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The litter tray

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Overgrooming

6 replies

rararaa · 05/04/2017 20:05

I've had the cat about 8 months. Sort of accidentally adopted her. When we first got her she chewed herself a bit and got some nasty scabs, but they went away so we assumed she was stressed at change.

She got them again when we went away for few days guilt tripping cow. But again it sorted itself out.

About a month ago , she got them again along with some thin fur and then a couple of days later it became obvious she had a bladder infection. A trip to the vets she went from clearly distressed to right as rain within a day. But she has persisted since then in overgrooming.

She looks awful , she's pulled big patches of fur off! The vet noticed it when we look her in for the bladder thing and asked about flea / worming so I've since done that (she is indoor cat so I admit we have been lax about that) but no change. And I'm confident she didn't have fleas to start with .

I'm really short of cash ATM so although I'll take her if she needs it I'm trying to do anything I think the vet might suggest trying before we take her. I don't want to spend £40 to be told to use feliway or something .

I've just got feliaway and so far not seen an improvement but it's been less than a week.

I'm thinking the next step is food. Her old owners were feeding her purina but the pouches were so expensive we switched to whiskers and bulk buy the stuff. We were feeding her a mix of wet whiskas / felix and dry purina but she hardly ate the dry stuff, I was trying to persuade her to switch to dry because it's cheaper and easier if you go away for a few days but then the vet said the bladder issue can be caused by not drinking so she's on 100% wet whiskas food now.

Is there a cheapish hypo allergenic food that is wet food? She's eating 3 pouches a day I can't afford £1 a meal!

How long should I leave it before I know feliway hasn't worked?

Any other idea of things to try?

Or should I just take her to a vet?

Should add she's a very friendly seemingly happy cat, if she is stressed she's only showing it in her fur!

OP posts:
Fluffycloudland77 · 05/04/2017 22:02

Aldi wet food is cereal free. It's £2 for 12 pouches.

Which flea treatment did they sell you?.

9GreenBottles · 06/04/2017 00:35

I have a cat who has overgroomed for years. He was prescribed a number of things including Valium (which made him hyper) and we saw most improvement with Ovarid.

Other things that we tried in addition to Feliway were Serenum drops and Bachs Rescue Remedy. The vet also suggested toys as a distraction.

rararaa · 07/04/2017 20:39

Flea treatment is some her old owners left behind. Can't remember the name but was the stuff you squirt on the back of their neck.

The Aldi tip is a good one, is it cereal that she's likely to be allergic to then?

I thought her fur looked a bit better but she sat on my knee tonight and she's got loads of disgusting scabs near her back legs .

OP posts:
Ollivander84 · 07/04/2017 23:46

Mine has been on everything under the sun for overgrooming from Prozac to ovarid. Half an antihistamine a day seems to help him a little
Basically I just leave him to it, distract him every time I see him doing it and if it gets red/blood/very sore then off to the vets for a steroid jab
I suspect his is partially being a neurotic cat and partially a throwback from being a stray with a bad flea allergy

Catch583 · 11/04/2017 19:37

It's not an allergy, just a habit which is quite common and impossible to stop.

rararaa · 04/05/2017 21:42

Thanks for the Aldi suggestion! Has worked a treat. Cat is no longer bald from waist down :)

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