Any knowledgeable cat owners about?

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My cat is 12 & definitely has some sort of cat dementia going on. Recently he's taken to 'grooming' pulling out mini tufts of hair on his upper back quarters, about two inches up the body from the base of the tail. Now you can tell that hair is missing. Obvs I'll get him checked out but until the appointment has anyone else had this happen with their cat? His flea & worm stuff is up to date & there is no visible irritation/redness. He's also started to meow to be let out of the tv room & then shout his head off to be let back in one minute later. Then he does it again, in, out, in, out, every two minutes. He also shouts at me a lot to sit down so he can have my warm lap. This hair pulling thing is new to me though. He doesn't appear to be in any discomfort.

My cat is roughly the same age and has overgroomed due to stress (we have children). You could try brushing him, some feliway, some catnip and double check the fleas.
My cat has arthritis so almost extra grooms the bits he can reach to make up for what he can’t.

Our old boy did that and it turned out he had hyperthyroidism. Once he was on tablets it settled down a lot although he never fully stopped pulling. Is his fur also kind of tufty and sticking up around the base of his tail? And does he seem to be far hungrier than usual? We ended up with 2 tablets a day for the rest of our boy's life and they made a huge positive difference, he was diagnosed at 13 and lived to 18.

Can I also recommend a plug in heated pad, OP? Either under a blanket in his bed or under a blanket on a chair or sofa. He'll enjoy snoozing on that, especially with a hard winter coming, and he won't have to shout at you quite so much!

The Litter Tray on here is great for posts like your's - lots of friendly, knowledgeable crazy cat women.

Our cat is a light grazer & always has been. We use Hill's dry food as he won't eat anything else & I leave it down all day so it's there any time he wants it. Our house is very quiet but I have just turned the spare room upside down literally to redecorate so that's been disturbing. But his quarters in the top of the house are undisturbed. His fur is in really good condition.

I did wonder about arthritis.

Cats are masters and mistresses of hiding discomfort, so it's great that you're seeing your vet because of these changes in his behaviour.

Could be pain, or stress.
Ours did this and it was stress. Haven't seen this in regards to feline dementia

My cat had flea dermatitis one bite and out would come the fur, he also got stressed and licked all the fur off his tummy that was lovely when it grew back in like fuzzy felt

It could be the spare room upheaval, if it's only happened with him since you started that? He'll be aware of it and having to pass it on his way up to the top and back, and maybe there are strange paint smells too? Still best to get him checked out though.

Are you sure the flea treatment has worked?
Some brands with the certain active ingredient fleas are now immune too

Frontline is rubbish!
Definitely a vet check. Mine did this for flea allergy.

What flea stuff are you using?

The fur thing sounds like flea dermatitis. What flea stuff are you using? Frontline doesn't work any more.

Ours does this as a stress reaction (vet confirmed).

We use something called Fipronil & Advantage. Frontline hasn't worked round our way for years.

Ours did this. It was a flea allergy. Only takes one flea to jump on & bite them.

Fipronil is the active ingredient in frontline. Advantage is fine

Can you pop a collar on him in the short term to stop him aggravating the area?

My cat dioes that when she has fleas, fleas also set off an autoimmune bowel disease which is now controlled on steroids. The normal flea stuff doesn't work, you need the 3 month one which is called Bravecto (250mgs fluralaner) you put it on the back of their necks every 3 months.
You also need a cat flea comb to check they have all gone and make sure the house isn't infested.
Cats are normally demanding and fussy when they are feeling below par.
When mine is well she sleeps and amuses herself but when she feels poorly she won't leave me alone.

Has he been checked for hyperthyroid?

My late tabby cat used to march up and down shouting at us incessantly and making unreasonable demands - turned out she was hyperthyroid.

So much better when treated and we realised it had been building up for at least 2 years

She had a couple of happy treated years before a sudden death out in the garden.

Fipronil Is whats in frontline! Fleas are immune to it.
It may be a reaction to fleas. Both of our laate boys had a flea allergy and would pull the fur out.
Use advantage, advocate or johnsons ( but you need to look at the active ingredient as they sell two diff types, one is Fipronil

I use Advantage on my furry tyrant You don't need a prescription to buy it and various online pet places sell it (Amazon used to, not sure why they've stopped).

No fleas here for years (since I switched to using it). The active ingredient is imidacloprid.

I buy the one for large cats (Advantage 80) as mine is 4.5kg.

There's a 'Litter Tray' board full of cat owners...

My boy has for a sensitivity/allergy and pulls fur out at the base of his tail when he reacts to a flea. He also gets very stressed and Overgrooms constantly...good luck at the vets.

I meant a flea allergy