Please tell me why my cat is pulling his hair out!its making me want to pull my hair out!help!!!!!?

Question

Please tell me why my cat is pulling his hair out!its making me want to pull my hair out!help!!!!!?

Answer 1

Hi there!

I can identify with you totally. I have a cat that was doing the same thing, and I wanted to scream with frustration, just as you are expressing. I feel for you, truly!

There are many reasons why cats "over groom". Ours was due to both anxiety and food allergy. Once we solved those problems, his hair pulling stopped completely.

The most common reasons are flea allergies, general allergies, and anxiety. Cats often groom themselves as a way of "calming" themselves. So if there have been any changes in your environment, a new pet, changes in schedules, that can provoke anxiety greatly.

The best thing to do is to make a veterinarian visit pronto. Rule out any physical conditions which can be the root of the problem, and if your cat has no parasites, or skin infections, you can then move into examining behavioral reasons. There are some excellent medications available now that can help tremendously, as was facilitated with my kitty through veterinary intervention.

Here is an excellent article about what causes this very frustrating behavior. I hope it helps and good luck with your cat!

http://cat-care.suite101.com/article.cfm...

Troublesniffer

Owned by cats for over 40 years

Former breeder of Oriental Shorthairs and Siamese

http://frequentlyfeline.blogspot.com/

Answer 2

It could be a lot of things - from allergies, to fleas, to stress.

The first thing you shold do is take the cat to the vet to rule out any sort of medical issue.  Once medical is ruled out, its probably stress.  Did anything change?  New home, new baby, new roommate, new paint, outside cat harassing him, etc - then minimize the cats exposure to it.

Also, if its allergies, the vet might not find it.  But generally, cats are allergic to grains such as corn, wheat, soy, and rice, and beef.  Switching to a grainfree diet might help.

Answer 3

Cats pulling their hair out is usually either fleas or stress. Are you regularly treating your cat with a proper flea treatment like Frontline?

Stress is far more common in cats than people realise. Even living in multi-cat households puts stress on cats. Any changes that may have occured in the house e.g. someone new moving in or someone leaving, even changing furniture around or getting new stuff can upset cats.

Talk to a vet. They will probably make sure you're on a proper flea treatment regime, then they make talk to you about reducing stress. Hopefully this will involve recommending Feliway, which is an excellent diffuser that contains a copy of cat facial pheromones, the stuff they deposit around the house by rubbing their faces on things, but only when they're content. This diffuser can do excellent things for stress, especially where over-grooming or inappropriate toileting is going on. Tried it myself with excellent results.

Do talk to a vet, the cat is obviously not happy!

Chalice

Answer 4

It could have had an allergic reaction to things like flea treatment or it could have mites

Answer 5

My cat will get matted and then she pulls out the mats. I come and find cat hair all over. She did this last summer too..