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#11
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Losing Fur
On Thu, 20 Jul 2017 07:37:47 -0230, Cheryl
wrote: Kerry, my newish cat, seems to be lacking fur on part of her belly near the back legs. I only just noticed - she loves being petted, but like many cats, she takes exception to belly-rubs so I hadn't looked at her belly in quite a while. I have an appointment with the vet for her tomorrow - I hope it's just a bit of minor over-grooming. Anyone have experience with cats losing fur?? She certainly grew it all back after she was spayed about a year ago, and now, a largish area is either very thin of or missing fur. Overgrooming? I was looking at Marlo a few months back and noticed that her whole tummy was pink. Odd, because I had never noticed that before, and we had her tested for everything and the conclusion was that it was nothing organic, she was overgrooming. That's like normal cleaning (licking) but overdoing it so that she literally was licking away all the fur and was starting to tear the skin. So it's behavioral. When I moved to Florida I grabbed a semi-feral cat named Baby off the street and took her with me and Marlo, Nipsy and Scooter. Apparently Marlo had some problem with Baby (she was definitely chasing Baby around) and the result was some kitty social issue (they're both X-girls and the other two are X-boys). We tried some calming stuff and I was actually going to bring in a behavioral specialist when I had a brilliant idea. My very elderly mother lives nearby, and I figured that she might want a cat. Well, I asked her if she would take Marlo for a while, and she did, and now they're insepearable. It's been six months since Marlo went on vacation, and Mom still calls me up to tell me the latest cute thing Marlo did. Marlo loves being an only cat, and her fur all grew back.I'm over there practically every day so it was pretty easy for Marlo to adjust with me there a lot. She also lost a lot of weight, and that turned out to be hyperthyroid, but that was apparently unrelated to the overgrooming., Anyway, she dropped from obese to a healthy weight and now she's on thyroid medication and leveling off nicely. Happy ending. Maybe you have some behavioral issue at play? |
#12
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Losing Fur
On 2017-07-22 12:51 PM, MaryL wrote:
On 7/20/2017 5:07 AM, Cheryl wrote: Kerry, my newish cat, seems to be lacking fur on part of her belly near the back legs. I only just noticed - she loves being petted, but like many cats, she takes exception to belly-rubs so I hadn't looked at her belly in quite a while. I have an appointment with the vet for her tomorrow - I hope it's just a bit of minor over-grooming. Anyone have experience with cats losing fur?? She certainly grew it all back after she was spayed about a year ago, and now, a largish area is either very thin of or missing fur. Is it possible that she has some food allergies? Many cats are allergic to grains (especially corn). Of course, I know that you are already careful of that, but it would be worthwhile to carefully look at the list of ingredients, and also to use grain-free canned food. I can double-check the food. I think it's odd it showed up now, since there doesn't seem to have been any change in her living conditions. We have had unusually good weather, so she's spending more time chittering at the birds through the windows, but surely that's not stressing her out! -- Cheryl |
#13
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Losing Fur
On 2017-07-21 7:03 PM, jmcquown wrote:
On 7/21/2017 5:06 PM, Cheryl wrote: Well, Kerry's back from the vet, and it doesn't appear to be serious. the way in which the fur is missing (some hairs left behind) makes the vet think Kerry's licking and pulling at it, and it's not some kind of endocrine disorder or other physical ailment, which would cause all the hairs to fall out. So it might be (a) fleas or mites or (b) stress. (a) seems quite unlikely, since they're both indoor cats, but it's not entirely impossible, so she suggested treating them for that, which has been done. The other two suggestions were Feliway and a calming food. I decided to try the Feliway but not, at least for now, the food. If nothing else helps, Kerry can be given medication, but the vet suggested a more conservative approach to start with. It's helpful when the vet doesn't immediately insist on expensive treatment and costly food. The "calming" food I didn't buy was incredibly expensive! More than twice what i normally spend, and I don't buy bottom-of-the-market food! Yes, I'd keep an eye on that but otherwise it sounds like the bit of fur loss is nothing serious. Fingers still crossed! I'm relived that the vet thinks it's not a physical problem. -- Cheryl |
#14
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Losing Fur
On 2017-07-22 9:49 PM, dgk wrote:
Maybe you have some behavioral issue at play? I'm glad it turned out well for Marlo. Yes, it does seem to be over-grooming, possibly as a result of stress. I can't figure out what might be stressing her. I can't identify anything new in her living conditions. The food's the same; the human's the same; she doesn't get on with the other cat Cinnamon, but that's been the situation for over a year, and they don't fight; they have had essentially separate kingdoms in different parts of the apartment for months. -- Cheryl |
#15
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Losing Fur
On 7/24/2017 10:56 AM, Cheryl wrote:
On 2017-07-21 7:03 PM, jmcquown wrote: On 7/21/2017 5:06 PM, Cheryl wrote: Well, Kerry's back from the vet, and it doesn't appear to be serious. the way in which the fur is missing (some hairs left behind) makes the vet think Kerry's licking and pulling at it, and it's not some kind of endocrine disorder or other physical ailment, which would cause all the hairs to fall out. So it might be (a) fleas or mites or (b) stress. (a) seems quite unlikely, since they're both indoor cats, but it's not entirely impossible, so she suggested treating them for that, which has been done. The other two suggestions were Feliway and a calming food. I decided to try the Feliway but not, at least for now, the food. If nothing else helps, Kerry can be given medication, but the vet suggested a more conservative approach to start with. It's helpful when the vet doesn't immediately insist on expensive treatment and costly food. The "calming" food I didn't buy was incredibly expensive! More than twice what i normally spend, and I don't buy bottom-of-the-market food! I don't buy el cheapo cat food, either. But I paid a lot of money for prescription food for Persia (RB 2014) and I'm not sure it was worth paying more for. Yes, I'd keep an eye on that but otherwise it sounds like the bit of fur loss is nothing serious. Fingers still crossed! I'm relived that the vet thinks it's not a physical problem. Thankfully not! Jill |
#16
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Losing Fur
On Mon, 24 Jul 2017 12:28:59 -0230, Cheryl
wrote: On 2017-07-22 9:49 PM, dgk wrote: Maybe you have some behavioral issue at play? I'm glad it turned out well for Marlo. Yes, it does seem to be over-grooming, possibly as a result of stress. I can't figure out what might be stressing her. I can't identify anything new in her living conditions. The food's the same; the human's the same; she doesn't get on with the other cat Cinnamon, but that's been the situation for over a year, and they don't fight; they have had essentially separate kingdoms in different parts of the apartment for months. Marlo was living in the new house with Baby (the feral) for more than a year when I noticed the loss of fur. It takes a long time to lick off all that fur. Maybe the Feliway will help - I was trying that but it takes a while and I moved her to Mom's house before it really could show any progress. |
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