Hello, I've posted about my dear Zak before, but unfortunately I did not have the clear means to take action about this until now, so I am posting again.
Zak is my 8-year-old male who we've long known/suspected to have some sort of anxiety disorder. I rescued Zak from a garage when he was 3 days old after he was abandoned by his mother, and I think his anxieties are partially my fault because I was a child at this time and did not know to socialize him properly. Regardless, his anxious behavior is really taking a toll on our household. In my previous posts I believe I detailed how he chases his tail when he gets particularly anxious. For example, he gets anxious when the litter box is too full, and he will chase his tail aggressively (growling and biting and aggressively licking at it) until finally doing his business somewhere in my room. At first I thought this behavior was a medical issue, like maybe something hurting his tail (it might have ZERO relevance but I want to note that his tail feels very stiff and muscular to the touch compared to my other cat's floppy one), but it's confusing to me that he seems to do it out of stress. Maybe stress aggravates the condition?
I had considered Feline Hyperesthesia, but his skin doesn't "ripple." He twitches his back sometimes during this behavior but it doesn't look like the rippling I've heard described. And is this condition particularly aggravated by stress? He does the tail thing randomly every once in a while, but he only really goes AFTER it when he's really freaked out. I just wondered if he would do this more often if it wasn't just a stress thing. I've also had an (admittedly questionable) vet tell me that cats with this condition don't have "beautiful groomed coats" like him because they bite at their fur so much. I think I should also point out the very important fact that this behavior started when he was about 2 and had a urinary tract infection. He has been doing it every time he is stressed since that day, but it was completely new and unexpected at the time.
I figure a trip to the vet is in order, but I was wondering if there are things I should make sure they test for in particular besides the obvious Hyperesthesia. They have suggested Prozac in the past, but I couldn't even IMAGINE trying to shove a pill down this crazy's throat, although now I am wondering if Prozac or Buspar might be worth a try. He seriously keeps peeing all over my stuff when the litter box is even SLIGHTLY below his standards and I have no idea what those will be that day. He also just poops all over my floor indiscriminately, seemingly regardless of the litter box cleanliness, but this only happens about once a week or so. This situation is just very puzzling as it seems like he might have something physical AND mental going on at the same time. Any advice is GREATLY appreciated. His behavior really affects everyone around him, but at the end of the day, I just want to make sure he's happy and that I'm doing everything I can to improve his quality of life.
Zak is my 8-year-old male who we've long known/suspected to have some sort of anxiety disorder. I rescued Zak from a garage when he was 3 days old after he was abandoned by his mother, and I think his anxieties are partially my fault because I was a child at this time and did not know to socialize him properly. Regardless, his anxious behavior is really taking a toll on our household. In my previous posts I believe I detailed how he chases his tail when he gets particularly anxious. For example, he gets anxious when the litter box is too full, and he will chase his tail aggressively (growling and biting and aggressively licking at it) until finally doing his business somewhere in my room. At first I thought this behavior was a medical issue, like maybe something hurting his tail (it might have ZERO relevance but I want to note that his tail feels very stiff and muscular to the touch compared to my other cat's floppy one), but it's confusing to me that he seems to do it out of stress. Maybe stress aggravates the condition?
I had considered Feline Hyperesthesia, but his skin doesn't "ripple." He twitches his back sometimes during this behavior but it doesn't look like the rippling I've heard described. And is this condition particularly aggravated by stress? He does the tail thing randomly every once in a while, but he only really goes AFTER it when he's really freaked out. I just wondered if he would do this more often if it wasn't just a stress thing. I've also had an (admittedly questionable) vet tell me that cats with this condition don't have "beautiful groomed coats" like him because they bite at their fur so much. I think I should also point out the very important fact that this behavior started when he was about 2 and had a urinary tract infection. He has been doing it every time he is stressed since that day, but it was completely new and unexpected at the time.
I figure a trip to the vet is in order, but I was wondering if there are things I should make sure they test for in particular besides the obvious Hyperesthesia. They have suggested Prozac in the past, but I couldn't even IMAGINE trying to shove a pill down this crazy's throat, although now I am wondering if Prozac or Buspar might be worth a try. He seriously keeps peeing all over my stuff when the litter box is even SLIGHTLY below his standards and I have no idea what those will be that day. He also just poops all over my floor indiscriminately, seemingly regardless of the litter box cleanliness, but this only happens about once a week or so. This situation is just very puzzling as it seems like he might have something physical AND mental going on at the same time. Any advice is GREATLY appreciated. His behavior really affects everyone around him, but at the end of the day, I just want to make sure he's happy and that I'm doing everything I can to improve his quality of life.
