Felis ISSN 2398-2950
Congenital hypotrichosis
Synonym(s): Hereditary hypotrichosis
Contributor(s): Rosanna Marsella, Ian Mason, David Scarff
Introduction
- Cause: rare congenital disorder of hair follicles.
- Signs: decreased or absent hair coat from birth.
- Diagnosis: clinical signs +/- skin biopsy Biopsy: skin.
- Treatment: none.
- Prognosis: cosmetic only.
- Pili tortiis a separate, rare, congenital disorder with rotation of the secondary hairs.
- Diffuse thinning of hair coat by 10 days → generated alopecia, pedal dermatitis and paronychia.
Pathogenesis
Etiology
- Autosomal recessive in Birman and Siamese cats.
- Mode of inheritance not elucidated in other breeds.
Pathophysiology
- Congenital non-color-linked hair loss +/- additional ectodermal defects.
- Genetic coding for hypotrichosis (Birman and Siamese) → hair follicles and adnexa (sebaceous glands, sweat glands and arrector pili muscles) absent or hypoplastic and decreased in number → hairless or thin coat from birth.
- May be associated with thymic aplasia in Burmese Hypotrichosis with thymic aplasia.
- Failure of ectodermal (hypotrichosis) and entodermal (thymic aplasia) development.
Timecourse
Diagnosis
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Treatment
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Prevention
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Outcomes
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Further Reading
Publications
Refereed papers
- Recent references from PubMed and VetMedResource.
- Casal M L, Straumann U, Sigg C et al (1994) Congenital hypotrichosis with thymic aplasia in nine Birman kittens. JAAHA 30 (6), 600-602 VetMedResource.
- Geary M R & Baker K P (1986) The occurrence of pili torti in a litter of kittens in England. JSAP 27 (2), 85-88 VetMedResource.
Other sources of information
- Foil C S (1995) The skin. In:Veterinary Pediatrics. 2nd edn. Ed:J D Hoskins. Philadelphia: W B Saunders.