TheCatSite.com › Forums › Our Feline Companions › Cat Health › Kitty Anxiety? Help!:( *pictures*
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Kitty Anxiety? Help!:( *pictures*

post #1 of 9
7/24/10 at 5:21pm
Thread Starter 
I started noticing that Binx was getting small bald spots on his legs and under his mouth. I took him into the vet and he tested his blood for many things, but said that physically he is healthy, and he thinks it is more of a mental problem. I had to leave for the weekend right before I noticed, and the vet said that he thought maybe that caused him anxiety, which caused him to obsessively groom.


It's been 3 days since the vet. It's getting alot worse. He has larger bald spots now, and little sores in all of them.

Thet vet mentioned that if it got worse he could put him on some medication. The cat version of prozac.

Has anyone ever had this problem? I do not want to put him on medication if it's at all avoidable...

Please help me me help my poor baby.

I am adding pictures, so that people with previous experience will know if it's the same thing or maybe if it could be misdiagnosed.


Reply
post #2 of 9
7/24/10 at 5:57pm
Pixel gets those - that's why she doesn't wear a collar [altho right now Java & Cable are also collarless - they lost them somehow during the moving process. i suspect they're under the dishwasher!]. anyway, Pixel's are from herpes.
Reply
post #3 of 9
7/24/10 at 7:31pm
My friend's cat has a severe problem with anxiety and overgrooming. Buddha will groom himself for hours, and then start pulling out tufts of fur. Watch your cat and check his surroundings -- are you noticing him pulling any out when he grooms? Are you noticing tufts of fur stuck to couches or beds where he usually sits to groom? If not, I would say that it is not an overgrooming problem.

Buddha is on a medication for anxiety right now, and my friend the Kitty-daddy says that he's doing better. He is grooming less and pulling out fur less often. So far, there haven't been any side effects. Buddha is a lot calmer during the day, more so than rescue remedy was doing for him. He still has moments when my friend's baby starts crying and that totally freaks Buddha out and he starts overgrooming again.

I hope that this is either something easily treated, or just overgrooming. Good luck with your furbaby.
Reply
post #4 of 9
8/1/10 at 9:06pm
Thread Starter 
Please help! He's getting worse and worse. I feel so helpless!
Reply
post #5 of 9
8/1/10 at 9:07pm
Thread Starter 
I have closely watched him. I have never noticed clumps of hair. I do see him groom excessivly..but I have never seen tufts of hair..


Quote:
Originally Posted by SamhainBorn View Post
My friend's cat has a severe problem with anxiety and overgrooming. Buddha will groom himself for hours, and then start pulling out tufts of fur. Watch your cat and check his surroundings -- are you noticing him pulling any out when he grooms? Are you noticing tufts of fur stuck to couches or beds where he usually sits to groom? If not, I would say that it is not an overgrooming problem.

Buddha is on a medication for anxiety right now, and my friend the Kitty-daddy says that he's doing better. He is grooming less and pulling out fur less often. So far, there haven't been any side effects. Buddha is a lot calmer during the day, more so than rescue remedy was doing for him. He still has moments when my friend's baby starts crying and that totally freaks Buddha out and he starts overgrooming again.

I hope that this is either something easily treated, or just overgrooming. Good luck with your furbaby.
Reply
post #6 of 9
8/1/10 at 9:23pm
What are you feeding him? Did you change the food? Are you using anything on your house you weren't before? New laundry soap? dryer sheets? sprays? Does anything come to mind?
Has your vet considered allergies at all? Ran cultures on the skin?

I would advise a second opinion.... And probably changing the food immediately to something like Natural balance or even Hills Z/D... I am not saying this is food allergies, but I would eliminate that possibility as well since your kitty is suffering... It will not hurt.

One thing is for sure - to me this sounds more like allergies, fungus, or that something is actually itching her skin, rather than psychological...

Do you have feliway on your walls? If not, get it - one for each room in which she spends the most amount of time in. If you live in a 1br apartment, 2 will suffice.
Reply
post #7 of 9
8/1/10 at 9:35pm
Thread Starter 
What are you feeding him?
Did you change the food?
I feed them Natural Balance. Have ever since he came to live with us.

Are you using anything on your house you weren't before? New laundry soap? dryer sheets? sprays? Does anything come to mind?
I have not switched any of this. I myself have severe allergies, so I have used everything the same since before he has come to live with us. Tide with Downy in the pink bottle, and dreft for my kids clothes. No dryer sheets.. no changing of anything else.

Has your vet considered allergies at all? Ran cultures on the skin?
I don't think he did. He looked at him for a few minutes at most. CHecked him over, pulled on his skin.. nothing I couldn't of done myself. I live in a small town and we only have 2 choices for vet. One that I wrote off long ago, and this one.

Do you have feliwayon your walls?
We have these.

It seems like it is just getting worse, there are many new bald spots now, and the ones he had previously are larger, and getting worse. I am at a loss. It is physically painful for me to look at him this way and not be able to do anything.

I don't care if he is bald, I just want to make sure he is comfortable!!!
Reply
post #8 of 9
8/1/10 at 9:50pm
Go to the other vet ASAP... I would also change them to Natural Balance LID - the ones with one protein and one starch, such as chicken and green pea, green pea and duck, green pea and salmon, venison and green pea...

I don't think if it was anxiety it would get so worse so fast...
Reply
post #9 of 9
8/1/10 at 10:02pm
does he eat wet or dry?
if it's wet, add lysine to his food [available @ health stores - i use the capsules & open them, but there is a powder form. the link is for the stuff i use]. if it's dry, you can try adding the lysine to the water, altho it won't dissolve completely.
i suggest this because if the spots are due to herpes, like Pixel's are, the lysine will help. if it's something else, the lysine won't hurt him at all - it's an amino acid.
Pixel's spots will scab over & the fur comes out - but they're like sores. she gets them mostly on her face, near her eyes & ears, but she has a couple of spots on her neck - old ones, healed over but still bald. her kibble has lysine added to it [Royal Canin Special 33] but she's recovering from a flare-up [i think the move was stressful on her - i know it was on me]. since the new spots are getting better, i'm not treating her w/extra lysine, as she fights me - the only cat i know who doesn't like meat baby food!
if Binx likes meat baby food [most cats LOVE it] you can add the lysine to that. suggested dose for flare-ups is here: how to manage feline herpes
the site above suggests the special preparation, but the regular stuff is just as good & cheaper.
if you want, i can take pix of Pixel's spots for you to compare - let me know.
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Cat Health
TheCatSite.com › Forums › Our Feline Companions › Cat Health › Kitty Anxiety? Help!:( *pictures*