Compulsive licking

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zoon

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I have acquired an elderly cat. I have a yard in the next village and the neighbour sold their house. They moved out on a weekend when it was very cold and frozen solid and left their elderly cat there 😢. Long story short, but I ended up with him. He is at least 16 as another neighbour has been there that long and he was around when they moved in.

I have noticed on my yard in the past he had bald scabby patches. When I brought him home, he had a patch that was regrowing fur, but no scabby areas. Wormed and treated for fleas etc when we got him. But it turns out the patches are from constant licking and physically pulling his hair out with his teeth. He licks so much that he removes the skin from the areas and bleeds. Skin scrapings confirm no parasites. Areas all confined to around his pelvis and the base of his tail. So we tried pain relief to see if he is maybe a bit arthritic as he audibly creaks when he moves at times. That hasn’t helped.

Vet now saying it is a compulsive behaviour due to stress 😢 has anyone had anything similar? I am thinking of trying a feliway plug in? He doesn’t seem in the slightest stressed and although this has been a huge change for him, I’ve seen him with these bald patches in the past before he came to us so it is a long standing issue, not just since the move
 
One of my cats did this for a while. Vet put it as flea allergy. I'd treated her for fleas but I needed to flea bomb the whole house a couple of times before I'd got them all and she stopped over grooming.
Steroids sounds a good idea.
 
I've had this sort of situation with with 2 cats one was my childhood cat who was just a bit odd and licked his pads too much so made them sore but he also licked the sofa, the other cat etc. He just got a bit fixated. He had cream for his pads and he never made them sore again but remained odd to a ripe old age.

My current cat licked his back end bald when there was a lot of change, moving house etc. We tried flea treatment feliway for stress but it turned out he had a grumbling uti and cystitis so was licking because he was stressed and his urethra was irritated. You could ask the vets to check his urine? We'll never be sure whether the stress caused the uti but they are common in boy cats. Luckily once we got on top of the urinary tract and he settled in his floor grew back and he's never done it again (even when he got hit by a car and was on crate rest for 12 weeks) .
 
It could be allergy as someone suggested.

Stress: I would recommend Pet Remedy Plug In, rather than Feliway (I've never had success with that one, either the original or 'Friends'/Optimum).

Vet: get testing kit for urine as suggested, but also a short course of steroids might be the way forward.

Diet: Consider a novel protein diet at least for a while (novel meaning single source that they aren't normally fed, such as duck, venison or rabbit rather than the common chicken/beef/fish).

Check that you are using the most up-to-date endectocide. He may have an internal parasite that is causing systemic inflammation.

Lastly, massive gratitude on behalf of the kitty. I adopted a 16 yo cat once and she was the most loving if cantankerous old thing. I missed her, dearly, when she was pts, aged 20!
 
He is not scratching. Like I’ve never seen him scratch once. If it was an allergy would he not itch himself?
 
zoon said:
Yes, they locked the cat flap so he couldn’t get back in the house after they moved

They managed to take their dogs with them though
Click to expand...
Poor boy no wonder he's stressed. Awful people.

@Fransurrey you're right the pet remedy one is good, we had both going for a while but use the spray in his carrier etc. and it's very effective.

This is what my boy looked like, no scabs just bald. He will still stop get distracted by licking but he remains in full floof.
27876.jpg
 
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Cloball - He's gorgeous 🙂

Zoon - Very likely to be stress. Even if he seems relaxed, cats can internalise stress like horses can. I've never tried feliway but heard good things about it.
 
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