Fur Loss And Excessive Grooming

[JayAshby]

Hello all

My cat, Gigi (Male, neutered, 2 1/2 years old, indoor only, domestic shorthair) has been dealing with something strange for a while now. Every vet I go to always says something different.

He's loosing his fur to overgrooming. Not just calm overgrooming, frantic overgrooming. Almost like he's allergic to his own fur or something. Every now and again, If I don't keep him coned all day every day (which I feel dreadful about, so sometimes I give him a few hours of no cone time), he consumes so much fur that he vomits. It all seems to be in the same place, not just a random itch. Lips (scratching). shoulders, hindquarts (booty), and the backs of his hind legs. The hair is all prickly where he grooms it.

Nothing has changed recently. No no stress, no new job, no new anything tbh. Not even a new laundry detergent. It doesn't seem to be seasonal. I have been feeding him a hydrolized protein diet, as per drs orders, and he has also just been treated for parasites. I tried a destressing spray (Natures Miracles), but to no avail. Anti-itching spray was a bust too, but that might be because I got it at target.

Vets told me it's allergies, vets have told me it could be stress (despite no life changes), and vets have just shrugged at me. I'm not sure what to do for him, and the internet has been quite unhelpful with any potential answers. The most puzzling bit is, this is all a fairly recent development. It started about a year and a half ago and has only gotten worse.

Has anyone else had a kitty that has gone through something like this? I want to help my poor baby

 

[ImYoungxD]

My cat is also around 2 years old. He shed and sneezed a lot last year. I got Chlorpheniramine 4mg per tab on Amazon for $5. It can be split in half and dissolves in water + wet food. I have no issues after that.

Vet recommended half of Zyrtec but Chlorpheniramine works well.

 

[Kieka]

If there have been no changes at home, including neighborhood cats outside your windows, then allergies is more likely. I would double check with your vet about safe allergy treatment and give it a go. Worst case your cat will be a little drowsy from the medication, best case the problem stops.

 

[FeebysOwner]

1 1/2 years, especially in a 2 1/2 yo cat, is not a recent development. When was he put on this hydrolyzed protein diet - just recently?

Besides the hair loss, does he have lesions/spots/sores from the excessive grooming? You said it is always in the same place - but if I understood your description it involves his face (lips), shoulders, hind quarters, and back legs. That's a whole lot of different places. If I misunderstood, please clarify.

Has there been any tests to see if he is allergic to anything? There are standard serum tests that can be run on the most common foods that can cause feline allergies. There are skin scraping tests that can be run for other types of allergies. It could even be his litter.

A vet dermatologist might be one way to start to rule out (or identify) certain allergies.

You say no stress - well, stress might not have been the initial cause, but could be making it progressively worse. Any cat that has to have a cone on most of the time, is itching 24/7, and licks fur to the point of throwing up is certainly under stress.

How about finding a cat only vet? Maybe even a dose of steroids while testing is going on to help give him at least some temporary relief. Get some things ruled out, and then go from there.

Lastly, while all of this is going on, you can try to use chamomile tea bags (grocery store variety, no additives), brew one in water, cool the liquid and apply it to the itchy areas with cotton balls. The tea has both soothing and healing properties.

 

[LTS3]

Maybe the hydrolyzed diet is part of the issue? Hydrolyzed diets are supposed to be non-allergenic but who knows with some really sensitive cats? Most hydrolyzed diets are chicken based and chicken is a common allergen. Try a novel protein food, such as rabbit, and stick with the diet for at least 13 weeks or so. There are commercial limited ingredient diets you can try.

 

[JayAshby]

1 1/2 years, especially in a 2 1/2 yo cat, is not a recent development. When was he put on this hydrolyzed protein diet - just recently?

Besides the hair loss, does he have lesions/spots/sores from the excessive grooming? You said it is always in the same place - but if I understood your description it involves his face (lips), shoulders, hind quarters, and back legs. That's a whole lot of different places. If I misunderstood, please clarify.

Has there been any tests to see if he is allergic to anything? There are standard serum tests that can be run on the most common foods that can cause feline allergies. There are skin scraping tests that can be run for other types of allergies. It could even be his litter.

A vet dermatologist might be one way to start to rule out (or identify) certain allergies.

You say no stress - well, stress might not have been the initial cause, but could be making it progressively worse. Any cat that has to have a cone on most of the time, is itching 24/7, and licks fur to the point of throwing up is certainly under stress.

How about finding a cat only vet? Maybe even a dose of steroids while testing is going on to help give him at least some temporary relief. Get some things ruled out, and then go from there.

Lastly, while all of this is going on, you can try to use chamomile tea bags (grocery store variety, no additives), brew one in water, cool the liquid and apply it to the itchy areas with cotton balls. The tea has both soothing and healing properties.

I'm sort of grappling with ADHD, so my perception of time is really screwy, but yeah, it has been more than 9 months for sure. I suppose that seems recent to me though it is logically not recent. I apologize if that came off poorly.

I meant that it was the same in being those places. His paws seem unaffected, as does his belly (as far as I can tell, the fur there has always been on the fine side).

Yeah, I just wanted to point out that I'm pretty sure stress didn't start it because that's where most articles lead me when I search for help. But, I could imagine he's under stress now. I'm not sure what to do about that entirely to be honest. I tried a destressing spray, but it didn't seem to do much. I tried taking his cone off and putting him in a decent-fitting onesie, but it didn't cover his favorite slurping spots. I hope I'm not coming off as uncaring or rude; I genuinely want to help him and am not sure where to start with stress.

I can try that. It wouldn't make him sick if he ingested a lot of it yeah? I worry a bit much, but asking eases my worry

 

[JayAshby]

Maybe the hydrolyzed diet is part of the issue? Hydrolyzed diets are supposed to be non-allergenic but who knows with some really sensitive cats? Most hydrolyzed diets are chicken based and chicken is a common allergen. Try a novel protein food, such as rabbit, and stick with the diet for at least 13 weeks or so. There are commercial limited ingredient diets you can try.

I actually tried rabbit a few months back. Some sort of rabbit with no grains. It ended up tearing his stomach up. I stuck with it because people said that sometimes it would give their kitties the squirts no matter how slowly they transitioned and that it would eventually even out.

His itching didn't change and he then started scooting and kept having liquid poos, so we had to stop.

I figured chicken or grain might have been it, but taking them out hasn't seemed to do anything.

He was eating much worse quality food from the shelter before all this happened (we stepped up to something better after I adopted him and then stuck with it, but it was not as good as what we were giving him for the past while), but never exhibited the symptoms he has been. It's so strange and was so sudden

 

[FeebysOwner]

I can try that. It wouldn't make him sick if he ingested a lot of it yeah? I worry a bit much, but asking eases my worry

The tea won't hurt him if he licks it. You can actually put up to a 1/2 tsp in some water for him to drink. It has calming properties as well.

There are a ton of different calming products on the market. Not all work on all cats, so sometimes you have to try a few. One is Bach Rescue Remedy which are drops you can rub into a cat's ear. Some people use them to help a cat before a vet visit. You can do an internet search on "cat calming products" to see if you would like to try some of them.
Please follow up on a cat only vet and getting some tests run to see if the potential problems can be narrowed down.
Sorry if I came across too harsh - I didn't mean to be.
You'll get to the bottom of this, sometimes it just takes some time and a lot of tests!

 

[JayAshby]

The tea won't hurt him if he licks it. You can actually put up to a 1/2 tsp in some water for him to drink. It has calming properties as well.

There are a ton of different calming products on the market. Not all work on all cats, so sometimes you have to try a few. One is Bach Rescue Remedy which are drops you can rub into a cat's ear. Some people use them to help a cat before a vet visit. You can do an internet search on "cat calming products" to see if you would like to try some of them.
Please follow up on a cat only vet and getting some tests run to see if the potential problems can be narrowed down.
Sorry if I came across too harsh - I didn't mean to be.
You'll get to the bottom of this, sometimes it just takes some time and a lot of tests!

You didn't come across as harsh at all. I had realized that I explained the situation poorly because I was rather anxious about it all.

Thank you for your advice, I will be looking for calming products tonight and grabbing chamomile asap

I actually need to follow up with Banfield (I have to walk to everywhere I go and it was the closest vet). They quoted me $212 for a blood test concerning his allergies. Finances have just been a little tight.

I'll try and keep this thread updated for anyone who is curious and/or having the same issue.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Oh, yes - please keep us updated! And continue to ask questions about anything! We do want to help if we can!

 

[JayAshby]

Oh, yes - please keep us updated! And continue to ask questions about anything! We do want to help if we can!

Well, I'll be dipped!

I picked up chamomile today, along with a calming collar. I braced myself for what I thought would be a battle of a grooming, bu he was surprisingly chill about it. He even purred as I applied the liquid. Usually, he runs whenever I try to put anything on him.

He's still a tad itchy, it's looking like the places I wasn't able to get to so far. I literally just applied it so it's a bit soon to tell.

How often should I apply it to him? I an't find anything helpful about it online

 

[FeebysOwner]

Probably at least 3 times a day if you can.

 

[Etarre]

It's interesting that you point out that the shelter was feeding him "much worse" food. This reminded me of our experience with Juniper. When we adopted her, we took her off the low-quality food from the shelter and bought grain-free food with a higher percentage of pure chicken (as opposed to chicken meal). Unfortunately, she had an undiagnosed chicken allergy, and this exacerbated it, cause her to aggressively scratch under her ears, and to develop a rash.

We figured out that it was chicken specifically (her food had multiple proteins) because we had also been advised to give her chicken baby food as a treat, and that caused her eyes to swell up.

So in our experience, higher-quality food actually caused a greater allergic response. Maybe that happened with your cat?

The problem cleared up for us when we switched from Call of the Wild Rocky Mountain flavor (chicken-based) to Canyon River (fish-based protein). We haven't found a wet cat food that she will eat consistently and happily, but give her a spoonful of turkey baby food with her dry food to keep her hydrated and happy. I've read that cats with a chicken allergy are often also allergic to turkey, but that doesn't seem to be the case with Juniper. So if rabbit is a no-go for you, and you or your vet suspects chicken, you could try a fish-based food.

Good luck figuring out the mystery, and glad that the chamomile is helping make him more comfortable in the meantime.