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Excessive Licking - huge bald spots... :(

post #1 of 8
9/11/10 at 11:23pm
Thread Starter 
My cat is 11 years old. She is a mostly white but very calico cat. She's fussy, moody, only likes me ~ all that lovely calico goodness. And I love her to pieces.

Within the last.... err... I'd say 6 months she has been excessively licking. To the point that she has random patches of baldness. Her entire belly is bald now and there are random patches of baldness on her back, all legs, etc. There are no sores, no redness... just a lot of missing fur.

I took her to a vet a few months back and he suggested I use feliway. So I got one of those plugin things for the wall and put it in her favorite room... nothing changed. The vet had also mentioned it shouldn't be allergies because she'd have sore spots, redness, or scabs of some kind... and that when cats lick a hormone is released that gives them a calming effect. So i'm guessing that's why he told me to get the feliway thing which didn't work.

I haven't changed her food (Iams indoor formula), nor her kitty litter (tidy cat multiple cats odor control omgrah formula), nor the places where her food/water bowls and litter box are... I've even gone so far to make sure everyTHING in the house is in it's place (aside from random weekly clutter lol), nothing has moved. I've started dusting regularly... we switched to white sheets so I could bleach them weekly incase maybe dust mites were affecting her?? I've cleaned the baseboards... everything. My house has never been this clean before! The only thing I can think of is that we moved from Austin, TX to Las Vegas, NV and there is no humidity here. Sooooooooo.... we bought a humidifier for this cat mind you. Nothing. Has. Changed.

If it's nothing serious I won't mess with her, I have no problem loving a bald kitty. But if she's suffering? I worry, she's my baby. We came home tonight and when she hopped in my lap I saw a new bald spot on her back hip. It wasn't there 4 hours ago! It looks like she literally chewed the fur off... I've had many many maannny cats before, but have never come across something like this.

What do I do? Any suggestions? Please??? :C
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post #2 of 8
9/11/10 at 11:37pm
I had the same thing going on, and my regular vet first did a cortison shot (didn't work) then it was a cortison spray (didn't work) He then suggested prozac which I said no to. Finally, I was talking to a feline specialist and when she learned the cat was in his senior years, she prescribed ahzithromax (strong antibiotic) 3 days on the antibiotic, Riley stopped pulling his hair out. He had something wrong inside and his only recourse was to pull at his hair to fix the problem. He stayed on the meds for the required time and has stopped entirely all his self-mutulation.
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post #3 of 8
9/11/10 at 11:55pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by hissy View Post
I had the same thing going on, and my regular vet first did a cortison shot (didn't work) then it was a cortison spray (didn't work) He then suggested prozac which I said no to. Finally, I was talking to a feline specialist and when she learned the cat was in his senior years, she prescribed ahzithromax (strong antibiotic) 3 days on the antibiotic, Riley stopped pulling his hair out. He had something wrong inside and his only recourse was to pull at his hair to fix the problem. He stayed on the meds for the required time and has stopped entirely all his self-mutulation.
Sounds like a winner. I've been taking Hazey to a general vet office. They had excellent reviews... but I have my doubts. I'll see if we have a feline specialist in the area. Thanks!
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post #4 of 8
9/12/10 at 1:39am
Why do you so strongly believe it can't be an allergy yet believe it possible that dust mites could have been bothering her? That would have been an allergy.

Not all cats will get so itchy that they tear themselves open. That's the problem with cats, they can each react so subtly. Both the food and litter you use could be triggers, that you haven't changed them would be why they were a possible problem and not a form of prevention. Allergies develop over time to things that one is exposed to.

Start trying to work with your vet (or another one) to rule stuff out.
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post #5 of 8
9/12/10 at 2:11am
Thread Starter 
mmm... I'm not ruling out allergies. I am just trying everything I know. Dust mites are what i'm allergic to, and my train of thought was perhaps my cat could be, too? A lot of hopeful thinking to finding what it is that's causing this... But that vet who said it wasn't allergies, and to just let her do her thing + feliway, at this point doesn't sit right with me the more i'm reading about stuff online.

I did find a few vets in the Vegas area that specialize and work with only cats. Just doing a bit more research on them before I go. Also found a few in California and Arizona that may be worth the drive.
Hard to find a good vet here... I just don't want to take my cat to the same vet who nonchalantly blew the ordeal off as if I was worried about owning a cat with no fur.

I had no idea allergies could be developed by *not* changing food/litter. Everything I've found told me otherwise O_o You sure?

In any event i'll be asking for an allergy test and asking if she may need antibiotics like hissy suggested.
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post #6 of 8
9/12/10 at 4:35am
Quote:
Originally Posted by VegasBekah View Post
I had no idea allergies could be developed by *not* changing food/litter. Everything I've found told me otherwise O_o You sure?
Allergies don't work that way. One doesn't become allergic to something they've never been exposed to before, it's things that they've repeatedly been exposed to that eventually trigger the body to react. This is how you get people that get suddenly allergies in their 30s and cats and dogs that are suddenly allergic to a food ingredient when they 2-4 years old.

Since the skin could at the very least be mildly irritated from licking an antibiotic certainly could be worth trying. It doesn't take much to get a mild skin infection.
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post #7 of 8
9/12/10 at 9:13am
Get her off the Tidy Cat litter. I've had at least 5 cats have the same behavior your cat is exhibiting.
It took me forever to figure out what was going on and it was the Tidy Cat.

I switched to Swheat Scoop first, confirmed that the over grooming stopped, then found Dr Elsey's clumping clay litter, which has no prefumes or other chemicals added.

I hope that the litter is your problem, as it's an easy fix.
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post #8 of 8
9/12/10 at 9:42am
^Since she says she cleans a lot it could also be something she cleans with. Most people don't realize there can be a problem a lot of cleaners.

I suggest working on a list of anything you use in the house that could potentially be an allergen or irritating, scented stuff especially. Carefully working through and eliminating items could probably pinpoint what's going on.
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