My 13 Year Old Siamese Cat Has Licked The Fur Off His Stomach.?
He scratched it on some wire 2 months ago. He took all the fur and top layer of skin off by constantly licking. I took him to the vet. He gave him a steroid injection and a presciption for pregnant female cat hormones which was supposed to calm him down.
I also used a Feliway diffuser near his bed to make him feel happy and less stressed. Non of this is working. I have resorted to putting him in a body stocking made out of the thigh part of a pair of thick tights with 4 holes cut for his legs.
I take this of every day and give him a good brushing, which he loves, but if I don’t put it back on right away he is attacking the fur on his stomach again. I left it off for few hours and he took all the fur from around one of his nipples.
What am I to do ? He is an old darling, very affectionate and loving and doesn’t mind too much about his ‘cat suit’ but I am looking for a cure. Perhaps homeopathy.
April 24, 2009
Tags: feliway diffuser, homeopathy, hormones, siamese, steroid injection
Posted in: alternative medicine
9 Responses
He isn’t fluffy, is he?
When nothing else helps a licking problem, I always go to….Bitter Apple Spray. You get this at Petsmart, or any other pet store and spray the area on and around the affected site. The animal ( cat, dog, bird, etc ) doesn’t like the taste and will not lick the area. You may have to do it a couple of times a day for awhile……at least til the “habit” of licking goes away, and the hair grows back. This stuff has worked for me everytime I’ve used it…….ringworm, overgrooming (even birds plucking feathers!), sores that need to heal, etc. It’s not expensive (especially compared to constant vet trips) and it works! If it’s an underlying infection, that’s a different “story”! Did your vet do a blood test, to see if there was any kind of infection?? However, if it’s just stress / habit, then the Bitter Apple should be the “solution”. Good luck……I’m pretty sure your cat will enjoy being out of his “stocking”!
Right now my cat has an e-collar (kinda like a cone head) on to stop him from licking because he has a tube in his body that he cant touch. it seems to be working well, maybe you can use it temporarily. Also there is some “bitter apple” spray they sell in stores I hear that tastes bad to cats. Ify ou spray it on the fur he wont want to lick it as much.
My cat does this in the winter, every winter.We took him to the vet and she just said that where it is winter and the heat is on, their skin is just like human skin. It gets dry and itchy and cracked. He’s licking it to provide some moisture. Our vet told us to just rub some gentle moisturizer on the area a couple of times a day. I don’t know if you’re an area where it gets cold or not.
Also, he did get scratched by another cat and bit all the fur off of his paw.We took him to the vet then as well and she told us to put polysporin on the cut. Human medicine works for cats sometimes as well. But I would check with your vet first, that is just what ours said.
If it’s a habit or stress-related, talk to your vet about whether something like diazepam or buspar might be helpful. Our cat took diazepam for some time because she would lick her belly bare because of nerves.
He obviously has a very sore or irratated stomach, maybe something was on the wire that went in his skin that is starting to cause an infection. you might need to get a second opinion. go to another vet if that helps. its what i do when i am not satisfied with the first answer
Siamese can be very prone to obsessive grooming – I have one that pulls fur. What you might want to try is discussing the human drug Prozac with your vet (I am serious). It does not “drug” the cat like the older Valium would, but it breaks the cycle of obsessive grooming, and then the cat is weaned off the drug. It works very well, and it sounds as though your cat’s behavior at this point is a habit rather than one with a physical cause.
We had one that did this and his skin was pinkish underneath. Took him to the vet and she treated him, I can’t remember now what she thought it was. It didn’t work so had to go back and she finally decided it was allergies and that he was allergic to fleas and gave him an injection. It took a bit , but he finally quit licking the fur off of him. I would check with the vet again. Maybe they can try something else. It’s like going to a people doctor, if something didn’t work, you have to try again.
well the cat suit could be itcing him but you said he cut himself. Well the vet didnt take it to seriously so take him to the vet again it sounds like your cat is in a lot of pain by the sound of his stomach. If you dont take it to the vet your cat will get worse.
;]good luck..
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