Usually Chill Cat Ripping Out Tail Fur

[katmarie]

Hi everyone, I'm new here and am hoping to find others who've experienced something similar. I have a 7 year old orange tabby named Bear. He's been a relaxed lil love sponge since the day I found him as kitten. Clean bill of health since forever. About two weeks ago he sat up from a lounge session by the fire place stove and started pulling out his tail fur about mid tail. I stopped him by giving him pets but I saw him doing rwice more the next day.
Made the vet appointment and they did an exam. Gave him flea drops and a cortisone shot and expessed his anal glands. He was pulling out fur the same day. Got him back in to the vet, they wanted to take blood, but he wasn't having it. He has been taking two pills for 5 days now. Prednisone and gabapentin. I'm still finding tufts of hair everywhere. I'm trying not to panic, but I just don't know what's wrong. He's not an anxious kitty, but now hes got a bald strip alo g one side of his tail thats almost the whole length.
Please if anyone else out there has been through this, what was it? What helped? What can I do? I hate feeling like I'm just drugging him

 

[Columbine]

Hi, and welcome to TCS

I'm so sorry Bear's having a rough time right now It sounds like you're doing everything right, and that your vet is too

You're not 'just drugging' Bear. How he responds to the meds will likely give clues as to the root cause. Prednisone is a steroid, usually used for allergies and inflammation. If things improve as the steroid gets into his system, it suggests that at least part of the trigger is an allergy of some sort.

Gabapentin is used in cats to help with anxiety. Whatever the original trigger for this behaviour, he is clearly agitated or anxious about that area now. The gabapentin will help him relax, and hopefully begin to break the cycle of repeatedly pulling clumps of fur out. I know you say Bear is not an anxious cat by nature, but he is clearly agitated or anxious about whatever is going on around his tail.

Yes, of course finding the root cause/trigger is important, but you also need damage control right now. Giving the two meds together will hopefully break or lessen this cycle, giving things a chance to heal and giving you both the chance to address the deeper issues and get past them.

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[purrsnickety]

I’ve been going through something similar. If they gave you flea drops after an exam he must have tested positive for them. And if they did a skin scrape it would indicate any other parasites attacking the area such as mites—even that can be localized if caught early. Lastly if he has a skin infection it might feel to him just like an attack. Hyperesthesia is usually the last thing diagnosed after everything else has been ruled out and you said your cat was pretty chill.

If I’m really confused by what’s going on after seeing the vet I'd try to take a closer look myself with a picture if he’ll sit still for you—NOT to diagnose anything myself. I’m naturally curious and if I see something I’ll show the vet and ask about it. Most will add weight to your own observations.

Do try to get everything you need from your vet before you need to see a skin specialist. Hopefully he’ll find out what the infection is. Mine won’t medicate a feline unless they know exactly what the problem is or the root of what’s causing it. Lots of luck.

 

[katmarie]

For reference here is Bear's tail. I honestly don't think he had fleas. Vet said she wanted to rule that out. Other than this, I haven't seen any change in his behavior. I'm just stressing as he's been with me through a lot and I can't bear the idea of not being able to help him.
Background facts, we moved into our house in September and he was fine till this month. We have my fiance's son every other weekend. This has been an established part of his routine for 2 years now. Outside of that. We both work steady days / hours so there's really not a lot of shake up in the house. On top of that I myself have an anxiety disorder so routine helps me too. Our lives are very predictable. So, yeah I'm at a loss here. Maybe I'm not giving the meds enough time?

 

[stephanietx]

Have you recently changed his litter brand or food? I'm wondering if it's a reaction to that. If it continues, I would seek a second opinion from a different vet just for a new set of eyes on the situation.

 

[katmarie]

Have you recently changed his litter brand or food? I'm wondering if it's a reaction to that. If it continues, I would seek a second opinion from a different vet just for a new set of eyes on the situation.

Nope, his food and litter are the same.

 

[katmarie]

So, update. It has been about a week now. Bear kitty is continuing to pull out fur on his tail on just the one side. He is taking gabapentin at .5 ml in the evening and .25 in the morning as well as one prednisone in the morning. No bloodwork w.has been successfully done and there is no noticeable irritation on his tail. If anyone has any suggestions to help please let me know. I know the next step is getting him on anxiety meds and I'm still not convinced hes anxious.

 

[Kflowers]

Why wasn't blood work done? That would seem the next step before anti-anxiety meds.

I say that because when my dog quit playing and became frightened of thunder to the point of shaking too much to stand, the vet diagnosed my dog as anxious and didn't notice she had developed arthritis on her spine. I truly believe that if she had been given pain medicine she wouldn't have been as afraid of scary things. If you can't move fast, if you are in pain, then you know you are vulnerable to more things.

The anti-anxiety meds did nothing for the pain nor for the anxiety since it was pain not nerves.

 

[katmarie]

Why wasn't blood work done? That would seem the next step before anti-anxiety meds.

I say that because when my dog quit playing and became frightened of thunder to the point of shaking too much to stand, the vet diagnosed my dog as anxious and didn't notice she had developed arthritis on her spine. I truly believe that if she had been given pain medicine she wouldn't have been as afraid of scary things. If you can't move fast, if you are in pain, then you know you are vulnerable to more things.

The anti-anxiety meds did nothing for the pain nor for the anxiety since it was pain not nerves.

We're going to do bloodwork, hopefully this weekend. He fought them pretty bad last time and they were unanle to draw any

 

[katmarie]

Update! So, my Bear kitty is now having fur growing on his tail. We stuck with gabapentin and so far so good. Now we just have to figure out why he's not cleaning his bum lol.