One Of My Cats Grooms Her Brother's Ears Excessively, Causing Sores. How Do I Stop This??

freddie.and.ramona

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Hi there,

I have two kitties, a brother and a sister both 1 year old. They are otherwise healthy, indoor-only cats with no other behavioral issues. Recently, I've noticed that the girl cat will clean her brother's ears, nose, and face when they lay down to sleep together (an otherwise nice perk of having two cats!). However, she goes a little overboard with his ears and chews on the skin in front of his ear near his temple (between the ear opening and his eyes) where he doesn't have as much fur to protect the skin. He has a few little sores on each side now because of this that scab over. She licks off the scabs and re-opens the sores every time she does it. It's really aggravating because I don't want him to get an infection in these sores and I don't want them to grow. They seem to not get a chance to heal because she does it so frequently! I stop her when I see it but I can't be home 24/7 to make sure she's not chewing on him. It's so strange because she doesn't over-groom herself of any other part of him, just his ears. I've heard of people using bitter apple spray on areas that they don't want their cat grooming, but I'm unsure if this would be safe to put on wounds? Any advice would be helpful!! I can't find anything advice on the internet about this issue.
 

Furballsmom

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Hi! I don't think there's anything you can put on him that wouldn't sting him or be unsafe for her to ingest. - you may need to separate them for a while, --when they're settling down for nap time, until the habit is broken.
 

rubysmama

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Have you checked with your vet? Perhaps they might have advice/suggestions.
 

PushPurrCatPaws

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Have you tried (constantly) redirecting her towards grooming something else whenever you see her going after her brother's ears and face? Like a sturdy toy with feathers on it, or faux hair on the toy that is securely attached (so that she cannot swallow much of it)?

My cat overgroomed her front forearm for months after a surgery (this forearm was where the vet staff inserted needles for anesthetics and supportive care, so they had to shave that part of her arm).

What we did was get a big supply of catnip toys which also had feathers on them. She really happens to like grooming and licking feather toys, so we lucked out -- but it took persistently putting a feather toy "into her hands" and having her move from self-grooming to licking that feather toy. Maybe if you can do something similar with your kitty (put a 'grooming' toy into her arms whenever she is basically over-grooming her brother), it could really help to distract her and give his wounds some important time to heal.

It could be very important for the brother's health for you to do what you can to get her to stop overgrooming him. I also suggest asking your vet about advice.

Postscript- I wouldn't recommend putting bitter apple spray on a cat's wounds.
 
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