Overgroomers Not-So Anonymoys

[piikki]

Ossi has decided to come totally out with his Pink Belly. Here it is for all to see! This is what he has done to his beautiful belly fur. You can see in the first picture how diligently he has worked on those razor sharp edges on his pink area!


Ossi calls all his fellow Pink Bellies, Overgroomers Anonymous, Slicky Lickers, Hair Tearers and Quick Tongues to come and share their little hairless secrets in this thread. Get it out in the open and stop pulling your fur in the back corner. Let’s lick this together or at least not be so uptight about it.

It can happen to anyone. Now let’s share the stories.

 

[piikki]

Ossiâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s overgrooming has never been as bad as this year. He used to have a nice little triangle on his belly that came and went but now it has spread up to his navel and down to his thighs, and seems to just be spreading. We have deemed that itâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s mostly mental, he gets stressed (mostly about food and changes), and then calms down on his own. If he breaks the skin and gets irritation, we have used some Animax cream to soothe the skin down and it has helped.

This time we agreed with vet that it would be good to stop the cycle before things get out of hand. Options were to treat the noggin and go with Prozac. Vetâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s suggestion was 2-week course (I found it interesting that it was that brief). The other option was a steroid course. We opted for the steroids as the vet thought that the fact that Ossi is prone to yeasty ears might indicate there is some allergy stuff on the back ground after all. I was fine with that.

The pictures in post #1 are the day we started the prednisolone 5mg. The medication regime is 5 days of 1 pill/day, then 5 days of 1/2 pill, then 1/2 pill every other day until the 20-pill course is done. Hopefully weâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]ll see some changes and I can post some progress pictures.

 

[piikki]

Ossi was very disappointed to see nobody else is sharing any pink photos even though he was so brave

He has been very good with his pills. He got couple of sample chewie treats to try in case the pills were nasty. Well, he spat the steroid treat out and decided the pills are the way to go.

Haven't noticed any change in licking yet but no side effects either. Ossi was very upset about the vet visit though but luckily Kille has been taking very good care of him. Kille even slept with him in the sock drawer first night - a sacrifice for Kille who will not too easily give up his spot between us. Last night was more normal and today Ossi appears pretty much recovered from the vet visit.

 

[breamarie]

Well, it's cheaper than waxing, right?

One of my mom's dogs has skin allergies, and she often has bald hind legs from chewing at them so much. She's on some kind of medication now after my mom took her to a veterinary dermatologist.

 

[otto]

Jennie has scolded me for not seeing this thread earlier! She of course wants to join and share her Pink Triangle with everyone......

<stop typing to take picture by luring Jennie to the bed for her favorite Rapture Game>

............however she has declined to have a picture taken of it at this time.




Her final word on the subject:



Maybe later.

 

[otto]

By the way, if the prednisone is going to help, you should notice a reduction in the behavior pretty quickly I think.

Jennie chews in secret, because I used to make her stop.

 

[piikki]

Originally Posted by otto

Her final word on the subject:

hehe. Ossi liked that, he thinks Jennie might be good at bunny kicking contest!

Today Ossi was a little tired, not too lethargic to have a chase or two but predominantly nap-py all day. However, for last two meals I have noticed that the pre-meal belly-tearing is def down. He does his fast nervous licky-licky but he does not get stuck on the belly. We are cautiously hopeful that the level of itch has actually gone down a bit.

In the morning, I woke up to his usual whining and moaning but I did not hear the tell-tale scritch-scritch-scriiiiiittchhhhh starting. Just some licking and then he started walking on top of my head (GRRRR), and was able to go look at the chipmonks from the window. Usually he would start the belly routine and force me up (thus my suspicion that he has learnt to use it to his own ends).

Upon checking the belly, the layer of fuzz is nice and even. It does not necessarily mean anything yet as we always get some good days/a week, a little fuzz and then one bad day and it's all gone... Usually though I can see it starting by one corner where he works the fuzz off and irritation on. None of that in sight right now. Fingers crossed!

 

[otto]

All paws and fingers crossed here that you've got a handle on it now.

You might as your vet about Animax for any sores that pop up. I swear by that stuff for Jennie.

 

[katgoddess]

I don't have pictures to share, but I do have a question. For your overgroomers, have you noticed that it got increasingly worse with age?

My cat, 3 years old, overgrooms himself and also has a licking problem - he will lick any part of us that ends up in front of his face - hands, arms, feet, legs, face, etc. Even if we just pet his head, he'll lean his head back and try to lick us. On himself, he targets his tail most and I'm afraid that one day it will be all bald.

 

[otto]

Originally Posted by KatGoddess

I don't have pictures to share, but I do have a question. For your overgroomers, have you noticed that it got increasingly worse with age?

My cat, 3 years old, overgrooms himself and also has a licking problem - he will lick any part of us that ends up in front of his face - hands, arms, feet, legs, face, etc. Even if we just pet his head, he'll lean his head back and try to lick us. On himself, he targets his tail most and I'm afraid that one day it will be all bald.

Jennie licks me, too. And she also licks cupboard doors and the underside of the kitchen table.

But on herself, it's only her Pink Triangle over her spay scar.

She is 4 1/2 (approx) years old, and her Pink Triangle has not ever gotten any bigger than it ever has been. She's been with me since she was about 1 1/2 (vet estimated between 1 & 2 years old at the time, so I went for middle ground)

 

[otto]

Jennie was feeling generous and gave me a couple glimpses of her Pink Triangle this morning after I stripped the bed

Modestly washing


Oh..all right, here it is, are you happy now?


Okay,Mom, that's enough! (when I tried to get a close up)

 

[alpine'smom]

Oops, I just saw this thread this morning!

I'll try to get some photos of Cricket's belly/arm for everyone. She's been on a bit of a tear this past week and her left underarm is pretty bare, along with the belly area.

If the meds Ossi is taking seem to be helping, perhaps I'll try to get Cricket into the vet sooner than February.

We tried the bitter apple spray over the weekend. Sprayed Cricket's underarm and belly. She ignored it for about an hour, then somehow was able to overcome it or its potency wore off because the grooming started again. My DH happened to get some on his hand, so he licked it and then took a couple whiskey shots to get rid of the bitterness. He said it was awful!

 

[piikki]

We have been busy for couple of days but it's time for the one week update on Ossi's belly treatment. Still no bare spots! Fuzzies are getting even some light creases and folds where the fur is starting to grow a little longer! Woo!

Ossi moved onto the 1/2 pill day regime, and that was bit of a blow to him. The cut pill must be bitter because he has started a bit of a pill spitting. With intact pill I just threw it in and down it went, now we use a bit of toothpaste to cover up the nastiness. Ossi thinks that's a fair deal when the paste is poultry or malt!

Unfortunately since last night Ossi has been sneezing a bit and we are on a lookout if he has caught a touch of autumn cold or just a dust bunny in his snooter. Otherwise no side effects, and licking is definitely down!

Originally Posted by KatGoddess

For your overgroomers, have you noticed that it got increasingly worse with age?

My cat, 3 years old, overgrooms himself and also has a licking problem - he will lick any part of us that ends up in front of his face - hands, arms, feet, legs, face, etc. Even if we just pet his head, he'll lean his head back and try to lick us. On himself, he targets his tail most and I'm afraid that one day it will be all bald.

Ossi and his biol brother were always the lickiest of our cats but Ossi's grooming got worse about 2 yrs ago (at age 4). His brother Kille is very 'groomy' too, as in keeps himself very tidy, wants to groom others and licks odd objects but does not overdo it. I think Ossi's Pink Belly was right away a larger area than Jennie's . However at first it did not go down to skin, it just got thinner and thinner. Now every time it starts it seems to get worse and worse.

None of our cats is very much into licking us, Ossi included. Kille, his brother, is most likely and he does it when he notices something dirty or out of the ordinary (like if I have had bloody nose he can sniff remnants of dried blood deep somewhere and is obsessed with my nose, heh).

P.S. Love the middle pic of Jennie

 

[britt0285]

One of my cats does this too! I don't have any pictures of it though. She grooms her hind legs bald on the inside sometimes. She is a very nervous cat. I think that is why she over grooms. If we have company she stays hidden and she mostly only allows me, my fiance and oddly enough my brother to pet or hold her. She usually over grooms after something stressful (at least to her) has happened, like if we have out of town guests.

 

[chico]

Originally Posted by piikki

Ossi has decided to come totally out with his Pink Belly. Here it is for all to see! This is what he has done to his beautiful belly fur. You can see in the first picture how diligently he has worked on those razor sharp edges on his pink area!


Ossi calls all his fellow Pink Bellies, Overgroomers Anonymous, Slicky Lickers, Hair Tearers and Quick Tongues to come and share their little hairless secrets in this thread. Get it out in the open and stop pulling your fur in the back corner. Letâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s lick this together or at least not be so uptight about it.

It can happen to anyone. Now letâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s share the stories.

Hi Piikki!

My cat Chico (I know, inventive username) has had the same problem since he was young. The first 2 vets I took him to, told me it was allergies, and the very first vet, when I didn't know better, prescribed steroid shots... well, we did that for a couple years (he's 7 now) before I got tired of taking him for a $90 shot and exam every 5 or 6months, so we went for a second opinion. The second Vet told me also it was an allergy, but that the steroid, while clearing it up, (it's a miracle cure-all, apparenlty) told me that the seroid shot would eventually shorten his lifespan! As attached as I am, I said no way... so this one tried some homeopathic pills for me, and they seemed Ok, but in hindsight, I'm thinking it was fluke that his rash went away.
Now, moving provinces, we went to a 3rd vet, for vaccines just this spring, and he finally laughes (when I mention allergy), gives me the technical term (When I find it, I'll let you know) but says he basically has OCD for cats!
So, his prescription for the over grooming was, buy him this liquid 'Rescue Remedy' for cats, its a natural anti anxiety drops that I put in his water dish, and to put pure tea tree oil on wherever he's grooming. Although your house smells like tea tree oil, which can be strong, its basically a natural version of Polysporin. the cat CAN injest it, but probably won't, therefore they stop licking cuz it tastes awful!! I did find that this did work for us, finally a solution!! Hope it helps someone else out there!

 

[piikki]

Originally Posted by chico


for a $90 shot and exam every 5 or 6months, so we went for a second opinion. The second Vet told me also it was an allergy, but that the steroid, while clearing it up, (it's a miracle cure-all, apparenlty) told me that the seroid shot would eventually shorten his lifespan!

Now, moving provinces, we went to a 3rd vet, for vaccines just this spring, and he finally laughes (when I mention allergy), gives me the technical term (When I find it, I'll let you know) but says he basically has OCD for cats!
So, his prescription for the over grooming was, buy him this liquid 'Rescue Remedy' for cats, its a natural anti anxiety drops that I put in his water dish, and to put pure tea tree oil on wherever he's grooming.

Well, first of all wow for the steroids - the price of a shot $90 and then the info that it's gonna be that detrimental for the health! I would certainly want to learn more about that. I know steroids are nothing to be light with as they are very powerful drugs but I would want to hear what that is about. I would not like Ossi to have to stay on them indefinitely, and at least with this vet the idea was to cut the cycle - but I can see that if the med 'proves' an allergy then it could become an issue that one needs it all the time.

Is there anyone here who cats on these shots on regular basis who can shed more light on this? I can certainly see that as Ossi has moved on the 1/2 pill every other day schedule, he has had a few more attacks when he licks more again. The steroids def do something.

On the other hand, I do not dispute the OCD aspect. At least in our case I knew going in that Ossi is neurotic cat and has these issues. I was probably more worried about the Prozac end of drugs and their unknown effects on cats. On the other hand, we have never tried Rescue Remedy in our house (only Feliway plug-ins) and I guess that would be fairly safe thing to go for after this steroid course ends. (I am already wondering if Ossi will resort to licking right after the meds wear off from how he is behaving now that the dose is lowered).

Has anyone else experience with the drops in drinking water for overgrooming? I was thinking plugging Feliway before his steroids finish, so there would be this period of relative calm when he would not notice things changed and his fur would have time to grow to normal. I would think right now he is getting past the itchy, stubby phase.

 

[otto]

Feliway plug ins have not made a difference in Jennie's licking, but I never tried using Rescue Remedy. That's a good idea.

I would not ever put tea tree oil on a cat, for one thing it must really sting, and for another, most essential oils are toxic to cats and I'm pretty sure tea tree oil is toxic to cats.

 

[piikki]

I forgot to put 4-week update in this thread on Tuesday but here it comes. Ossi is on his 1/2 a pill (2.5mg) every other day regime still and it's 4 weeks since he started with the full dose.

Ossi continues to do great with his decreased grooming. His pink belly is now pretty much a white belly. I took a photo but it did come up really good. There is still some pink glow under the thin layer of hair but the main thing is he is able to control his frantic licking. He does have some but for the most part he is able to quit with little prompting. I think twice he has scraped a little bit excessively, so the behaviour has not totally stopped. However, each time he was able to stop after licking one little spot nearly down to skin - and then he did not continue from there.

My feeling is that he still has his 'nervous habit' left. He begins the 'lickylickylicky' but now he does not continue because he does not create a terrible itch with the extra licking (or have an itch because of the medication?) I am bit nervous what will happen when the course of meds ends because I do not foresee his habit just going away.

At this point I would say though that the drug has been successful in giving Ossi a break in his licking-frenzy. I might change my opinion of course if he has a terrible relapse after the course of medication is over!

 

[ldg]

I'm glad the course of steroids seem to have broken the cycle!

Actually, if he has a terrible relapse, it would seem to me that the use of the steroids would have confirmed that his licking is due to allergies!

Our Tuxedo receives a shot of the long-acting steroid, Depomedrol. (Pred is the short-acting version). Steroids are a VERY powerful anti-inflammatory, and if they're helping, it gives credence to the idea that part of Ossi's problem is, in fact, allergies (especially if he has a bad licking relapse after the course of steroids ends!). They also work to suppress the immune system, which is why Tuxie's on them. He's got an autoimmune disease, and will need life-long maintenance on the depo (though thankfully the amount of time needed between his shots is getting longer and longer.

).

Steroids can be used in cycles, and that will likely avoid the long term problems with their use. But those long term problems - the worst of them, are liver problems and diabetes (in cats). Obviously either one could shorten a kitty's lifespan. With our Tuxie, he'd be dead without them, so obviously a potentially shorter life is better than death.

We keep a VERY close eye on his blood work (every six months now).

I just posted last night about noticing that Chumley's abdomen seems to have less hair than it should. It's not pink and hairless - but I'm wondering if it's heading that direction. He has been very itchy/scratchy since we rescued him, and we don't actually know whether it's overgrooming or allergies. We did eliminate food allergies. He's on cetirizine (zyrtec generic) now, and it does seem to have helped a little bit. But this thread caught my eye in time, because I think we should ask about a course of steroids. We did discuss it, and she discouraged it because he's FIV positive.

But if he's in enough distress to be turning his tummy pink, it may be worth exploring the short course of steroids just to see if he does respond - and we can figure out what to do if it basically confirms he's got allergies.

We regulary use Feliway and Bach's Rescue Remedy. Spooky had a stress fit a few years ago that resulted in her total overgrooming and peeing outside the box. The Rescue Remedy didn't help her at all - with either.

Some cats do respond well to the Rescue Remedy. We add it to the water every day when we wash and refresh their water dishes, and while it may be helping with the 8 cats in a small space thing we've got going on, it doesn't seem to be helping Chum (and for a while we did try dabbing it under his chin, behind his ears and at the base of his tail as well as putting it in the water) with whatever he's got going on with the itchy-scratchy.

for Ossi!

 

[piikki]

Originally Posted by LDG

Actually, if he has a terrible relapse, it would seem to me that the use of the steroids would have confirmed that his licking is due to allergies!

Yes I agree with you. Although I am somewhat convinced that there is allergy or some other 'physical' rather than mental component to Ossi's licking by now. It's possible it's just mechanical itch that he creates with the licking but I am doubting it more. It is just hard to pin point the cause with the cyclical nature of the licking but then again humans have a lot of conditions that get triggered/worsened by stress too!

Originally Posted by LDG

Our Tuxedo receives a shot of the long-acting steroid, Depomedrol. (Pred is the short-acting version). Steroids are a VERY powerful anti-inflammatory, and if they're helping, it gives credence to the idea that part of Ossi's problem is, in fact, allergies (especially if he has a bad licking relapse after the course of steroids ends!). They also work to suppress the immune system, which is why Tuxie's on them. He's got an autoimmune disease, and will need life-long maintenance on the depo (though thankfully the amount of time needed between his shots is getting longer and longer.

).

Steroids can be used in cycles, and that will likely avoid the long term problems with their use. But those long term problems - the worst of them, are liver problems and diabetes (in cats). Obviously either one could shorten a kitty's lifespan. With our Tuxie, he'd be dead without them, so obviously a potentially shorter life is better than death.

We keep a VERY close eye on his blood work (every six months now).

We did not discuss yet how often Ossi would need to be on meds but the vet did mention the shots. She said that she likes to start with the pills first because the fact that the shot is something you give and then if a cat has very bad side effects there is noway you can withdraw the shot or control the dose. Ossi has not had any side effects on these doses, and hopefully we won't need to get shots too often if that is what we need in future. He takes the pill so well that I would have no problem with that unless it's betetr to give the long-acting shot. How often does Tuxie need shots and for what conditions is it? Any side-effects and are they worse right after the shot? Anything you do to particularly help his system to strengthen? Anything you can advise me to ask from the vet if depo shots are suggested (ask or advice against accepting)?

I would not be surprised if Ossi has a weak immune system. He has always been the weakest link of our fuzzbutts. Gets sick first and hardest, has yeasty ears and sensitive stomach and now that I found out that he has resorptive lesions in his mouth I would not be surprised to hear that he just has something that hits him now and then, and he reacts with these bouts of upset whether it be infections or stomach upset or itchiness.