Our cat licking herself bald

We have a beautiful little Bengal British short hair cross called Flo. At the moment she is licking herself bald – mainly around the stomach and rear legs. We are at our wits end on what to do as we have tried pretty much everything the vet had to offer.

We live in the country away from other cats with only us and her brother for company. As I work at home, I am around all day so she always has company when she wants it. She is a very chilled out cat and other than the licking has no signs of stress at all. We tried her on a mild sedative anyway, but it did not help.

We have had her tested for pretty much everything disease, fungal and viral. We did an allergy scan and she came back with a few things which have been eliminated from her environment and diet. We have her on a very high quality balanced food diet with no unnatural additives or vegetable matter to ensure it is not diet related.

We have had her in a cone for two weeks to see if we could break the habit but rather than trying to list the affected parts she was content to just lick the inside of the cone instead which is amusing but does not solve the issue.

All that is left is physiological issues but we have not the faintest idea how to try and treat that so we have tried her with Reiki and acupressure but again to no effect.

There are two traumas in her life – first was having her bits removed and the second is when she was in an accident and had to have her leg pinned. Both were about 4 years ago, but she started excessive licking last October.

Any thoughts or ideas on how to resolve this would be most appreciated as we are now at a complete loss as to what to do.

I'm sure the Vet already asked, but did anything out of the ordinary happen last October?  Anything NEW around the house?  Carpet, throw rugs, piece of furniture, rearranged furniture, anything change at all?  Even anything change outside that she can see?  (does she GO outside?)  

What all has the Vet suggested?  I know you say you are feedng her a good quality food, but what exactly is it...brand, flavor(s), wet or dry? 

My cat did that in response to a flea/tick treatment.  A shot of Depo-Medrol (anti-inflammatory) took care of it, but it was not without its own issues - side effects from the drug.  But it did help.  One side effect is that the cat gets really sleepy...which was a good thing: they can't lick themselves while asleep.  One shot did it....its a slow release drug that took about 4 weeks to work through her system.

Best of luck to you.

mrsgreenjeens said:

 
I'm sure the Vet already asked, but did anything out of the ordinary happen last October?  Anything NEW around the house?  Carpet, throw rugs, piece of furniture, rearranged furniture, anything change at all?  Even anything change outside that she can see?  (does she GO outside?)  

What all has the Vet suggested?  I know you say you are feedng her a good quality food, but what exactly is it...brand, flavor(s), wet or dry? 

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Many thanks for your response.  

In June last year, my wife and i sold our house.  Our cats were staying with my parents-in-law (which they have done for many times before).  The difference this time is that my wife had to move ahead with her job and I was spending half my time staying with my parents-in-law and half with my wife.  This went on until November last year before we had somewhere for them to move up to with us.  It was around this time she started licking herself bald, so it is more than likely the root cause - we had to eliminate everything else first though.

Both Flo and her brother are very much out-door cats.  Where we initially lived and my parents-in-law we were on a small estate with other cats around.  Where we are now we are pretty much alone with a large woodland (cat paradise).  Both cats are allowed out at any time (though Flo tends to stay in most of the night) and both go to the toilet outside.

We had the cats on a dry food until I discovered how bad that is for them.  They are both now on Grau grain-free wet cat food which research suggests is far better than most of the foods you can buy in a supermarket.  We have every intention of making our own from fresh ingredients in the future.

The vet has tried her on mild sedatives, anti-inflammatories, antibiotics plus has run a full spectrum of both disease, skin and allergy tests.  We are waiting to see if we can resolve this in other ways before starting on immuno-therapy for dust-mites (her biggest allergy apparently).  We have tried isolation, cones, and regular play times.  She does get a regular monthly flea and tick treatment, which could be another cause so we might eliminate that for a couple of months over the winter (minimal ticks around) to see what happens.

Most of the evidence points to psychological issues rather than physical ones.  We just don't have any more ideas on how to help her.  Any thoughts would be most appreciated.

aprilprey said:

 
My cat did that in response to a flea/tick treatment.  A shot of Depo-Medrol (anti-inflammatory) took care of it, but it was not without its own issues - side effects from the drug.  But it did help.  One side effect is that the cat gets really sleepy...which was a good thing: they can't lick themselves while asleep.  One shot did it....its a slow release drug that took about 4 weeks to work through her system.

Best of luck to you.

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Which flea/tick treatment did you use?  This might be something worth considering.

Yes, this does sound like a compulsive disorder, which is usually brought on by a change (such as a move).  Either that, or since she is always licking in the same area, it could be she has pain in that area, and is licking to try to resolve it, but since she's been thoroughly checked out, I'm thinking that is not the case.  BUT, since she does show an allergy to dust-mites, I suppose it could be from that, although here's an article I found on dust-mite allergies, and Flo's licking doesn't sound anything like what is in this article http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2013/05/08/house-dust-mites.aspx  

If a compulsive disorder (like OCD), has your Vet discussed using some sort of anti-anxiety medication on her?  I wonder if you could just break the cycle of her doing this, if she would stop and then could get off any anti-anxiety meds?  I guess it might be just try and see?