We had a cute little kitten decide to walk itself into our house about a week ago, and we can't really tell what it's sex is, but it is sweet. But right away we realized that there is something wrong with it. We named it Cody. First, Cody is very slow to respond to anything. Cody walks slow, moves slow, and doesn't react like other cats to noises, movements, or the possibility of getting stepped on. It just sits there. Second, it doesn't meow. At all. Not a peep. It purrs like an engine, but doesn't meow, even if you DO step on it. Third, it shows absolutely no interest whatsoever in playing. Sure, some cats are more playful than others, but ALL cats play to some extent, even my crabby old girl Pepper. Cody doesn't play. Cody eats, but very slowly, and more often than not falls asleep with it's face in the food dish. It's like someone turned out the lights, and now nobody is home. Yes, Cody can hear. I tested Cody's hearing once I first suspected that it might be deaf, but it can hear, it's just slow to react. Today I noticed a new, disturbing symptom- hair loss. There is suddenly a large patch of hair missing from Cody's back. It's quite noticeable because Cody is black. There are no sores or any raw spots that would indicate that it licked itself and caused the hair loss. It's like the hair just suddenly started falling out! I suspected neurological problems, or, due to all the inbred kitties in our town, that it's just a little "redneck" kitten. Cody is about 3 to 4 months old, and is underweight (arrived that way, but seems to have lost weight, despite constant access to food). Has anyone ever seen symptoms like this in a cat before? Could Cody be brain damaged? Could it be inbreeding? The lady next door lets all her cats just keep interbreeding, so there are cats that die early and some born with toes fused, or parts missing. So I wouldn't be surprised at all if that was the case with this cat. But that doesn't explain the hair loss. I don't have a car right now, so I can't just whip this kitten over to the vet as the nearest vet is about 30 miles away. And being in the middle of nowhere, there are no shelters either. We feed all our cats dry cat food, and starting day before yesterday we dusted all the cats for fleas and added an immune booster that is all natural into their food. None of the other cats are acting like Cody. All are healthy, and we had them LONG before Cody showed up. Has anyone had an experience like this with a cat?