Cat that majorly overgrooms!

[GipsyDanger]

Hello, I was wondering if anyone has encountered this before with their cat. My cat was rehomed with us over 5 years ago and she has always has phases of overgrooming her side. She will literally lick and lick till the fur is gone and it is bleeding. Then of her own accord, she will leave it alone for months then start back up again. She has also started on her leg. I've taken her to many vets over the years who say it's just a cat thing. She has no allergies (that I'm aware of) is an indoor cat. Healthy weight. She is a very affectionate cat at night, she sleeps cuddled into me, but she flinches away if you go to clap her when she's head butting your leg. The pictures attached are her side looking really good.

[GipsyDanger]

I believe that was the side she was spayed on if that helps. She was spayed at 1 and a half

[GipsyDanger]

I've also tried feliway and calming collars as well. Using a cone is no good, she just arches her hip and licks there instead

[FireflyGirl]

When R-Cat was over grooming, he had a flea allergy. Did the vets rule this out?

[Laura222]

What about a fucking vet?

[DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen]

Oh goodness yes a vet !!

[Lillagroda]

I have a terrible overgroomer. I find making sure she has some mental stimulation, quiet places to hide, plus a combination of Feliway plug-ins and a dose and a half of Zylkene a day helps. She wears a recovery suit when she is bad rather than a cone, it seems to be less stressful for her.
It takes a while to break the cycle each time, but we get there in the end.

[MyCatIsABiggerBastardThanYours]

I see you've said you've been to vets before (not sure others read that bit!) but I would take again.

When my cat did it it was a flea allergy. He didn't even necessarily have them but if he got bitten it set it off. Only thing that worked was to keep him well defleaded.

[Toddlerteaplease]

My parents boy has feline esonphilic syndrome and they always know when It flares up as he gets bald spots from overgrooming. Took ages and lots of blood tests to get it diagnosed. As the vet was a bit clueless. The senior vet realised straight away. A shot of steroids and he's fine. Doesn't affect t him at all apart from the grooming. Pic shows where he's got the lesions.

[Toddlerteaplease]

He arrived at the rescue they adopted him from with a bottle of piriton as it was thought he had a flea allergy by clearly it was the other thing.

[Loupee]

The op says she has been to vets

One of our cats used to over groom a lot, don't think it was as severe as that, was never red raw, but she lost all the fur on a fairly large portion of her belly/chest.
We took her to various vets and nothing was diagnosed, stress was suggested, but there was no obvious cause and none of the treatments made a difference. 4 years on she is no longer over grooming and the fur is slowly growing back.
So I'm not much help, I don't know what caused it and I don't know what made her stop.

[abbsismyhero]

Mine had a flea allergy one bite would set him off

Does anyone who has had major surgery know if their scars itch? My surgeries have all been internal so I'm clueless! (retained placenta so no cutting)

[Wolfiefan]

Definitely not a flea allergy? If vet said that's what cats do then I would look for a new vet!
Any chance puss is bored or feels threatened? Eg cats outside spraying?

[cozietoesie]

Goodness. I thought that the red arrows were blood streaks until I looked closely at all of the pictures. Phew!

[DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen]

Red arrows? I thought it was blood too.

[cozietoesie]

Please let it not be so.

[isadorable]

Stress? My birman boy did this after his mum died. I got him a new friend and it stopped. I think it can be a sign they're in pain too?

[ageingrunner]

My cat was doing this and was given a course of steroids to stop it and I also have to be vigilant with the flea treatment. He's s lot better now

[ageingrunner]

The hunger of a cat on steroids is quite alarming though!

[GipsyDanger]

Thanks for so many responses! I've never looked into flees tbh as she's a housecat but will look into that.

She's been given the steroid shots before, didn't make much of a difference. Also forgot to mention, we have a ds of 7 months, but her side actually got better after he was born not worse. Also, we recently lost our other cat a few months ago, but again she didn't seem up or down about it (they never got on)

[DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen]

Pretty sure housecats can get fleas too.

[hollinhurst84]

Mine has been on various things
Steroid jabs help
Ovarid helped for a bit
Half a Zyrtec a day helps
Clomipramine (generic, branded is clomicalm) as he's anxious
Distracting him every single time he starts

[cozietoesie]

Housecats certainly can acquire fleas. Worms also.

[Weedsnseeds1]

My old cat with flea allergy used to sort of gnaw at the spot rather than lick. The current one used to overgroom the base of his tail but only while he was settling in. He soon stopped. I have seen people use baby grow suits (with legs cut off) for excessive licking in awkward spots. Not tried it myself but a possibility if you can't use a cone?