Cat pulls his fur out

[jennandtonic]

This may belong in the cat health forum, I don't know.

Ever since I got Byron (he's an almost 4 year old Domestic Shorthair) in December, he's had an issue with overgrooming and pulling his fur out, mostly on his back, near his tail.  Otherwise he has absolutely no behavior issues; he's very loving, affectionate, loves to play, doesn't seem anxious, and no peeing or pooping outside of the litter box. I brush him every day, which he loves.

I thought the fur pulling was dry skin/allergic reaction to his diet (the shelter had him on cheap food), PLUS I wanted to get him on grain-free food, so I've changed his food to grain-free, and mostly wet food (I do give him dry on days that I can't be there to give his morning meal). He loves his food and has always eaten very well.

Changing his food didn't work. The vet told me she thought it was fleas, (but he never scratches himself, and he's an indoor cat!), so we treated for fleas. The behavior didn't abate, so she suggested maybe a UTI, and so I got him tested; nope, no UTI.

I thought maybe it was dry skin, so, taking the advice of another cat owner, tried rubbing his skin down with a hint of olive oil. This only made his fur pulling worse AND made the fur easier for him to pull out, so I haven't done that since. I've started adding just a bit of olive oil to his food, and he hasn't seemed to mind, but it hasn't had an affect, either.

I still suspect dry skin but I'm not positive of that. And if it is, I'm not sure what to do to help him. I brought up the idea of dry skin to the vet, since Byron does have just a bit of dandruff, and she dismissed my concern and suggested putting him on an anxiety pill (I am very wary of that. He doesn't seem anxious most of the time...)

He doesn't have bald patches but at this rate (I came home to find he'd pulled about 15 tufts of hair out today), he will. Has anyone else experienced this?

 

[stephenq]

Hi @jennandtonic

On the face of it, it sounds like psychogenic alopecia. Did you try a course of anti-histamines to rule out allergy and possibly steroids as well?

If medical causes have been rules out like allergy, fleas etc then it may be psychological, similar to OCD, and Byron may benefit from drugs like Prozac in careful doses with behavior modification, and then hopefully tapering of the drugs.

Please see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychogenic_alopecia

and

http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2012/09/10/cats-excessive-grooming.aspx

 

[jennandtonic]

I have not tried the allergy/anti-histimine route yet because I didn't want to do anything without consulting a vet. My vet dismissed the allergy idea.

Byron doesn't exhibit many of the anxious signs, but one of those links also states that sometimes the hair pulling is the only symptom. Perhaps that was his way of dealing with stress, and it's just become a habit.

I'd still like to rule out allergies before I put him on some sort of anxiety medication.

(I noticed that I forgot to mention, my vet recommended feliway, so I also put a few diffusers throughout the house, to no noticeable affect.)

 

[stephenq]

 
I have not tried the allergy/anti-histimine route yet because I didn't want to do anything without consulting a vet. My vet dismissed the allergy idea.

Byron doesn't exhibit many of the anxious signs, but one of those links also states that sometimes the hair pulling is the only symptom. Perhaps that was his way of dealing with stress, and it's just become a habit.

I'd still like to rule out allergies before I put him on some sort of anxiety medication.

(I noticed that I forgot to mention, my vet recommended feliway, so I also put a few diffusers throughout the house, to no noticeable affect.)

Many cats with psychogenic alopecia, the only symptom is the over grooming.  I agree you should only medicate with a vets agreement/advice!  At the very least I would discuss psychogenic alopecia with your vet and discuss the next course of action.

 

[jennandtonic]

Update on this situation:

I went to the vet today, and after talking over his behavior with my vet, she does think it could be an allergy, more specifically, a food allergy. She reviewed the ingredients of the Wellness CORE food I'd been feeding him, as well as the wet food. The wet food DOES have grain (wild rice) in it--I didn't realize that. She said she's not sure if the wild rice in the wet food is what is causing it, but gave me a couple of options:

1. Feed him hypoallergenic food with no grains, and no chicken (the food he was eating was chicken based) in it for 8-10 weeks to see if the behavior stops.

2. Allergy test him to see what he may be allergic to (costs over 300 dollars).

I opted for option 1. As of today he's transitioning to Royal Canin PR (rabbit and peas) wet and dry food. It's expensive, so there's a bit of a sticker shock, but the vet said he should be eating less of it, since it's very filling for him.

And, he has eaten EVERY BIT of the Royal Canin I have mixed with his food. He seems to love it. Of course I'll still be doing a slow transition so he doesn't get an upset stomach, but so far so good.

I really hope that this helps his hair pulling. If it is psychogenic alopecia I can accept that, but I would hate to leave it alone/not try all options available if it's not. I don't want him to suffer!

Also I thought I would post this in case other people have the same issue. I've been googling like crazy the last few months and have had a hard time finding people who have been down this same kind of path.

 

[stephenq]

Thanks for the update and keep us in the loop, very interesting.

 

[theouterbanks]

I've also been having the same problem with my cat. Many trips to the vets to rule lots of things out. Like yours its not fleas as he's an indoor cat and my vet seems to think he's allergic to something. Let me know how you get on with the change in food.  

 

[jennandtonic]

Just an update to say that he is STILL pulling his fur out. I believe that he may have allergiesto something outside, because even though he is solely an indoor cat, if i open the windows, after awhile he has long hair pulling sessions.
My vet has been pretty skeptical, saying she's never seen that before, so i think I'm going to get a second opinion. If indeed it is just something he does (a tic) i can accept that but I'd like to exhaust all options first.

 

[mani]

Thanks for the update, @jennandtonic

I think it's a great idea to see another vet about this.

Also, I'll move this thread over to health as it does sound like a health issue.

 

[ankitty]

Have you tried Feliway? My cat does that and his vet thinks it's psychological, like OCD. 

 

[jennandtonic]

Have you tried Feliway? My cat does that and his vet thinks it's psychological, like OCD. 

Yes i did! I forgot to mention that in my first post; i had /have two Feliway dispensers in the rooms he spends most of his time in, or was the first thing the vet had me do. To no noticeable affect.

 

[ankitty]

Yes i did! I forgot to mention that in my first post; i had /have two Feliway dispensers in the rooms he spends most of his time in, or was the first thing the vet had me do. To no noticeable affect.

Ah, so it doesn't work either...

My father had this weird habit of ripping hairs from his legs when watching TV. It's kind of subconscious addiction or something that gave him weird satisfaction. So, I started thinking that it may be the same for my cat. I've switched his food to all wet and part raw, and his coat is much better now, but he still chew on his fur. Our vet suggested some fish oil too. I'm going to add fish oil to their raw diet and see how it does. Have you tried butter? 

 

[stephenq]

Just an update to say that he is STILL pulling his fur out. I believe that he may have allergiesto something outside, because even though he is solely an indoor cat, if i open the windows, after awhile he has long hair pulling sessions.
My vet has been pretty skeptical, saying she's never seen that before, so i think I'm going to get a second opinion. If indeed it is just something he does (a tic) i can accept that but I'd like to exhaust all options first.

Hi

Did you look at the links above and/or discuss with your vet Psychogenic_alopecia ?

 

[mnm]

Minnie had the patterned baldness on her tummy and hind legs until I put her on Zyrtec... it totally healed her and all her fur grew back in. We were doctoring her for something else later...and thus I didn't give her the Zyrtec and she started licking again. Not sure what your vet would say about it... I just know it worked well for her.

 

[jennandtonic]

 
Hi

Did you look at the links above and/or discuss with your vet Psychogenic_alopecia ?

My apologies for not getting back to this thread. With the holidays and new year at my work it has been crazy!

I did indeed look at the link and discuss psychogenic alopecia with my vet; however, my instinct said that he was just uncomfortable in his own skin. Of course, if I was/am wrong, then I can accept his hair pulling, but until I turned over every stone I didn't want to just let him be uncomfortable or in pain.

I began noticing that on nice days (where I am the weather can be crazy--cold one day, warm the next) when I'd open my window, he'd begin itching/grooming/pulling his hair within about 30 minutes of me opening the window. He has also had increasingly dry skin. I started giving him flax seed oil with his food, because I had those vitamins in the house. After that, his dry skin decreased somewhat, and he had less dandruff, but still had quite a bit, poor thing. The itching and hair pulling did not decrease, however. I was finding where he'd had hair pulling sessions all over the house when I came home from work.

Byron had his yearly shots/checkup a few days ago, and I mentioned this to the vet. She finally agreed with me that it seems like a reaction to allergens in the air. She gave me several solutions:

1. Continue with the flax seed oil in his food

2. Get a humidifier that gives off a cool mist.

3. Steroid drops for his ears (they were inflamed/red, he'd been itching them a lot. But no sign of infection or anything), just once a day. She said at first to use them every day but after a few days I probably would not need to use them anymore, and he wouldn't need them long term.

4. Give him one half of a Chlorpheneramine (sp?) tablet per day which is an anti-histamine that I could get OTC at a pharmacy.

I've continued one and implemented the rest of the solutions since checkup day (Saturday). Though it is early, I have to say.....it has been a success!!!

I have not noticed ANY hair pulling since Saturday, the day of his first dose of the pill. He is also not itching much at all, and is grooming what I imagine is a normal amount for a cat. When playing, he no longer stops to itch, groom, or pull. He seems SO MUCH more comfortable in his own skin. And due to keeping up with the flax seed oil (I've been doing this for about two weeks now) his fur is much more shiny, and he's not practically radiating static electricity.

Of course, it's early so we will see, I'm REALLY hoping this keeps up!

ALSO--I would like to thank everyone for the input/advice/anecdotes about their own cats in this thread. It really helped me feel validated and made me think about various possibilities. You guys are awesome!

Hopefully when/if other people have issues with their cats, they'll see this when they google...maybe I was using the wrong search terms but a lot of my searching online turned out to be fruitless when I first began looking to see if other people's cats had the issue. This is the first place that I found where anyone could somewhat relate! So many sites said it must be fleas and/or anxiety and I knew that couldn't be right! At least, not for Byron.

 

[mnm]

that's great news! I'm feeling like you will have success with your treatment!!