Hey everyone -- I've mentioned this in the past, but my baby girl Cephas, 14 years old, has developed an overgrooming problem since around August 2021. I've tried / am trying just about everything to try and figure out the root of this issue and every time I think something is working, she relapses. It's driving me a bit crazy so posting here in the hopes that you all can see what I've done so far and let me know if I'm missing anything obvious?
Where she grooms: She originally started with her belly, then progressing heavily to her legs, going up her outer thigh. She also grooms a small spot underneath her tail by her anus. Nowadays, she is mostly preoccupied with grooming her legs and feet -- she bites at her paws pretty often and will also tear at the hair around her toe beans.
What I've tried:
Anyone have any advice? I know some folks deal with overgrooming for years... and for mine, it's only been 6 months, but it's just awful watching her do this to herself week after week and not knowing how to help.
Where she grooms: She originally started with her belly, then progressing heavily to her legs, going up her outer thigh. She also grooms a small spot underneath her tail by her anus. Nowadays, she is mostly preoccupied with grooming her legs and feet -- she bites at her paws pretty often and will also tear at the hair around her toe beans.
What I've tried:
- Stress: I initially thought this was stress, because she started overgrooming right when we moved to a new apartment in August. Seemed obvious. However, as I observed her behavior more and reviewed the history of her food/lifestyle habits, I began to believe it wasn't stress but probably allergy-related. She is a very happy cat and honestly doesn't show any signs of stress at all -- but rather, her overgrooming seemed sparked by itchiness.
- Ruled out major infections / parasites; blood test (including thyroid) normal; skin sample showed a minor infection, but was so minor that it's most likely a secondary infection to the grooming, not the root cause
- She gets monthly flea medication, just in case.
- I periodically wipe the areas she grooms with antifungal/bacterial wipes prescribed by the vet -- these don't seem to make any difference.
- Food triggers: By October, I had figured out that the initial trigger was probably a food allergy. I realized that at the same time we moved, I also started feeding her beef pates (which I hadn't done for quite awhile before that). I believe now that she is allergic to beef, chicken, salmon, and some vegetables (corn and peas). I have switched her to exclusively RAWZ Rabbit Pates and the initial result was a lot of improvement. Based on her behavior, I don't believe this food is a trigger for her.
- Cat litter: The issue is that she continued to have relapses even though, overall, she seems much less itchy than when dealing with a food trigger. I eventually noticed that she seemed to bite at her feet after using the litter box. She was initially using corn cob litter for a long time -- as of December, I've transitioned her to Smartcat Grass Litter in the hopes that she's not allergic to grass.
- She was doing really well for about 2 weeks with this, almost grew back a lot of hair, but then suddenly had a relapse again last week and for the life of me I cannot figure out why.
- She has started standing up when peeing and occasionally skimps on covering her pee/poop, which she never used to do until a couple months ago. This makes me think even more that it's her cat litter that's bothering her -- but why would she still be doing this with the new grass litter? What are the chances she's also allergic to grass?
- I'm now considering switching her, again, to paper litter... but not sure if it's too soon.
- Onesies: Most onesies don't work because they only cover the belly, and her issue is with her legs. I finally found a onesie with some leg coverage -- and she was never able to fully get used to it. She wouldn't complain, and would even seem relaxed in the clothes, but wouldn't move around in them, which means I have to periodically take it off, and she goes right back to grooming during that time.
- Dry skin: The heat in my apartment is pretty intense! I had the thought that maybe the initial trigger was an allergy, but it has since been exacerbated by the dryness in the apartment? However, I'm not really sure how to solve for this (see below).
- She has epilepsy and takes phenobarbital. Because of this, I do not want to put her on any anti-anxiety medication.
- Because of the phenobarbital, she has occasional high liver values (which we treat with denamarin and usually goes back to normal). But because of this, I do not want to put her on steroids (especially because they'd just cover up the problem and not address the root cause either).
- My biggest constraint: she absolutely HATES when I doctor her food in any way. She is a very happy cat, but also very intelligent and a little neurotic. I can pill her or syringe her just fine. But if she suspects that I've tampered with her food in any way, shape, or form, she absolutely won't eat it.
- Because of this, I've wanted to give her fish oil to help with her skin condition -- but can't find a hypoallergenic capsule (aka not a chewable) that is small enough to pill her with. And I can't put the oil in her food because, per above, she will not eat it.
- Because of the food allergy issues, I'm also seriously limited in what treats I can give her to try to pair with supplements. I've already tried freeze-dried rabbit; she doesn't like it.
- I do not want to use clay or silica litter because of the long-term health risks associated with these -- but I've been having a lot of trouble finding an organic litter that she has absolutely no chance of being allergic to (e.g. pine? walnut? general mixed wood? all of these seem like potential allergens to me).
Anyone have any advice? I know some folks deal with overgrooming for years... and for mine, it's only been 6 months, but it's just awful watching her do this to herself week after week and not knowing how to help.
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