Cat licked off fur on chest and leg

[savanahnana]

Cat is 3 years old, and over the past couple of days I've noticed her excessively licking her chest and top of leg area. Today I've noticed she's actually taken all the fur off it in places, so it's bald.

She seems fine in herself, no changes to anything regarding her or the household and 100% not fleas. She's always been a indoor cat.

Any ideas?

You need to take her to a vet.

Our cat did this and we put on my little girls old pj top to stop him accessing the bald bit. We did this for about a week and he went back to normal after that.

One of my cats suddenly started to do this to the area at the top of her tail. I didn't realise how much she'd licked off. The vet said it was a little bit of stress. She was very territorial and I think seeing other cats in her garden upset her. Overgrooming can be a sign of stress of some kind. They find comfort in doing this. But it could be something else. The vet will be able to tell you for sure.

My indoor car did this and he had fleas

My cat does this, sometimes it’s caused by stress (omg it’s the window cleaner! Oh no, it’s the fleadrops!) but sometimes it’s just habit, like biting your nails. He goes for long periods doing it or not doing it. I don’t think you can stop it.

Maybe he's allergic to something? Mine was allergic to plastic

Mine did this and it was because the neighbours had scaffolding and he didn't like the scaffolders disturbing him. Even the vet has said he's very particular...

Definitely not fleas. Everything I've read online mentions stress or being depressed. Those with cats that have also done this before, how did you stop it or can I even prevent it? I've managed to get a phone appointment with the vets tomorrow morning so will hopefully have a answer to it.

My vet prescribed a homeopathic remedy which worked. Plus discouraging/distracting her when we caught her doing it. We think it was stress related as she grew bald on her stomach area from excess grooming when my DS was born.

My cat did this when we moved house licked the fur off her front legs. It was just stress and she stopped eventually.

My foster cat has just been to the vet for this very thing. Probably stress but possibly thyroid problems. She is the most nervous cat ever, jumps out of her skin if the doorbell rings, or a door opens or closes or someone she has seen a million times walks into a room. I don’t know how she coped with life before lockdown! The vet prescribed Zylkene and feliway.

You said there's nothing visibly wrong - just wondering whether she might have an abscess. Have a bit of a feel around the bald area - does it feel loose/squishy? I ask because it's exactly where she would have been bitten had she got into a fight and a bite might have healed at surface level but an infection remained (similar to Henry VIII's disgusting leg ulcer). My poor old boy licked all the fur off his chest when he had a bite and the surface wound was so tiny as to be almost invisible but he became quite ill with it. Antibiotics needed from the vet.

It’s definitely worth a visit to the vet to check it out.

My cat did this, vet said it was a flea allergy. It actually turned out to be an allergy to either chicken or grains in cat food. These allergies are becoming more common apparently. We switched her to a duck based grain free cat food (ours was James Wellbeloved) and she stopped itching so badly and her hair grew back.

Right so I spoke to the vet on the phone this morning. He said it does seem to sound like she's simply over grooming due to stress. He explained that it could be over the simplest things or changes that we wouldn't of even thought of. I've got to keep eye on it to make sure the bald areas aren't becoming sore or broken and if they do then to bring her in. I've also felt all around the area, and can't feel and lumps or bumps or bites of any kind.

@PinkSparklyPussyCat that made me laugh!

Zylkene helps some cats that get stressed. I suggested it to a friend who's cat was over-grooming, and he said it helped.