Missing Fur

[Animal Freak]

Hello everyone. I was gone this past weekend. I left Friday night and came back earlier today. My mom took care of the animals while I was gone as per usual. However, when Ember rolled over on her back, I saw the fur on the bottom part of her stomach down her legs was much shorter than the rest. It looks like it's down to her undercoat and extremely short, even for a short-haired cat. And what's really weird is that it looks intentional and very neatly done. The lines are just about all straight and it's not at all patchy. I asked my mom about it, but she was as surprised as I was. We can't figure out what might've happened. Ember is known for "nursing" (really just grooming her stomach) when she's happy and content. She oftentimes lays on my lap and does this, but that's usually further up on her stomach and most certainly not down her legs. I've also never seen her pull the fur out though she does have an obsession with eating clumps of fur she finds laying around. We didn't see any signs of rash or any irritations, but we didn't look too long since it requires holding Ember on her back. I've seen her licking at the area some, but it doesn't seem at all obsessive or excessive.

She also acts totally fine in every way. She ate, she played quite a bit... She had a slight (or maybe major) case of the zoomies today and went running around like crazy. I haven't seen any noticeable changes really. The only behavioral differences I can think of is that she hasn't been sleeping with me as much. There was one night she didn't come to bed until midnight and another night she didn't come at all I don't think. That was the end of last week. She hasn't come to me yet either, which is slightly unusual, but not terribly so.

I tried to get some pictures, but they aren't of the best quality. I can try to get better ones tomorrow if needed.

Any ideas on what could've happened? And how long would this have taken? Could it have happened just over the weekend or did I somehow miss this? I'm not sure how that would be possible, but it's a lot of fur to lose in such a short amount of time. This cat rolls over to get my attention multiples times a day and "nurses" on herself in my lap frequently though. I just don't know how it would have escaped me.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi!
It sounds to me that she is possibly a bit stressed with you being away, thinking of her also not sleeping with you...if that fur doesn't grow back maybe a calming product, or cat music, might help.

Maybe keep an eye out for any other animals grooming her?

You might keep an eye on the litter box too, as time goes along, just to be sure that the fur she's ingesting and consuming doesn't cause any tummy troubles.

 

[Animal Freak]

Hi!
It sounds to me that she is possibly a bit stressed with you being away, thinking of her also not sleeping with you...if that fur doesn't grow back maybe a calming product, or cat music, might help.

Maybe keep an eye out for any other animals grooming her?

You might keep an eye on the litter box too, as time goes along, just to be sure that the fur she's ingesting and consuming doesn't cause any tummy troubles.

Thanks for the reply. I leave every other weekend to go to my dad's, so it's not a new thing though I was gone a little longer than usual. She did sleep with me last night, but came to bed a bit later than usual.

I will definitely be keeping a close eye on her. I don't know how I missed this for even as long as I did. It's very noticeable now that I know about it.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. Agree with Furballsmom , could be stressed related. Just keep an eye out for further loss of hair, including spreading to other areas - and/or any other signs of difference in behavior, eating/drinking/litter box use.

It sounds like she might already be getting a little back to normal, since she at least showed up for bed last night, albeit late!

 

[Animal Freak]

Hi. Agree with Furballsmom , could be stressed related. Just keep an eye out for further loss of hair, including spreading to other areas - and/or any other signs of difference in behavior, eating/drinking/litter box use.

It sounds like she might already be getting a little back to normal, since she at least showed up for bed last night, albeit late!

Thanks for the reply. As much as I hate the idea of her being stressed, at least that's a relatively easy fix. Especially since I haven't seen signs of her being stressed since I've been back. I will certainly be keeping an eye on her though. I hope her fur grows back with no other issues.

 

[Animal Freak]

Hey, everyone. Sorry to bring up an old(ish) thread, but I'm a bit worried. Ember's fur was slow to start growing. It was only recently that it started getting a little longer, but now it looks like she's losing more. It seems like it's on her knees more than it was and the fur along the sides of her stomach starting from under her front legs is rather thin. There's also little spots of missing fur on her hocks (proper term for cats?). She doesn't seem bothered. She's not overgrooming or scratching. There is some stress due to ferals outside, but they have their good days and bad days. For the most part, she doesn't seem overly stressed. The skin looks fine and she doesn't seem sensitive. She's eating and is at a good weight. I haven't noticed any diarrhea or anything wrong in the litter boxes. She doesn't even seem to notice her lack of fur.

 

[FeebysOwner]

So, first question - did you leave for a longer period of time than normal recently?

Also, did you say how old she is, and when her last check up (including blood work up) was?

 

[Animal Freak]

I don't think so. I was gone for a few hours on a day I'm not usually gone, but they should be used to me leaving. I used to be gone for a good part of the day every day and I've gone to my dad's every other weekend since before I had any of the cats.

She turned five earlier this month. As for a check up... Honestly, I don't know. We typically take the animals to the vet when needed, but don't always get them in yearly. Ember has been by far the healthiest, so she's been to the vet the least. It hadn't really been my decision for a while, but I was planning on starting to take them annually once I could. I wanted to work on crate training her and getting her used to going in the car since she's so skittish. The dog is due for her shots though and I'm thinking about seeing if I can take them both in.