleeping places catches most of what settles, and it goes in the machine. That is more effective than vacuuming a fabric sofa twice as often.

Does a bath help a cat that is losing hair?

A bath does not reduce what falls, but it speeds the departure of what was already ready to go. Washed and brushed in the middle of a moult, the animal parts in one go with what it would have scattered around the house over three weeks. On a long coat, a wash at the start of the March wave makes a visible difference.

You still have to choose a suitable product. Its skin does not have our pH, and a formula meant for people strips it and makes matters worse rather than calming them. The whole range is gathered on our cat shampoo page, from moisturising formulas to care for reactive skin.

If it refuses water, which is the most frequent case, dry shampoo does the same job without a bath: you apply, you brush, and the product carries away the dead hair and the sebum with it.

What it swallows while grooming

A cat spends a large part of its day grooming, and everything it lifts with its tongue ends up in its stomach. When the quantity exceeds what the gut can absorb, it forms hairballs that it brings back up.

That is why brushing is not merely a matter of keeping the sofa clean. The hairs taken out by hand are that much less material to swallow. On a long coat or in the middle of a seasonal wave, it is the simplest and most effective measure against the formation of hairballs.

How long does a moult last in a cat?

A seasonal moult lasts three to six weeks in most cats. That is the range to keep in mind, because it gives a simple marker: beyond two months of sustained hair loss, we are no longer talking about a moult.

In a long-haired cat, the spring moult spreads out longer, sometimes up to eight weeks, the winter undercoat being far denser. In a short-haired cat, the same episode often passes in three weeks.

The autumn wave is shorter and more discreet: the cat is not getting rid of a coat, it is building one. That is why it shows up mainly on the brush and far less on clothing.

A flat-dwelling cat blurs these two seasons. Its hair loss spreads over the whole year, which gives the impression of a permanent moult although the total volume stays the same. It is no more serious, it is simply more spread out.

The useful marker is therefore not duration alone, but duration crossed with the look of the coat. A long moult on a coat that stays even is normal. A short loss that leaves the skin showing is not.

Five mistakes that make hair loss worse

A few common habits make hair loss worse rather than better. They come up often and they are easy to correct.

Washing your companion too often. Repeated baths strip the protective film of the skin, which responds by producing more sebum and by weakening the hair. For a cat, a few baths a year are plenty, and most never need one.

Using a human product. This is the most frequent mistake and the most damaging to the skin. A hair shampoo, however gentle, does not have the pH of a cat shampoo and causes dryness, itching and shedding.

Brushing a dry, matted coat by force. A knot is dealt with by hand and never by force: pulling on one tears out living hairs and makes the cat wary for the next time. You open the knot with your fingers, work it with the comb, and cut what will not come.

Treating a skin disease yourself. A thinning coat with crusts is not a grooming problem. Applying a product to it delays the diagnosis, and skin diseases in cats resemble one another too closely to be told apart by eye: that is the vet's work.

Changing the food every month. The coat takes six to eight weeks to react. Running through one kibble after another makes it impossible to know what works, and the digestive upset that follows helps neither skin nor coat.

When to book an appointment

Book an appointment if the alopecia draws patches, if the skin is red, crusty or weeping, if it scratches or licks without let-up, or if the loss comes with a change in appetite, thirst, weight or behaviour.

A grooming product maintains a healthy coat and healthy skin. It replaces neither an examination nor a treatment, and no brand, ours included, should claim otherwise.

For everyday upkeep, two pages complete this one: our range of cat shampoo and our detanglers and coat care, useful as soon as the undercoat starts to felt.