Excessive Licking

[Jenelle812]

Hi, I have a 6 year old female cat. She has been excessively licking her lower stomach for awhile now. She licks it to the point that she licks the skin right off and it ends up being a huge sore. I cannot get her to stop doing this. I have her in a cone so she can't lick the area. If she gets the cone off that's the first place she goes and even licks the inside of the cone trying to reach it to get relief. Even after wearing the cone until the area is healed she still starts all over again in the same spot once the cone is removed. She does not lick any other area to the point of injury. I have taken her to 2 diff vets trying to get answers to how I can correct this behavior. The first vet suggested an allergy to plastic bowls and gave her a steroid shot. I switched the bowls out to ceramic and the steroid shot didn't help at all. The second vet I tried taking her to suggested anti anxiety medication and/or switching her food to something that is not a common allergy. I have had her eating Nature's Balance duck and green pea flavor for 6 monthes. I also had her on the anti anxiety medication for 2 monthes. After doing both of those things it's still the same thing. I took her back again and they did blood work and a urine sample which all came back fine. They then suggested an antihistamine allergy pill. She has been taking that 2 times a day for about 3 weeks now and I am not seeing any relief with that either. Does anybody else have or have had similar experiences? I am looking for any recommendations or advice that can help as the vet bills and medication are starting to get pricey. Thank you

 

[LTS3]

It might be a food allergy, even to the Natural Balance Duck and Green Pea which is supposed to be hypoallergenic. The peas might be the culprit. Or duck. Or something else in that particular food. I'd give a different brand of LID food a try. Here are some:

BLUE Basics® Limited Ingredient Cat Food | Blue Buffalo
Limited Ingredient Diet - Grain Free Cat | Merrick Pet Care
Cat Food - Limited Ingredient Diet - Kohapet
Instinct Limited Ingredient Diet | Instinct Pet Food
RAWZ | 100% Rendered Free Cat Food

If you're looking for canned food, give this chart a try:

Check This Out.... Chart For Cat Food Ingredients

You might find some additional suggestions here on various skin conditions and treatment here:

Skin Conditions In Cats

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. I think you should ask the vet about taking a skin scraping from that area to have it tested.

Skin Scraping in Cats - PetPlace

Also, in the meantime, you can brew a chamomile tea bag (standard grocery store variety - German, NOT English, and no additives) in water, cool the liquid and dab it on the area with cotton balls 2-3 times a day. The tea has both soothing and healing properties and is also considered an anti-bacterial treatment.

You can also add some of that tea to a small amount of your cat's water as a calming agent. I think the rule of thumb is 1-3 teaspoons for a cat that is 11 pounds or under, more for those over 11 pounds. You might even want to try to syringe feed the tea directly to your cat instead of adding to any water.

 

[Jem]

My girl, is a very timid thing, we adopted her at the end of December, knowing we would have to work with her to get her out of her shell. One of the things (among several health issues) that she did, was over groom to the point where she would become raw, and like you, it was on her belly. After a few trials with food changes, because people kept thinking it was allergies (as mentioned, she has other symptoms). Our vet recommended that we put her on the RC Calm prescription diet. Within days, she was grooming the area less and within a week, her sores were healing. Now (it's been a couple of months) her fur has grown back in, and there has not been any instances of over grooming. We are still dealing with a few of her other health issues, but her stress levels have greatly decreased, and she is so happy.
Our vet did say that she may not need to be on the prescription food forever, but we are keeping her on it until we feel that we have her health and anxiety under control. And the good news, she is well on her way!