Cat question

[Amzey]

My cat has been puzzling me and I figured that since the DIS is full of cat people, somebody would be able to help me out. Basically, what's going on is that he's pulling out his own hair with his teeth. He does it mainly on his legs, and a little bit on his belly. The vet said that he may be doing it as a response to stress, but he seems to be pretty happy - we give him plenty of affection/food/water, etc. We did add 2 cats to the home last summer, but since I left for school relatively soon after we got them, I'm not positive if this behavior started at that time or if it's a more recent thing. The skin on his legs is becoming pretty red and looks like it must hurt him. Is there any way to stop this? Could he itch maybe and that could be why he's pulling it out?

 

[epcotfan]

My female cat is doing this too. She mainly tends to do it prior to going to sleep. Sort of a grooming ritual. She too is loved and given lots of affection. I noticed her skin was very dry so she is taking a coat supplement now. She seems happy is acting normal. It seems to have helped. I want to get her to the vet after my holidays. I think she initially started this after my last trip and because she licked so much it got very itchy for her.

 

[winniedapooh]

My Mom has a cat that does this to his legs and his neck. The vet says he is stressed and it is a type of self-injuriuos behavior. Willie is a very neurotic cat, always has been. I had a friedn once whose dog began doing this to his legs and they said it was due to stress as well. Hope this helps.

 

[FOJMO]

We have the exact same problem with our Ren. She is constantly pulling out her hair and eating it. She also eats the fur that's on the floor that she pulls out. Our vet has her on a low dose of amitiptyline (sp?) (anti-anxiety) and it seemed to help for a while, but now she's been doing it again. Sometimes he gives her an antihistamine shot, but that doesn't seem to help for very long. Gotta get her back to the vet to see what else we can do.

Good luck to all of us!

 

[Harambe]

My sister's dog did this and she had allergies. My sister gave her shots and she was fine.

The dry skin should be mentioned to the vet - as my vet told me it is one of the symptons of cat diabetes. Does he also drink a lot of water and pee frequently? Mention that to the vet also.

Good luck with your kitty!

 

[Rajah]

For this one, I'd recommend you try to talk to a feline behavioralist since you've already spoken to the vet. There's one who might be able to help at www.ivillage.com/pets/boards -- click the Think Like A Cat board

 

[RNMOM]

I have had two cats who did this. The first one had a urinary tract infection discovered after I would not take the "stress" excuse given by the vet. She was also missing the litter box at times. Nearby but not in the box.

One of my current cats licks the fur off the base of his tail whenever I have had anyone come into the house to do work. I figured he would be bald 3 summers ago when we had the windows (7 days) roof, (5 days) then siding replaced(3 days). All the noise and pounding all day long. He actually seemed to get used to it and has not licked himself bald since. Now when the cleaning lady comes or when the contractor was here for the kitchen last spring he heads for my room and sits on top of my 13 inch TV. He does not fit well but it seems to make him feel safe.

 

[DebbieB]

The cat we had used to lick the fur off her stomach, it was almost bald! She also licked off/bit some of the fur on her legs. She also scratched her ears in the winter time, leaving bald spots. The vet did a fungus scrape once but it was negative. She said anxiety too, which I don' t think, she was the most laid back cat. I think the winter thing was dry skin, I don't know about other spots (they were year round).