Picking at his toes....

Virgule is a 10 years old, slightly fat male cat. He has always been very loving and friendly but since the last 4 months or so he has started to act very stressed out and cautious. He's started to nip at his toes and pull the hair out of them, and also does it with his lower tummy. He now has bald patches and is barely approachable.
My sister and her boyfriend got the little guy to the vet and they couldn't find anything wrong with him, not even fleas.
So that got me thinking....could it be a psychological problem? His behavior started to change when they moved out from their old appartement. The boyfriend is suspecting his ex was not very nice to the poor thing, needless to say they moved out fast, but could this be the cause?
Can poor Virgule be helped out of this problem?

have they tried feliway? its meant to relieve stress from cats.

it comes in a plug in or a spray. you can get it from ebay or vet offices.

I think they have no idea what to do right now...so I will write down EVERY suggestion and they can ask the vet. Feliway...I've never heard of it, but if it could help with the stress, that would be awesome! Thank you!
But do you think stress alone could do that?

i'm not a vet or an expert but from what i've read yes.

i'm sure someone will be along soon with a better idea of the problem.

also make sure they are feeding him a high quality cat food to help the fur grow back.

I think they feed him fairly good food...she is thinking about switching him to Wellness, wich would be great...
Any other suggestion? People?

I really don't know...except my Joshua used to chew on his toes and pull fur, and it was related to health issues - he had IBD, and pancreatitis

Once we treated his IBD he stopped pulling his fur and quit being half naked!

Hmm...is IDB easily detectable? Could the vet not have seen it?

Yes, though they confirm it with x-rays, and ultra sound and if nec. biopsy, in Joshua's case, the palpation of his intestines, his symptoms led to the probably diagnosis (he did also have ultrasound's done for a good scan of his intestines.)

what Pat said

possible food allegies that is a main sign

has the baby had a senior panel... Kandies was related to kidney issues