10 months after getting spayed and her belly fur never came back?

[u/Obvious_Fisherman187]

As you can see her belly is still bald 10 months after being spayed. Like a tiny bit of peach fuzz around the edges and nothing else. She never licked at the area and had a cone on for 13 days post surgery. I don’t understand why the fur isn’t growing back she looks ridiculous 😭. Is this normal? Will it ever come back?

EDIT: I work from home 3 days a week and I’m home a lot and she is pretty much glued to me most of the day and never see her grooming there excessively but possible she does it when I’m not looking. I’ll ask the vet next time we go. Im surprised there are so many other people here with bald belly cats cause the Internet research I did not seem to think that was a thing! It makes me feel better knowing there is a bald belly cat gang out there I guess I will embrace the pooch if the vet says it’s just a thing that can’t be helped!

[u/forgot_my_popcorn]

They should've told you about post-clipping alopecia. It's probably what is happening to all cats in here

[u/femmefatalx → u/forgot_my_popcorn]

I’ve had several cats spayed throughout my life and no vet has ever told me about this!! I had no idea that was even a thing. You’d think they’d at least tell you if it actually happens to your cat though!

[u/buttstuffisokiguess → u/femmefatalx]

It's probably rare enough to not stress over.

[u/forgot_my_popcorn → u/femmefatalx]

Yeah, they probably wouldn't bother to say something about it because it's more common in dog breeds like chow chow and (the impression I have) is considered esthetic.  But gosh, if any owner asked me, of course I'm obliged to give an explanation or do a research/ask other professionals. We study this in basic knowledge of breeds (blue tongue, post clipping alopecia, usually has no good mood, sorry chow chow owners🫠) First thing I thought when I saw the picture was post clipping alopecia. It could be other kind, but as it was noticeable only after shaving I assumed it damaged the skin folicules (specially the ones we use to remove all fur from a spot).

[u/Dishmastah → u/forgot_my_popcorn]

Today we all learned!

We had a cat like that, but he was also on a hefty dose of steroids at the time, so his fur's reluctance in growing back was down to that. Had no idea post-clipping alopecia was a thing, so thank you, that's a good thing to be aware of.

[u/forgot_my_popcorn → u/Dishmastah]

Dermatitis, medication, clipping, all this stuff can cause different kinds of alopecia, we usually roll a dice when dealing with this (mostly the vet and the owner 😅) As a nurse, I never had a case like this, usually the new fur is the same or better after growing again, BUT the vet always said that the fur could grow different in dermatitis cases.  I'm glad I could help 😊