Nervous Cat?

I have a 9 yr. old spayed, long haired female cat. We have had her since she was about 8 weeks old. My question is whether or not cats can have a nervous disorder or anxiety.

Everytime there is a "major" change (there has been 3), she eats her fur and then ends up with hard red bumps and scabs. Right now the fur is gone on the bottom half of her tail, her butt and along her spine. The scabs are also on her neck.

The times that she has done this is when we got a puppy 2 yrs. ago, when we put a new floor in the bathroom and the most recent has been the last few weeks when we had to get rid of the dog.

She is otherwise healthy. Eats and uses the litter regulary. No diarrhea or no drainage from eyes or nose.

Thank you for any help!
Candy

[Aleda M Cheng, D.V.M., C.V.A]

Cats can have stress or anxiety disorders just like people.  Psychogenic alopecia is such a disease in which cats pull out their hair when they are stressed for what ever reason.  Obviously your cat becomes distressed with any kind of change.

There may also be a physical component to this problem however.  Stress can cause underlying conditions to come to the surface, such as flea allergy dermatitis, food allergy dermatitis, endocrine disorders and more.  When your cat is not stressed her immune system can handle the problem without difficulty.  This is of course only speculation.