perplexing cat overgrooming mystery!
October 27, 2018 2:54 PM Subscribe
I've read some older threads about cat overgrooming and nothing seems to be quite what's going on with my cat.
This started maybe a month ago. She licked two little patches on her front legs mostly bald. We took her to the vet who said "it doesn't look like she's having any kind of allergy or inflammation, but here's some antihistamine just in case." (Cat would not eat cat food with antihistamine on it. She's really suspicious about medicine and good at avoiding it.)
Other common explanations seem to include hunger and stress. We had put her on a diet because she is chunky, but she lost some weight and is now eating slightly more than when she was losing weight. She....does not seem stressed out. She is sometimes licking her fur off when she's sitting on me, purring.
Our cats do fight some but no more than in the past. They're neither pals nor sworn enemies. Nothing has really changed there.
We got Feliway, which I've never found to do much at all. She keeps licking and now has big bald patches on her front legs and has taken most of the hair off her stomach and inner back legs.
On the one hand, it's just some bald patches. On the other hand, it just doesn't seem totally great? Any suggestions?
This started maybe a month ago. She licked two little patches on her front legs mostly bald. We took her to the vet who said "it doesn't look like she's having any kind of allergy or inflammation, but here's some antihistamine just in case." (Cat would not eat cat food with antihistamine on it. She's really suspicious about medicine and good at avoiding it.)
Other common explanations seem to include hunger and stress. We had put her on a diet because she is chunky, but she lost some weight and is now eating slightly more than when she was losing weight. She....does not seem stressed out. She is sometimes licking her fur off when she's sitting on me, purring.
Our cats do fight some but no more than in the past. They're neither pals nor sworn enemies. Nothing has really changed there.
We got Feliway, which I've never found to do much at all. She keeps licking and now has big bald patches on her front legs and has taken most of the hair off her stomach and inner back legs.
On the one hand, it's just some bald patches. On the other hand, it just doesn't seem totally great? Any suggestions?
Our cat does this on and off. It is called “barbering” in case that helps you google. Hydrocortisone shots helped somewhat, temporarily, as did cat Prozac, but it is very very difficult to get our cat to take medicine.
The vet thinks she may have skin irritation due to seasonal allergies.
posted by mai at 3:00 PM on October 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
The vet thinks she may have skin irritation due to seasonal allergies.
posted by mai at 3:00 PM on October 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
Did the diet change happen before/during the onset of the grooming? I've known two cats and one dog with similar issues. For Cat 1, it turned out to be a food allergy, and removing corn and wheat from her diet led to rapid improvement. Cat 2 developed a 'hot spot' -- we never figured out the trigger, but after a certain point, it was mostly the irritation of repetitive licking that made him lick more and more in a vicious circle. The vet gave him a course of oral steroids (those were sure fun to dose him with) and put him in a cone and he cleared right up. For the dog, environmental allergies (specifically, rolling around in oak leaves).
After a certain irritation point, bald patches beget more bald patches and irritation begets more irritation. Can the vet perhaps give her something topical, or pills, plus a cone?
posted by halation at 3:10 PM on October 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
After a certain irritation point, bald patches beget more bald patches and irritation begets more irritation. Can the vet perhaps give her something topical, or pills, plus a cone?
posted by halation at 3:10 PM on October 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
My cat did this until we moved to a place with no cigarette smoke, incense, air fresheners etc.
posted by serena15221 at 3:18 PM on October 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by serena15221 at 3:18 PM on October 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
My cat did this on just one front leg. This, in combination with her ridiculous bow-legged walk and the fact that she’s indoors only, lead the vet to think joint pain rather than allergy or fleas. She was prescribed gavipentin, which Is a pain killer, but I guess also helps with anxiety, and the fur seems to have grown back. I don’t even know if she has joint pain for sure (she’s only 6). Just one more anecdote of a possible cause!
But my vet came up with a different conclusion than I would have- so my suggestion is ask a vet!
posted by Secretariat at 3:32 PM on October 27, 2018
But my vet came up with a different conclusion than I would have- so my suggestion is ask a vet!
posted by Secretariat at 3:32 PM on October 27, 2018
We have an overgroomer. She gave herself what we call a Brazilian - took everything off the inside of both legs, her undercarriage and her lower tummy. After years of trying to sort out elimination diets that she just wasn’t into, we went to allergy pills. Claritin helped for a while, and now we do Atopica. She thins out patches on her neck sometimes but it’s way better.
posted by OrangeVelour at 4:41 PM on October 27, 2018
posted by OrangeVelour at 4:41 PM on October 27, 2018
Our guy regularly self-barbers and it’s because he’s generally an anxious mess. Super snuggly and sweet, but very... sensitive. We’ve had to resort to Prozac, which we have made into a transdermal gel through a compounding pharmacy. Pilling him is not an option, so we smear this on the inside of his ear flap and no one ends up bloody. I too, thought it was kind of no big deal - it’s just fur, but I worried about the long-term consequences. The Prozac does the trick, though, and everyone is a little happier.
I also had a coworker back in the day who had a cat who self-barbered. Whole belly: smooth as a baby’s bum. Nothing worked - turned out the old girl just preferred things that way and thought it was just the way her belly was meant to be. Years went by and no issues with irritation, broken skin or infections. YMMV...
posted by East Siberian patchbelly wrangler at 6:33 PM on October 27, 2018 [4 favorites]
I also had a coworker back in the day who had a cat who self-barbered. Whole belly: smooth as a baby’s bum. Nothing worked - turned out the old girl just preferred things that way and thought it was just the way her belly was meant to be. Years went by and no issues with irritation, broken skin or infections. YMMV...
posted by East Siberian patchbelly wrangler at 6:33 PM on October 27, 2018 [4 favorites]
One of our cats suddenly started overgrooming a few years ago, resulting in bald patches on back legs and lower belly. We ended up putting her on Prozac for a few months. It worked - she stopped overgrooming and the fur grew back. When we tapered off the Prozac the excessive grooming didn't come back.
posted by insectosaurus at 6:51 PM on October 27, 2018
posted by insectosaurus at 6:51 PM on October 27, 2018
Is it possible that she's understimulated/keeping herself occupied with the grooming as an activity? Maybe playing a kitty game to give her something else to focus on might help. Most cats I've been around are intensely curious about moving objects/play hunting and I'd pull out something like this to have fun or distract her from something I didn't want her to do.
posted by pdxhiker at 9:03 PM on October 27, 2018
posted by pdxhiker at 9:03 PM on October 27, 2018
When she licks these spots, does she also nibble or chew? Our boy was an overgroomer for foreeeeeever, and neither we nor our vets had no idea why, but he's recently tapered way off, and while we have no idea why he tapered off, my guess—based on the nibbling—is that the affected parts of his body (his legs) were itchy, which does suggest irritants of some sort existing where he sits, but maybe just seasonally? *shrug*
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 7:57 AM on October 30, 2018
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 7:57 AM on October 30, 2018
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posted by something something at 3:00 PM on October 27, 2018 [1 favorite]