Question for Experienced Cat Owners

My friend's cat has same problem. For her cat it's a stress reaction to the youngest daughter. She goes for a shot every few months and it takes care of it. She used to lick herself bald, too.

Hi, S...

Hmmm My first thought was maybe it's nerves? The problem with adopting a pet from the shelters, etc.. is we never know what the animal has gone through before we get them. She may just need more time to adjust?

My mom had a dog who would do the same thing. She used SevenDust. Sounds odd, but this gardening powder is fine for animals and if she does have some sort of infestation you can't see, this will most likely take care of it. My mom would put some of this powder on her dog, especially the bald areas and then brush the dog. Within a couple weeks, we saw the hair grow back and the dog stopped "chewing", "Scratching" her skin.

Good Luck!!

the first thing I would do is put some coconut oil (iherb.com) on her skin.
Then go to nzymes.com and get some stuff there.
Probably probiotics and/or enzymes. Look around at the site and ask questions there. They are fantastic!

I've used stuff from nzymes.com on myself, a cockatoo, cats, and dogs. :)

I had this problem with my cat (also from a shelter). Turned out he was allergic to plastic. Once I changed his food and water bowl and even his collar (it was nylon/polyster) his fur grew right back. Not sure if this is the case for your cat, but it's an inexpensive thing to change and see if it helps.

I have luckily not experienced this myself.

My suggestion is to make a vet appointment--talk to friends about their vets and ask pointed questions about the costs and treatment (both of the pets themselves and of you, the paying client/owner) of what they've experienced to get a good recommendation. Then make an appointment and go. Be very upfront and firm about the fact that you don't have a lot of money to spend, and ask for the costs of all things to be explained before the vet does anything.

Good vets understand that it's a balancing act and will work with you to help the cat. If they get an attitude, just walk out the door (figuratively--you will probably still have to pay the office visit fee).

In the mean time, you could try fish oil, maybe one gel cap per day? You'll have to break or puncture it, and just pour it on the food. The omega 3 fatty acids in fish oil are very good for a variety of things, including inflammation.

I've found the Doctor's Foster & Smith's pet education site to be somewhat helpful on pet health questions: http://www.peteducation.com/

Good luck to you & the kitty... it sort of sounds like the pet adoption place wasn't 100% honest about the cat's health problems, sadly.

I had a cat that had the same problem. I bought all of the expensive foods, paid lots of money for steroid injections, etc...
Until a clerk at a petstore suggested I give him food that did not contain fishmeal. Apparently many cats just don't digest it well and it causes them this sort of reaction. Unfortunately most cat foods and treats do contain fishmeal. I found one called Nature's Recipe. He cleared right up. I feed him Nature's Recipe for the rest of his life and the problem never reoccurred.
Good luck!

If she has already been to your vet, you may be able to call and talk to the vet about recommendations. They will probably want to see her the first time to make sure they are treating her correctly. My guess is the shelter knew she had some skin issues. Sometimes steroid injections or oral can help. I have know many with seasonal allergies, that just had to get through a month or two with one injection and they were okay. You can also talk to your vet about hypoallergic diet, but you are right that if it is all over you have a good chance it is not diet alone. Natural Balance makes over the counter ones with rabbit or duck and peas maybe. One poster mention anxiety and that can cause it too. Good luck to you and hope Sophie is growing hair and keeping it again soon.

My mothers cat (a calico, which very often have problems like this) had this problem too. She was diagnosed with allergies, and was put on Prednizone (sp?) for a week or two. She improved completely and no longer has the issue, this was 5 years ago.

We had a cat that did the same thing!! After many treatments and vet visits, it was determined to be anxiety. Who knew! The vet said he had "displacement grooming.” I went the homeopathic route, instead of putting him on prescription meds. We used Bach Flowers and boy, did they help his anxiety. Here's a link:

http://www.bachflower.com/Pets.htm

On the off chance that it is anxiety, you can get Feliway plug ins. They are pheramones that are supposed to help cats. But, since you said that she didnt' have it with the steriods, I think it is an allergy. Go ahead and give her her wet food - they need the moisture. Then, call the vet and let them know that your cat was on steriods at the shelter and had no problem and has started this since getting off of them. Let them know that you can't afford an office visit and is there anything they can do for you. They may be able to have one of the technicians see you, who don't charge as much, or even see you during a shot clinic or something. It is worth asking.

Poor kitty, and you. One of my cats was overgrooming, and my vet gave him antibiotics and Prednisone. That helped, but when the course of medicine was finished, he started overgrooming again. I read that it could be inflammatiom. So I started giving him a squirt of Icelandic salmon oil and a third of a capsule of probiotics for pets on top of his food every day. His fur grew back! I get the oil and probiotics from www.OnlyNaturalPet.com. Good luck!

Long time ago my cat had a bald spot - it was some sort of fungus. I am probably not very helpful here because unfortunately I don't remember what kind of prescribed cream we used to cure this thing.

Try giving her filtered water only..so if you have a Brita use that water for her if you don't ..get one..that could be the problem...if that doesn't solve the problem take her to the vet and he will probably just give her an allergy shot..animals also get hot spots in the summer..my dog has it now so i'm going to take him in just for the allergy shot. also you're supposed to brush cat's teeth 3 x's a week..if she is getting fur balls she may start to cough them up..and that brings stomach fluids into her mouth...and could cause her teeth to fall out..you can get her a paste at the pet store that helps with fur balls if that should start to happen.

good luck

D.

Poor girl! I'm glad you care about her.

You already have some good advice. This behavior (overgrooming) can come from a physical or an emotional upset. Stress will do it. BUT a physical problem will, too, and that's easier to check out. So please go in that direction first.

Do you know your vet (or are you barely acquainted)? If you can let your vet know you're on a budget but you want to take care of this, he/she should be able to give you some options. I had a kitty years ago who received a general allergy shot for a number of years until he outgrew (?) his need for it. We never figured out what he was reacting to, but apparently it was covered in the shot! Talk to your vet, also, about changing Sophie's diet... and see if there are sample-sized packages of food either at the vet's office or at the pet store. Lots of pet food has chicken in it, and you'll see her benefit from eating an alternative if chicken is her problem. Who knows - maybe the alternative comes in a wet form and she'll be really happy.

(For what it's worth, I'm on quite a strict budget, too, so I've had to build into it a monthly category for vet expenses. We've always had multiple pets. I put a certain amount of money per month in an envelope and forget it exists. Often I don't need to use it, and it adds up... and then come the times I'm very thankful to have it!)

Our cat licked his belly bald when we moved and started working more hours - the vet said he did it because he was bored! We had to make sure to open window shades and put chairs by them so he could sit and look out the windows. We sometimes even left the radio on so he had some noise to make him feel like he wasn't home alone. I think he finally adjusted to the move and just stopped doing it.
I know - strange!

Our dog is this way. He was put on a limited ingredient diet, and they suggested Natural Balance because it was cheaper than the prescription brands, but it is still not cheap! We use a venison and sweet potato formula for him, and the vet gives us anti histimines. You might make a trip to the vets office first, it may not be a string of visits, and they might tell you that you could use bendryl, and what food to try, but first, you want them to look at her skin and make sure that she did not have a bacterial, yeast, or fungal infection from the past trouble with the fleas that just might not have cleared up.

M.

Two possible directions here...

First it does sound like it could be an allergy. Our cat has an excema like condition that makes him itch a lot, and he usually has dandruff on his back. I have found that putting him on a grain free diet helps a lot. Cats aren't grain eaters by nature, yet even the "fancy" foods have things like corn and wheat as their main ingredients! There are a lot more options now than there used to be for a reasonable price. My cat's fave is Nature's Select, although that one's got just a little oats in it. But they even deliver free to your house, just look them up online. In the stores, also consider Evo, Taste of the Wild, and Wellness One. For wet food, there's a new brand at Petco that he LOVES, it's called Soulistic.

Second thing could be stress. There are products you can buy that use scents essentially to relax them. You can also try a few drops of Bach's Rescue Remedy in her water. It's a flower essence combination made for people, but it's great for animals too!

Could be a chicken allergy. 99% of cat food have chicken products of some kind as the main ingredient, no matter what flavor they call it. One of our cats, Orion, had that. Had to put him (and everyone by default) on Royal Canin Lamb & Green Pea. I would try to find a food with no chicken and see if it works. There is a venison one by Dick Van Dykes' company, Natural Balance, that Petco sells. Orion didn't like it because he'd been eating Lamb all his life so we had to go the more expensive prescription option. Iams used to make the single ingredient Lamb but decided to add chicken to it years later and he'd eaten that but since yours is so young you are not as likely to fall into that problem (Orion was 12 or 13 when we learned they changed the formula to include chicken, after we could not figure out what he was having allergies to at first)
The fact that the steroid helped really makes me think it's a chicken food allergy. Steroids always helped Orion.
Good luck!

I have a high-strung cat that overgrooms to the point of bald spots when he is especially stressed (along with inappropriate urination issues). If you think stress may be an issue, you could try Feliway. It's like an air freshner that you plug in buth only the kitty can smell the phermones. I've had to up the ante with my cat and he's now on daily prozac. He's still stressed by my youngest daughter and unhappy that he doesn't get enough attention, but he has definitely calmed down and all his fur is looking good.

We have a high-strung cat who overgroomed himself bald when there were major changes in his life. It also affected his diet and other behaviors like inappropriate peeing. Our vet's office suggested Feliway. It's worked wonders to calm him and reduce his anxiety. More recently, same cat developed allergies and had to receive a "depo" shot. He's doing much better now, and we've been assured that the Advantix will help prevent recurrance. (They were very specific about the Advantix brand.) Best of luck to you and your cat.

I would check with the vet at the shelter or call around to see if a vet offers a low-cost clinic. I've had several cats and none have lost fur like that, however, none have had allergies either. Definitely sounds like some allergy. Maybe there are fleas or flea dander in your house that are still bothering her? Another thing is to try a $30 HEPA air filter from target, might help clean the dander out of the air enough until you can get her to a vet.

Yes, I've had cats all my life and only had one that suffered from what you're describing. And, yes, it's allergies!! My vet put my cat on a series of oral cortisone to stop her excessive grooming -- she'd made an awful ugly sore by taking off all the fur and opening the skin. Once, we got her "broken" of that and allowed the sore to heal (there's still a scar of sorts) we are now able to give her the medication when her allergies are really acting up! My entire family suffers from allergies; so, it's fairly easy to determine when the cat's are acting up.

And, no, it wasn't fleas in my home either. Believe it or not, it appears to be similar to the same allergies we humans suffer from.

Take Sophie back to the vet and ask him to treat her for allergies not related to fleas; but, related to environment.

Good luck!

Our family cat growing up developed an anxiety induced over grooming habit after we relocated him by plane to our new residence overseas. The vet gave him phenobarbital to calm/control his nervousness, but it really never did go completely away. He always had a bald patch somewhere.
Sometimes cats have a really hard time overcoming changes to their environment. Your kitty being a shelter kitty could have had some previous trauma. The only other thing I can think of is it possibly could be mange which should be checked by a vet. Good luck, hope you can figure it out.

You might want to change her cat food. I've always been happy with Meow Mix. As well, you can add some fish, like tuna or salmon or even canned food, to her diet a few times a week, she may not be getting enough fat in her diet. And no milk. You also can't change their food dramatically, you have to mix it in with her old food, slowly upping the amount over a few days.
Also, keep up with the flea treatments, even though she is an inside cat, you can bring them in on your shoes, she should be treated every month with something like Advantix.

I'm going to second Heather M's response. You should consider it might be an ingredient in the food itself that the cat is allergic too. They put a lot of fillers in those foods, and Hill's Science Diet is not really the ideal food anyway. It has a lot of additives. We like NutraMax in our house.

Secondly, I was also going to suggest the Rescue Remedy. It's an excellent bach flower remedy that is in liquid form that really helps destress any animal. You can get it at Whole Foods. When you buy it, they will have a leaflet there explaining how to use it with animals. We used it with our cats when we recently moved, and we had to stay in a hotel for 5 days, and they were just fine.

If you should go to the vet, ask for a cortisone shot. They don't like to give them more than once a year, but I had a cat who was allergic to fleas, and one flea bite and he was miserable for a month. The cortisone shot stopped the itching, and he got better.

Good luck. It is hard to figure out how to help our furry friends, but how wonderful of you to give a loving home to a kitty who was homeless!

have you tried googling "cat licking off fur"?

There is a cat behavior website that has lots of good information and also offers a free phone consultation. (yes!) www.catsinternational.org

For allergies, I'd try a basic chicken and rice cat food. Some cats can't handle grains and I looked and Science Diet has corn. It's focusing on the skin and not the allergy possibility. (We feed our cats EVO & Taste of the Wild, if you're curious. )

Sounds like Sophie found a good home.

My cat has a bald belly because she overgrooms. It looks weird, but some cats just do that, and her vet doesn't think it's a cause for concern. I think it's called "barbering."

Dear S.,
Sorry to hear about your furry baby, I read here that someone talked about
Dr Bach's Rescue Remedy which has been around for nearly 80 years and is great for stress but I feel(as a Bach flower therapist) that your furry would do really well with a few other remedies added to it. In Dr Bach's range there are 38 remedies all for different emotional challenges and you may add upto 6 other remedies to the Rescue Remedy to help ease the stress and licking, usually with excellent results and it is also very affordable too.
I have made many remedies for animals and humans with skin challenges with amazing results and would make Sophie's remedy on a base of Rescue Remedy for her skin repair remedy.
I have never made a remedy yet that didn't work for this kind of challenge, so please feel free to make contact with me if you would like?

My sister's cat would do this whenever he got stressed out. The answer? Collar-of-Shame until he had calmed down again. Costs about $3. The longest he ever had to wear it was 3 months, when my sister moved.

Regardless, she would leave it on until there started to be some good hair regrowth, and then she'd take it off and keep and eye on him. If he was grooming excessively that day, she popped it right back on for another week.

Whenever my cat gets what I call a "hot spot" I just rub it with olive oil and it heals right up. A few drops of coconut oil in her food might help too (it really makes their coat shiny). You may just have to write her up as a cat with strange behavior and love her like she is. I've had numerous cats but never one that overgroomed that bad. If she seems healthy and happy in every other way you may just have to settle with her ecentric grooming... sorta like a woman that spends way too much time in the bathroom with her hair and makeup.
Brush her frequently and rub her down with the olive oil and see what happens. I know I hate vet bills too and cant afford them either, so I always try all sorts of home remedies before I go to the docs.... and usually something simple works.
She will look ugly with the olive oil on her, but its worth it in the long run if it works.
The cat collar (the kind that prevents them from licking themselves) might be good to use intermittently until she breaks the licking habit. Dont they say it takes about 28 days to break a habit?... Not sure if that applies to cats tho.
Good luck!