Help - my mum's elderly cat is rapidly losing fur

[Giraffesdotty]

My mum is 93 and lives alone with her 7 yr old cat, who means the world to her. Over the last 6 months my daughter has stayed there on and off since getting a job nearby, so the cat's routine has been disrupted. She is a pretty neurotic, nervous cat anyway, so I think it may have tipped her over the edge. The vet has suggested a 'calming' supplement added to food so we bought some today to try. No other symptoms (eating normally, purring etc.) Some bare patches are starting to look pink from the over grooming and it seems to be getting worse by the day.

Has anyone else dealt with something similar, and if so - what worked? My daughter has now moved into a flat so hopefully things will be calmer.

All advice gratefully received.

I assume you meant to write elderly mum noy elderly cat? Or is the cat 17 not 7?

Get a Feliway plugin diffuser and make sure the cat gets flea preventative to cover the bases then if it doesn't improve it might be worth asking for a steroid trial to work out whether it is genuinely psychological or whether it could be allergic.

International Cat Care- formerly the Feline Advisory Bureau- have some good info and Cats Protection probably do as well.

Beaphur do a calming spot on, I used it on my girl with success.

Our one cat does this and we’ve tried everything medical as she used to make herself so sore. All medical causes ruled out and vet at a loss. Steroids worked for short periods but it is expensive and she still scratched on them just less.

In her case we think it became a bad habit as she scratched a specific spot at specific times of the day when in a specific location. Generally she did it when she was about to nap so a ‘winding down’ scratch plus when she wanted to go in the garden for a little stroll so a ‘look at me and open the door’ scratch. But without holding back when it made her sore. Fur would fly!

I’ve bought her a cat suit 😺that cats wear after they recover from surgery to prevent the pulling of stitches and this worked as she can no longer scratch hard enough to remove fur. This is the one we have https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B0BL36KCCK?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title. It is thin enough for her not to notice or bother her with eating or going about her day and her fur has all grown back. The worst patch was always her neck so we also put a cat collar over the neck area on the suit so when scratching she hits the collar instead of her skin. You can cut it to size if the cat doesn’t scratch her whole body. In our cat’s case she only licked herself raw on and scratched the upper part of her body so we cut off the back of it, it fits like a top. Her back is still visible.

We’ve trialed taking her ‘anti scratch top’ off but then the scratching begins again immediately. So for now it looks like a permanent solution to keep her fur healthy and we now have two pairs, one on the cat and one in the wash. It doesn’t bother her in the slightest and if anything keeps her a little warmer which she likes.

Good luck

Sorry yes - meant to say elderly mother rather than elderly cat!

Thanks for the advice so far - I don't think there is going to be a quick fix by the sounds of it..