Overgrooming for a year - out of options?

[lgviking]

I just rescued two cats whose owner passed away last month. They had been alone in the house for 6 weeks after the owner was rushed to the ER, and died a few weeks later. The neighbor had a key and so was coming in daily to change food, water and scoop box, but the cats were hiding from her. 

One of the cats has completely denuded her belly, under the tail area, and has done quite a job on her tail and four legs.  I'm giving her calming botanicals (which she loves - she laps it up right out of my hand!) but she was still chewing away. No doubt she's stressed and at this point, it's a HABIT, like chewing fingernails. My coworker suggested a cone. What a genius! I had one at home and put it on her - she got it unlatched in under five minutes (we suspect she's had cone experience previously) and so I used pieces of duct tape over the tabs when I re-applied the cone. That was Friday - I plan on removing it tonight for a bit to see how she does. She will have to wear it while unsupervised, I figure, for a while. I know she's been through a lot - 6 weeks alone after her mom died, a LONG trip to her new home (they lived in Florida - they made a trip to Maryland in 2 days last weekend) and I have four resident cats, so there's an adjustment challenge there. 

The cone doesn't really seem to bother her - she can eat, drink, and I have a great stool with a cushion she has taken to resting on. It's said that it takes 3 weeks to break a habit...in the meantime, her hair will have a chance to grow back! Better than having a bald kitty. 

 

[Jbritlz]

Overgrooming can be caused by allergies (either environmental or food (or both)), IBS, or stress. According to my holistic vet, all of these are the result of an energy imbalance.

If you want to pursue the avenue of food allergies, cutting back on wet or cutting out meat is not the way to go. Using limited ingredient wet food is the best way, meaning no grains, no typical trigger ingredients like brewer's yeast or brewer's rice (though as a grain, if you're buying grain free, this wouldn't be an ingredient), and one source of protein. Best if it's something your cat really hasn't had before. These are often lamb or duck.

Have any of the vets prescribed steroids? Prednisolone? Prednisone? If it's allergy-based, steroids might help, and could be a quick indicator if you're on the right track.

We rescued an FIV+ kitty last year. That means that we already know his immune system is out of whack. He started overgrooming. His abdomen was bald, and he had bald spots on the insides of his front legs. We already have a lot of hepa filters in the house because of my allergies, but we dumped any chemicals we use for cleaning, and replaced our dish soap and laundry soap and fabric softener with dye-free, chemical-free, scent-free cleaners. We put him on a hypoallergenic diet. (Hill's Pet z/d, wet only).

This did not improve his condition. Being a rescue kitty, he had a lot of reasons to be stressed, never having lived inside before. Our cats are stricly indoor-only. He'd been treated for fleas and parasites.

So we searched to find a vet that was also trained in alternative medicine. We found one trained in Chinese Medicine in addition to being a traditional vet. Her interpretation of overgrooming is very different than traditional medicine. It is caused by an "energy" imbalance (simplified explanation). Our kitty was "too hot," thus ripping out his hair. Not that he had a fever - he didn't. But he had an "extreme spleen Qi deficiency," and an "extreme Yin deficiency." She prescribed an herbal medication. Within two weeks, it was quite clear it was helping. Within six months, ALL his fur had grown back, and he had a thick, beautiful, glossy coat. We did keep him on the grain free, all wet food diet.

There is another member on the site who has a kitty that goes through spells of licking the fur off her abdomen. Her vet treats it as a stress-based problem with a medication called elavil. The generic name for it is amytriptaline. It is an old anti-depressant used for humans. She gives this to her cat to ease her stress, and when she's OK again, she tapers her off the medication.

It does make most cats rather dopey for a few weeks. Some people do not like that side effect. We used it on one of our cats for a stress-related bladder problem (one of the side effects is that it causes cats to retain their urine, and often that helps them use the litter box again. It's used for children that wet their beds). She was very out of it for about three weeks, but then her body adjusted to the medication, and she became her normal happy self again. We kept her on it for 3-4 months, then weaned her off of it (it is not a medication you can just "stop," but have to taper it down).

Vibes for you and your baby girl!

Hi there! I know this is an old thread, but I'm hoping I can still get a response to my question! My husband and I have recently noticed that our cat is having the same problem. He's been doing it for the last month or so. He's always been an over groomer, but this has been excessive. He's been chewing his skin and licking excessively, to the point where he has bald spots. We took him to the vet and she gave him a flea/mite cream to start but it's not helping. We are the kind of people who would rather go the natural way, if at all possible. We are wondering if you could tell us what kind of herbal medication you were given that worked? We really appreciate any help we can get! Thank you in advance!

 

[Etarre]

Did the vet see evidence of fleas or mites? If that's the problem, you can usually see 'flea dirt' in their coat, especially in areas like armpits and behind the ears.

Otherwise, I'd follow some of the suggestions about varying food unless there's a particular reason that your cat is extra stressed out lately. Chicken and turkey are the most common food allergies among cats, and some sort of chicken is in the vast majority of dry and wet cat foods.

Have you noticed any correlation between feeding times and itch flare-ups? We noticed that Juniper got puffy eyes after eating chicken products, especially chicken baby food or lunchmeat, and that led us to find her a chicken-free food, which helped.

Good luck!

 

[t_atom]

She prescribed an herbal medication. Within two weeks, it was quite clear it was helping. Within six months, ALL his fur had grown back, and he had a thick, beautiful, glossy coat.

If you happen to see my question, would you mind saying what the herbal remedy is? Thank you.

 

[cat princesses]

My cat has severe allergies and we tried many of the things you noted. We tried amalatryptaline for behaviorial stuff and also gabapentin but neither did a thing other than make her groggy. As for the coughing, you need an x ray, your kitty might have asthma or a bacterial infection. My girl was coughing and after they did an xray, we put her on a kitty z pack and that totally cleared it up and stopped the coughing. I also took her to the dermo specialist and they did a blood test. That showed she was allergic to dust mites/storage mites. Food allergies are tricky, the testing isn't exactly accurate for cats like they can do for dogs. We ended up trying atopica for dogs which comes in the pill form ( cat version is liquid and tastes nasty ). That helped to stop her licking herself raw. She's been on atopica for over a year, she takes it daily and we skip sundays which is the day she gets her weekly allergy injection. It's a tough road with these allergy kitties but I'd say it's probably more environmental. Could be food but with that you have to go to a hydrolyzed diet and stick to that exclusively for months so see if there is any improvement with symptoms. The atopica is much safer than steroids.....I feel it's quality of life and to be itchy like that and making raw spots has to be horrible. The atopica/allergy shots has given my girl a quality of life back.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi! T t_atom I don't know if atopica is herbal, but would/could it have been chamomile? In the tea bags so you're getting the German variety.

 

[Furballsmom]

Another possibility might have been valerian?

 

[35 year catdad]

I had same overgrooming issue with a female cat who suddenly lost her soul mate boycat at age 6. Large bald spot on her tummy from mourning her loverboy. I am sure thats all it was- the sudden loss (blood clot) of Romeow and loneliness even though she had us two loving humans.Overgrooming stopped when I found another boycat who looked identical to Romeow but it took 18 months to find him. I would think about finding a companion cat? All I've ever read from cat experts is MORE wet food for health not less. hmmmmmmm
I would stay away from any inflammatory feed- ocean fish is usually anti-inflammatory unless its toxic farmed salmon or talipia with antibiotics and PCBs ,red dye additives on and on
Anything with corn in it is bad bad bad and Science Diet/ Royal Canin dry has lots of corn! arrrrgh shame on vets who sell that junk- I know I know .... they feel obligated to stock their junk food after all the education help from them. Hope this helps.

 

[MikeyB036]

In addition to what Laurie posted above, I'd also suggest that you start using some Feliway diffusers in your home to help decrease the stress. Even if this is caused by allergies (which it sounds like to me), she's probably stressed from all the discomfort. The feliway will help soothe and calm her.

That actually didn't work with my stressed out guy!

What I did was use Aloe Vera on the bald spot. It helped some. Then I started using Fish oil! I didn't know if it might be because of dry skin or what, so I figured the Fish Oil couldn't hurt! It DID stop the itching/biting, and now all his hair has grown back.

 

[catlover73]

My Apollo was over grooming his tummy to the point where he was going bald. He was not itchy and there was no redness. Nothing changed in my household when this behavior started. He gets along really well with my other cats. I took him to the vet for an exam. He did not have flea's, earmites, ringworm, or any signs of a skin infection. He was acting completely normal outside of the over grooming. My vet suggested we try a food that did not have chicken as the protein source. He had been eating chicken based food since I adopted him. It is possible for cats just like people to develop new allergies at any time. I switched him to a food that has lamb as the protein source. He has stopped over-grooming and his fur is growing back. Apollo is also an indoor only cat. Changing the protien source of his food resolved the issue for him.

 

[MikeyB036]

My Apollo was over grooming his tummy to the point where he was going bald. He was not itchy and there was no redness. Nothing changed in my household when this behavior started. He gets along really well with my other cats. I took him to the vet for an exam. He did not have flea's, earmites, ringworm, or any signs of a skin infection. He was acting completely normal outside of the over grooming. My vet suggested we try a food that did not have chicken as the protein source. He had been eating chicken based food since I adopted him. It is possible for cats just like people to develop new allergies at any time. I switched him to a food that has lamb as the protein source. He has stopped over-grooming and his fur is growing back. Apollo is also an indoor only cat. Changing the protien source of his food resolved the issue for him.

This is good to know.

THanks for sharing!