Siamese cat with stress OCD - anti-depressants?

[tigger01]

My lovely female 8 year old Siamese has just had a fairly major operation - stressful enough, but she has now taken to licking the bald patch on the side of the wound and will not leave it alone. Vet visit yesterday resulted in antibiotics as she's created an infection. Last night was one of the worst I've spent with her - constant licking to the point where she was licking me rather than not licking at all. Poor little mite - the vet is giving her an anti-depressant suitable for felines (of course) which I'm hoping will break the vicious circle of licking wound and it wont heal and hopefully she will improve. She cant jump onto anything as it's obviously too painful for her to do so - although the wound itself is looking fantastic.

Anyone else had any experience with purebred stress-related OCD cats? Or cats taking prozac?!!

 

[Meowy Catkin]

The main thing I've come across is that their toileting goes a bit haywire when stressed and then goes back to normal once the stress is removed. I've not had a cat that over licks, but i hope that the medication works and that your cat is fully recovered and happy again soon.

 

[Bubbles]

My mother-in-law's cat suffered from stress to the point that she licked holes into her skin - she would just keep going. The cat was medicated with kitty prozac, and the over grooming/self harming stopped. Worth a shot to keep puss cat happy.

 

[alainax]

Orientals are quite prone to such behaviours. I have a Korat with Pica, and a Havana who will try to eat the end of her tail off manically if you give her catnip (now a banned substance in the house )

The absolute best way I've found to stop the korat obsessively trying to eat non edible things, is distraction. It is also brought on by stress in him, so when he is not stressed, he rarely does it. I got him a kitten That worked really well in distracting him.

It will be hard as she probably cant play very much, and will surely be quite intelligent with an active mind. See if there are any games you can play with her which do not require a lot of movement. We play the shell game, which works wonders on keeping their little minds busy. Get her something new to investigate, like a new bed, or a pile of new toys. Her mind will spend so long investigating them that she might forget to be licking.

Hopefully it heals really soon , and she wont need the kitty prozac for much longer

( ps, cant she wear a collar/lampshade? wont help the stress but might give the wound a chance)

 

[*Whinney*]

Sorry, can't advise on the prozac but hope your kitty is feeling better very soon. Is she telling the world about her woes? Do you need earplugs? lol

As for collars, I've used one of these which was much better than the plastic cones.

http://www.petplanet.co.uk/product....m_medium=cpc&gclid=CJWex-rBz78CFejHtAodaEEAHg

Or there are these inflatable ones if you think she will tolerate it.

http://biovea.net/uk/product_detail.aspx?PID=4146&TI=GGLUKR&C=N&gclid=CMOilo7Ez78CFRHHtAodSzgAeg

Or would she wear a baby vest or t shirt?

 

[Shay]

My cat self mutilates like this. It started when she was peppered with shot from a shot gun and she got into the habit of licking the wounds. She is also missing a front leg so she can't wear a collar to stop her getting at them. Fast forward 4 or 5 years - she will mutilate when stressed. She will just lick and lick until she bleeds then lick some more. We tried the anti depressants etc - no good. What really worked for us is a product called Ovorid. You need it on prescription and it isn't usually the first choice. Dosage is difficult - we do 1/2 tab every 2 - 3 days as needed only. But if it works for you then change is miraculous. She still has 3 legs -obviously - but no longer also looks like a moth eaten carpet!