Cat chewing off fur... itchy? Psychotic?

I'm at my wit's end. I love my 5 year old female bengal cat to death but for the past year or so she's taken up the habit of chewing herself while grooming. At first I thought it was a simple itch but rapidly I noticed patches of baldness! (I've observed her attacking these specific spots)

She is an indoor cat, never moved, good body condition (no obesity), nice, soft coat, fed a mix of Iams adult and Iams weight control (to keep her trim "bengally" figure)

Via recommendation by a vet, we started her on a Feliway feline pheromone dispenser that releases calming smells into the air (Bengals are notoriously skittish at times). She's definetly loving it, but still the biting! Still balding!

Now I ask because I've noticed now that the summer has rolled around and there's no more heating on in the house, that she has excessive dandruff at the base of her tail and hindend. Is it possible that an allergy is what's causing all of this? We DO have wall-to-wall carpetting....if that makes any difference. PLEASE HELP!

She needs to go to the vet again, if not a new one. You can't possibly diagnose the condition yourself and there could be various reasons for what she's doing, but don't wait any longer.

Originally Posted by bengallove

I'm at my wit's end. I love my 5 year old female bengal cat to death but for the past year or so she's taken up the habit of chewing herself while grooming. At first I thought it was a simple itch but rapidly I noticed patches of baldness! (I've observed her attacking these specific spots)

She is an indoor cat, never moved, good body condition (no obesity), nice, soft coat, fed a mix of Iams adult and Iams weight control (to keep her trim "bengally" figure)

Via recommendation by a vet, we started her on a Feliway feline pheromone dispenser that releases calming smells into the air (Bengals are notoriously skittish at times). She's definetly loving it, but still the biting! Still balding!

Now I ask because I've noticed now that the summer has rolled around and there's no more heating on in the house, that she has excessive dandruff at the base of her tail and hindend. Is it possible that an allergy is what's causing all of this? We DO have wall-to-wall carpetting....if that makes any difference. PLEASE HELP!

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Have her tested for food allergies or allergies to the litter you are using!

BTW, well bred bengals are not skittish. It is not a quality that the breed as a whole carries. I'm not sure where you heard that, but just the opposite is the way most bengals are. Outgoing and very accepting of new things, noises and people.

Bengallove
You and your vet should seriously consider phychogenic alopecia but only after ruling out physical causes first. It's a tricky differential diagnosis but once settled on treatment by reducing stress on the cat or lastly with prozac can be very effective. Also, oriental breeds have a predispostion to it.

However, over grooming and hair chewing can have physical causes that come from itchy skin like allergies etc and all the physical causes have to be ruled out before you start treating for phychogenic alopecia.

If it is phychogenic alopecia then usually the first step is reducing the stress in the cat's environment so they don't have the need to groom and chew. The process of grooming releases endorphins in the cat's brain thereby calming her or him - if you can reduce the cat's stress then you can reduce their need to over groom. Failing that, even a temporary course of prozac like drugs can reverse the condition.

I would suggest considering the possibility of a food allergy.

Even if that's not it, I would suggest a different food anyway. There are much better foods available for the same price as IAMS. The marketing makes it sound like really good stuff, but it's not. The better foods have no "by products" and more meat than grains (or better yet, no grains). "weight management", "lite", etc foods are mostly ineffective and they have even MORE grains, fillers, etc in them.

There's a lot of good info about food in the health/nutrition forum.

Thanks so much everyone for your comments, they do provide a bit of insight. I think what vexes me the most is that I've brought her to two different vets and neither have offered any real solution beyond the calming Feliway. I think another visit is definetly in order.

What beandip said about Iams definetly worries me. If it turns out to be food allergies, I'm definetly going to die of guilt =( I really do try to be a good cat owner.

P.S. before I forget, I did get Sheba from a registered bengal breeder and was told that oriental breeds tend to be somewhat highstrung compared to other. Maybe mine's just silly =) You wouldn't believe the lengths I go to make my home a relaxing environment and she's aaalways been that way.

Anyways, I'll keep ya posted I guess. Thanks again!

Originally Posted by bengallove

Thanks so much everyone for your comments, they do provide a bit of insight. I think what vexes me the most is that I've brought her to two different vets and neither have offered any real solution beyond the calming Feliway. I think another visit is definetly in order.

What beandip said about Iams definetly worries me. If it turns out to be food allergies, I'm definetly going to die of guilt =( I really do try to be a good cat owner.

P.S. before I forget, I did get Sheba from a registered bengal breeder and was told that oriental breeds tend to be somewhat highstrung compared to other. Maybe mine's just silly =) You wouldn't believe the lengths I go to make my home a relaxing environment and she's aaalways been that way.

Anyways, I'll keep ya posted I guess. Thanks again!

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Yes, please let us know what you find out and good luck! Just to make you aware, many cats are allergic to chicken proteins, soy, white fish and grains.
The allergies usually manifest themselves as itchy skin, with scratching biting and over grooming the result. Have a blood test done to check for allergies.
It runs about $200.

On a side note, why in the world would your bengal breeder tell you that bengals are an oriental breed? Bengals are Tabby's and don't have any of the physical characteristics of orientals.
That bengal breeder needs to do some research...

Anyway, hope you get to the bottom of Sheba's problem soon.

Originally Posted by bengallove

What beandip said about Iams definetly worries me. If it turns out to be food allergies, I'm definetly going to die of guilt =( I really do try to be a good cat owner.

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No need to feel guilty. You came here to learn. The quality of the food doesn't guarantee avoidance of a food allergy. Your cat could react to the "best" food and I use the term lightly as there are so many good ones. The best one is what your cat does well on. With the abundance of grains in IAMS, that does up the odds a bit, as Kai Bengals said a lot of cats' allergies are to grain products. But it can be many other things, even chicken or fish like Kai said.

Originally Posted by Kai Bengals

On a side note, why in the world would your bengal breeder tell you that bengals are an oriental breed? Bengals are Tabby's and don't have any of the physical characteristics of orientals.
That bengal breeder needs to do some research...

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Maybe that breeder thinks that the "Asian" in the ALC equates to oriental?

Started her on Wellness today, here's hopin! *crosses fingers*

Bengallove,

Annabelle has what sounds like the same problem. She will just be grooming away and I'll notice a tuft of hair hanging out of her mouth. I'll find little tufts of gray hair on the floor and lovely hairball surprises as well. My vet said it has two causes for Annabelle- allergies and the fact that she's a heat seeker. Her allergies are mostly food related, in fact we are pretty broke right now, so I bought some less than stellar cat food and her fur-pulling is back.

Starting your cat on the new food is a great idea. I'm quite partial to Natural Balance, because I can get it locally, and it isn't terribly expensive. I've also noticed that when I take better care of my own allergies to dust, molds, pollen, and dustmites Annabelle does better. I vacuum frequently, use dustmite covers, and keep the windows shut.

Annabelle also likes to seek out warm spots, like the heat vent, which dries out her skin and makes her pull out her fur. When she gets too dry I notice white flakes around her behind. To remedy this I use a humidifier when it's cold and dry.

I hope that helps!

Hi, it definitely sounds like a skin allergy or stress reaction to me. May I ask are the areas of fur loss small bald patches, sometimes red or even spot bleeding? Have you ever noticed a scabby area prior to the itchy fur loss? It is possible for cats to have psoriasis (skin disorders) just like us. How would I know? For the strange experience of one of my past beloved kitties having this disorder, as well as me! What I would recommend is to have 100% all natural diet, purified water, natural litter( there is a company that makes corn meal kitty litter, all natural, smells like vanilla!), die and scent free washing of favorite places to sleep or play, be sure to have food, water, and litter somewhere residue free of any cleaning products, avoid dyed toys and other contact items.......Dandruff and or fur loss is the skin reproducing excessively and shedding causes itching and irritation, reason for could be something other then an immediate allergic reaction, but a sensitivity to the environment which may be stimulated by any or all additives around.

The patches of fur are uniform (symmetrical) on her body, so I doubt its mange or anything like that. She's never gotten scabs but if I see her digging at a particular spot for long it usually gets red with a tiny amount of bleeding. Both instances are very very rare and her patchy baldness is pretty much just that- a lack of fur.

My cat is a heat-seeker in the sense of loving sunlight? That's about it. We do have a HEPA filter constantly running in the busiest area of our home for air quality though. Definetly a good idea =)

Originally Posted by bengallove

The patches of fur are uniform (symmetrical) on her body, so I doubt its mange or anything like that. She's never gotten scabs but if I see her digging at a particular spot for long it usually gets red with a tiny amount of bleeding. Both instances are very very rare and her patchy baldness is pretty much just that- a lack of fur.

My cat is a heat-seeker in the sense of loving sunlight? That's about it. We do have a HEPA filter constantly running in the busiest area of our home for air quality though. Definetly a good idea =)

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See if you can catch her when she starts going at it in a new area, feel it out, see if there is any scabbing or even prevalent flaking. This will eliminate question as to is it her or her reacting to an irritation......

Might be stress related. My friends cat, a Siamese, eats his tale when he is stressed. Not really eats it but will chew on the end of it for hours.

When I read your post, I thought, gee, sounds just like Doc! He's been off & on like that for the past 2 years or so, so after the last 2 course of steroids to calm down his itchiness (he had so many bald patches & some scabs -- it was heartbreaking to see him just licking & chewing his fur away ), we decided to try the elimination/food allergy diet again.

Unfortunately, there was the recall of the NB green pea formula -- which he didn't like anyway -- he did really well on Solid Gold Katz-n-flocken. Now he's on the Pinnacle Dry food for cat allergies (switched from Solid Gold b/c other cat has UTI issues & found out in the forum it might not be UTI-friendly), and he's doing great so far (

knock on wood!!!)!

I have an indoor female bengal and a few months ago (last august I think) I noticed a bald spot on her where she had overgroomed. I took her immediately to the vet and we wondered about food allergies and also the neurotic type of behavioural overgrooming.

Bengals are on average not skittish but they are very high energy and need a lot of stimulation. It turned out that the reason my cat was licking off her fur was indoor stress. This is basically a cat that starts stressing from not having enough outlets for their natural behaviour.

I immediately changed things around in my apartment to suit her better, including making cardboard boxes to be a permanent part of my living room (although I rotate them out so that there's not always the same boxes around) and I made an effort to take her outside on a harness to give her more stimulation and also play with her lots. I was playing with her plenty before, she had scratching posts and toys and I spent a lot of time with her.

However because bengals are so high maintenance what I had been doing before just wasn't enough. Now I have to play with her for atleast half an hour before I go to work and then for around an hour when I come back and then for another an hour before going to bed. I also started using a feliway diffuser.

Doing this stopped the overgrooming. I also got a steroid and antibiotical ointment from the vet because her overgroomed spot had gotten infected from being wet from all her licking. In the weeks when it healed I still noticed a few patches in other places on her body where her fur was a bit too thin but then that grew back as well and now I haven't noticed any spots with even slightly thinner fur for months and I check her religiously.

I also opened up my flat to her completely (well apart from the kitchen) when I'm not at home, this did backfire slightly as in she tipped over a part of my fish keeping equipment and killed all my fish except 3 but that's ok.

In addition to that on a hunch that it might be food allergies after all I removed all beef and ham from her diet (she used to get wet food with that) and now she gets only very high quality chicken wet food, some high quality tuna cat food as well actually at times.

Anyway I'd try running a feliway diffuser and continue with the new diet and also think about if she might be bored. Has your lifestyle changed recently? or anything else changed that might have triggered this?

I had a pastel tortie who had the same problem a few years back. It turns out that she became overly sensative to her food due to a flea bite. Apparently cats can develop allergies to fleas and once that happens they also develop other sensitivities. She was put on steroid shots and on a special food for about a year and then she just grew out of it.

Our elderly Puddin went through some BAD skin problems soon after my wife and I first moved in together; we adopted Puddin at that time, and removed her from the place where she'd spent the first six or seven years of her life.

Creams and Ointments didn't really work, and she violently resisted having them put on!! Dietary changes didn't really work either. But we switched to a different doctor after the move; He put her on steroids for about a month. That seemed to solve the itching and got her to stop chewing on herself, and when we took her off the steroids the condition never recurred, so that solution worked for us.

I agree with everyone else; you need professional help with this, but of course it *still* sometimes takes awhile to find the right doctor.