Cat fur - thinning. Been to vet, now what?

tricklesthegreek

Hi all,
My 7 year old cat is perfectly fine in herself but her fur has thinned all on her tummy and across both back legs and her sides. She constantly washes herself - I have deflead her, and it didn't make a difference, so I took her to the vets. They did a skin scrape (I had to ask for it) and tested for mites and mange, both came back clear. They said it might be stress related - but she's constantly purring, playing - I have no idea. I'm at a bit of a loss and it makes me so sad to see her like this.
Anyone got any other ideas or anything I can try? My other cat does pull his fur out due to stress but it's patchy, but we have purchased Feliway and it's made a big difference to him, he's much more friendly and even jumps up for cuddles now. As for my girl, I'm stumped because she doesn't pull her fur out.

OnAndUp

Could possibly be diet related? What do you feed her?

jen007

My cat does the same thing, he mainly washes his back legs, he ended up with a huge bald patch/sore. His vet said it could be stress related and gave me something for him (I'll have to look in his book to see what it was), but recently he's starting chomping on things that he's not meant to, mainly plastic bags and he likes to nibble my hair.

His vet now think's he might have Pica, he's now on a better diet with a mix of raw and dry (he loves his dry hence why I haven't removed this). The vet again suggested it could just be stress related, however he seems a happy and contented cat.

He doesn't purr though, he's a drooler, can't give him cuddles or a pat without a wet patch when he decides there are better things to be doing :rotfl:

tricklesthegreek

She eats Iams, I've tried her on so many other foods and she either turns her nose up or vomits them back. Nice.
I'll be interested to hear what that stuff was you were given; what is Pica?

jen007

It was Ovarid 5mg. He was to have half a tablet a day and it seemed to work for him. I now have a diffuser at the vets recommendation after the course (12 days) and that also seems to work for him not eating himself.
I'm against feeding Iams for my own reasons, but if it works for you and your moggy that's okay with me.

Pica is something where you eat things which aren't of nutritional value/just plain odd
A lot of pregnant women get it, you'll have heard the odd stories of women eating coal/crayons/dirt when expecting.


Just thinking

Did Moggy do this before you got the diffuser? Could it be causing a hormonal imbalance for her?

tricklesthegreek

She's done it for about a year - come to think about it, I am not sure if it coincides with the diffuser for the other one. Hmm! I'll look into that Ovarid stuff. Thank you!

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

One of mine did that with her tummy, couldn't think why.


Turned out she would spend the night secretly sleeping on top of the cable box as it was so warm.


I moved the box, she healed.

tricklesthegreek

Mine sleeps on the sky box...

Fire_Fox

Agree food sensitivity is one possibility given the vomiting, like most dry foods found in the supermarket IAMS is rubbish. Have you tried a completely wet diet based on a novel protein source? These tend to have fewer ingredients, fewer or no cereals/ grains which are inappropriate for an obligate carnivore (must eat meat). Be sure to switch foods slowly over a period of weeks to allow the digestive system time to adapt to the different macronutrient content.

tricklesthegreek

What kind of foods would you recommend for a wet diet?

moggymutt

Diet, washing powder, anything you might spray around house or on carpets.

We had a young girl start obssessive licking of her front legs due to boredom - she did need a jab of something from the vets to take away the itchiness to help her break the cycle. Doesn't do it any more because her and her brother finally found a forever home )