I am worried about my cat who is over grooming

I have a fantastic cat named Athena. She is about six years old and she has always been extremely loving and affectionate. About a year ago she started over grooming her belly and the inside of all four of her legs, to the point where she has no fur left there at all and she sometimes gives herself sores from licking so much. I took her to the vet and they said it might be an allergy and gave her an injection but it didn't seem to do much of anything. There were no changes in her lifestyle or personality directly prior to her developing this habit, or afterwards for that matter. I am starting to get very worried about her and I just don't know what to do for her. Every time I catch her doing it I try to redirect her or give her some extra attention, but it never seems to make much of a difference. Plus I am not home all day to keep an eye on her. I just don't understand what would make her do this to herself when there have been no other obvious changes in her routine, personality or behavior. I don't know what to do.

could be stress but please check the skin issue forum on here I think it is a sticky

I have a fantastic cat named Athena. She is about six years old and she has always been extremely loving and affectionate. About a year ago she started over grooming her belly and the inside of all four of her legs, to the point where she has no fur left there at all and she sometimes gives herself sores from licking so much. I took her to the vet and they said it might be an allergy and gave her an injection but it didn't seem to do much of anything. There were no changes in her lifestyle or personality directly prior to her developing this habit, or afterwards for that matter. I am starting to get very worried about her and I just don't know what to do for her. Every time I catch her doing it I try to redirect her or give her some extra attention, but it never seems to make much of a difference. Plus I am not home all day to keep an eye on her. I just don't understand what would make her do this to herself when there have been no other obvious changes in her routine, personality or behavior. I don't know what to do.

I am assuming that your vet also checked to make sure Athena doesn't have mites or a skin infection or fungus of some sort.

If all of these tests came up negative, it is possible that your cat's behavior is due to being a bit neurotic! In fact, some vets will diagnose this as a type of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Often putting the cat on Prozac or some other antidepressant will help. Or, instead of trying something so dramatic, you might want to try Dr. Bach's calming flower essence (Rescue Remedy) that you can get at most helath food stores.

This type of behavior is often due to boredom. So, make sure there are lots of toys for Athena to play with. Build a perch so the cat can look out the window. Anything to provide stimulation will be good.