Over-grooming

[Jacqui]

This question is on behalf of a friend of mine who has a beautiful, medium-haired, male, mixed-breed. He has a habit of over-grooming. He rips out tufts of fur and sometimes cleans these areas until there is no fur left and there are weeping sores on the skin. The vet could not come up with a satisfactory reason/solution, so I thought maybe somebody here had an idea. He is flea-free (tried different products in case of allergy), an indoor/outdoor cat and is otherwise very active and healthy. We're a bit perplexed!!

[Sandie]

Well, for some reason this seems to be more common than I thought at first. I see it all the time at the clinic. First, make sure the vet has done everything he, she can. There are specific tests that can be done to find out if there are ANY food allergies. Then you are not switching the food all the time. It can take a month or more to see changes from the diet. The other thing is skin mites, mange (yes I have seen cats get it) and ringworm. The last thing if all has been exausted it may be stress. Yes, cats can get very stressed and pull hair. Sometimes if you can find what is upsetting the cat, you can change it. If not, some cats have had to go on an anti depressant. If this is a behavior situation, I would suggest your friend find a pet behaviorist. These kinds of problems are hard to figure out by yourself.

[Jacqui]

Thanks for that Sandie. It does seem to be a seasonal thing too. My friend has recently moved and she only has the one cat now (the other one ran away). Hopefully, a new environment will help.

I will mention the other things that are in your reply to her though. I appreciate you being so thorough in your replies: it's nice to have a few things to go on.

Happy days.