My cat is over-grooming

[Tidsleytiddy]

He’s licked all the fur off around his tail. He was operated on 18 months ago in that area because of an abscess plus he’s a nervy character anyway. I think the vet needs to take a look but he doesn’t have any noticeable skin irritation

Any chance he has fleas?

Not seen any and none of us have bites. It’s really odd. It’s the bum and all around the tail. The rest of his fur is beautiful

Stress likely, the hind legs, tummy and rear end are common areas in cats who stress---- groom. Changes at home, young children, new cat nearby, pretty much anything! cats can be easily stressed. A vet check sounds good, your vet can prescribe meds if necessary. Lots of happy cats on prozac these days 🐱.
Or you could try zylkene first which is an over the counter supplement which can help along with pheromone plug ins.

That's a common area for overgrooming, easy to reach I guess. It's either for a physical reason, itching or pain, or psychological, so worth checking for fleas & treating just in case. Allergies can also make them itchy, any change in diet? A vet might give a steroid injection to fix an itch while you ~try to~ solve the cause. (Can you tell I'm the owner of a randomly chewy cat?)

It can also be a stress thing/nervous habit, you say he's nervy? Something like Feliway or zylkene can relax them, & figuring out what's changed, anything in the house, his routine, new neighbour cats etc?

For some I think it's a style choice, mine likes a bald tummy even when she's not itchy. 😸

Actually as well as the above tail/bum area could be anal glands so best get checked.

One of my cats developed allergies as he got older, and used rip all his fur off his front legs and paws, and also his belly.
the other one had issues with anal glands and over from groomed at the base of the tail where it joins the back. Might be a couple of things to consider

Thank you for your replies. Do you know what; he’s been like it since we had a new bathroom fitted in September. He hated the intrusion. After his abscess op we bought a Feliway plug-in but I’m not sure that did much. He was pretty calm at that time because of all the meds he was on. There is a kind of bully cat that roams our area so that could be upsetting him…
He does have a history if this behaviour and the vet prescribed steroids for a short time. I’ll look into some over the counter remedies and if they don’t help he’ll have to be seen by the vet. (That’ll send him into meltdown)

I would try the feliway again. Is he up to date with flea treatment.

No he’s not to be honest. Wouldn’t I see the fleas? Honestly there’s no trace. I’ve just ordered some Zylkene. See how he goes on that x

Mine has done it all his life, he has steroid injections every 4 months or so which solved it

They can be hard to spot and a cat with a flea allergy will often overgroom with just one or two. I would get a vet check and up to date with decent flea treatment.

If he's not flea treated I suspect it's a flea allergy. One of my cats had this and we never, ever saw a single flea.

Off to the vet’s next week to get him checked out x