Concerned about my cat's behaviour..

Hi guys

First of all, I should say my cat is about 15 years old, so he's getting up there. But over the last year, he's done a really, really odd thing maybe you can help me identify.

About 8-10 months ago, he started attacking his side, toward his hind leg/hip area. He would attack it and fall all over the place trying to bite it. He bites it so hard he rips out small chunks of fur. When he goes into this little craze, he is IMPOSSIBLE to console. He falls off the table, chair, or whatever he's sitting on when he feels the need to get to his side and bite himself. His little self-attack lasts anywhere from 5 seconds to 20 seconds. Never more. And when he's done, he just lays there, or gets up and sits down, and goes back to normal.

Before he goes into his frenzy, he licks that area quite a bit. It's usually when he's bathing himself that he does this, but not always.

But something that should be noted, is that I noticed (as a lot of his fur in the area was missing), that his skin was a bit discolored/irritated, so I began to rub a small amount of oil and water on it, and over the following week or two, all seemed fine.

Unfortunately, just now, nearly a year later, he started doing it again. Same area, same frenzy. I'm afraid that he's going to hurt himself, since he's so old. When he falls, he isn't landing on his feet, nor is he making any effort to.

Is there ANY idea why he keeps doing this? He's an outdoor cat, but he doesnt seem to have any cuts there. Maybe it's a scab that I cant see. There are NO other shifts in his attitude/behaviour. He's still eating regularly, sleeping a lot and going outside, and is still extremely affectionate and friendly.

It happens at least once every two days, if not once a day.

Do you guys have ANY clue why he might be doing this? It's making me really nervous. I know I should go to a vet, but I really have NO money right now, and I'm afraid that it'll be something serious that I won't be able to afford, but at the same time, if it's serious, I don't want him to suffer.

Guys have ANY advice for such an issue before I take him in?

For all I know, it could just be a scab he got from fighting that was really bad and bothering him as it heals. Or maybe its some internal thing that's bothering him, I don't know.

Any advice would be MASSIVELY appreciated. Thank you so much.

Aaron

Hi there! We all get nervous when we don't know what is wrong, and our poor cats can't tell us. The more you don't know what it is, the more urgently he needs a vet. He could have an internal pain there. Can you not speak to a vet and ask if they will accept a payment plan? Or are there any low-cost clinics where you live. This poor boy is obviously at the very least in severe discomfort and he really needs professional help. I hope you manage to sort it out and find the cause.

It could be as simple as fleas, but it could also be a seizure-type disorder, like feline hyperesthesia. Do you have a flea comb? I would start by checking him for fleas. Also, consider bringing him indoors--older cats start to lose hearing and sight, so it is not very safe to leave them outdoors unsupervised.

Hi there, well I have a teenage kitty -Dino - he´s in indoor/ourdoor kit, but now spends a lot of his time in the house. He does go out most days but only for say about 1hr and only in our garden. Anyways, he started doing this strange thing. He try to "wipe" something from his mouth with both paws. He would also sort of keep sticking his tongue out as if something was on his tongue that was bothering him Well, as you can imagine I was rather confused, it looked uncomfortable and he used to fall over sometimes or loose his balance. Like your kit he acted just as normal afterwards
I checked over his mouth, teeth, felt for lumps & bumps- NADA, ZIP , nothing.

So I went to the vet, she couldnt see anything and didnt have a clue. About one month later he started it again, when I checked he had like wart thing on his chin. It wasnt sore, or weeping and it went away - now he hasnt done this funny stuff since then, so I always wondered if it was this wart thing.

Not sure whether that helps but its very similar. Have you checked for bites or lumps or anything like that ? Other than that, I think as suggested, if you can agree something with your vet then he might need a check over.
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