So I have an 8 year old domestic short hair indoor cat named Salem (he’s fully vaccinated and has yearly vet visits he’s fully indoors and 100% doesntthat I’ve had since I was 16 (currently 24). When we still lived with my parents he was an indoor outdoor cat, but now is exclusively indoor. Anyways since about the time he started being exclusively indoor (he was about 2 ish so this has been for at least 5 years) we’ve had issues with him licking patches of fur off of his body. At first it was just at the base of his tail. He would lick neat patches right at the base and was bald there. A year or two ago though he moved on from his tail and now licks very neat patches on the back of his front legs (occasionally he’ll do it on his hind legs too). There aren’t sores he just licks enough that the fur is either very short or completely bald and he’s not licking anywhere else.
I’ve taken him to the vet and had this checked out numerous times by numerous vets and I’ve gotten a different answer and different treatment each time with little luck. First vet years ago said it was fleas and tapeworms and treated him for that it didn’t help. Second time the vet said it was allergies and gave him a steroid shot but it didn’t improve. The third visit the vet said it was anxiety and stress causing overgrooming but he wasn’t licking himself bad enough to warrant getting him on anti anxiety medication.
Stress related overgrooming makes the most sense to me because it started shortly after he became an indoor cat and he tends to do it more when I take him with me to visit my parents (he hates my parents cats and gets stressed there). However my bosses cat has the same spots and when she took her cat to the vet they said it was allergies and said because her cat also had thinning hair near his ears and on his chin that was a sign of allergies. Salem has this as well and when he chews his arms and feet it really does seem like he’s itchy. The thing is I have no clue what he’s allergic to every single thing we have has definitely changed over the last 5 years since moving. We don’t use clay litter anymore and he eats expensive quality wet food that we’ve changed up over the years too. All of the cleaning supplies we have have definitely been changed. Literally everything has been changed at least once since he started doing this so I’m not sure what he would be allergic to. Also it tends to get worse when we visit my parents and I know he hates that so it makes me think it’s stress. I’m having a hard time finding answers online and I can’t afford to constantly take him to the vet, but any advice or answers would be helpful.
I’ve taken him to the vet and had this checked out numerous times by numerous vets and I’ve gotten a different answer and different treatment each time with little luck. First vet years ago said it was fleas and tapeworms and treated him for that it didn’t help. Second time the vet said it was allergies and gave him a steroid shot but it didn’t improve. The third visit the vet said it was anxiety and stress causing overgrooming but he wasn’t licking himself bad enough to warrant getting him on anti anxiety medication.
Stress related overgrooming makes the most sense to me because it started shortly after he became an indoor cat and he tends to do it more when I take him with me to visit my parents (he hates my parents cats and gets stressed there). However my bosses cat has the same spots and when she took her cat to the vet they said it was allergies and said because her cat also had thinning hair near his ears and on his chin that was a sign of allergies. Salem has this as well and when he chews his arms and feet it really does seem like he’s itchy. The thing is I have no clue what he’s allergic to every single thing we have has definitely changed over the last 5 years since moving. We don’t use clay litter anymore and he eats expensive quality wet food that we’ve changed up over the years too. All of the cleaning supplies we have have definitely been changed. Literally everything has been changed at least once since he started doing this so I’m not sure what he would be allergic to. Also it tends to get worse when we visit my parents and I know he hates that so it makes me think it’s stress. I’m having a hard time finding answers online and I can’t afford to constantly take him to the vet, but any advice or answers would be helpful.
