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Cat licking her hair off - allergies or stress?

My female cat has started licking off her hair on her paws and legs and possibly is starting on her belly - they are long hair and it's kinda hard to tell until a definite bald patch appears.  This has been happening since before Christmas.  At first I thought it was due to the loss of her beloved "Cat tree" but I got her a replacement - although I'm not sure she likes it near as much.  The Vet thinks it's an allergy - probably to food - but I can't get her to eat the $35 per 8lb bag of Green Pea and Duck food I bought for her.  She went days without eating and I finally gave in - as I didnt want to deal with those complications too.  So, I have just ordered another type of food - Venison and Green Pea - hopefully she'll like that a little better.....and I've ordered the stop itch wipes and lotion from Dr. Fosters and Smith.  I am hoping one of those will help.  The other issue is that I travel A LOT for my job - often gone at least 3 or 4 days.  I started travelling this heavy in September and her hair loss started after Thanksgiving.

Any ideas or things I can try.  I was thinking of trying the Feliway diffuser - but after just ordering over $50 of food and itch relief - I am going to hold off before spending $30 on an air diffuser.

Any comments are appreciated.
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874521 tn?1424116797
it could well be something in the house that she is allergic too.......cats like humans have allergies and they manifest themselves on the skin...therefore the itching.
this can be the carpeting, household cleaners, candles (any scented products..even room sprays), litter almost anything.
allergies are from inhalants, flea bite dermatitis or through grains in their food...
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Avatar universal
I had the same problem with my 7 year old Russian Blue, she would lick the fur from her hips down to her paws.   She had a litter of kittens and it stopped.  My vet said it might have been cause i moved the 2 cats and myself 2200 miles.  My Racoon Siamese is probably the most loving out of my cats.  Now my roommates girlfriends cat is doing the same thing. .  I have her cats sister, and told her to bring her here a few days a week. I have noticed she doesn't lick her fur off when she's at my house with the other 3 cats.  She is left alone for hours, Its probably stress from missing her pet human.
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Avatar universal
Hi,

Like the previous comment I made. If you haven't had your cat spayed, please look up or ask your vet about pyometra.

Bets wishes!
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Avatar universal
Hi PhilPhil,

I read your comment about not wanting to spay your cat and I felt compelled to tell you about the recent events in our household.
We felt the same way about spaying so we didn't when our cat was a kitten.
She is an indoor cat who goes outside in the fenced backyard for supervised playtime, so there is no danger of pregnancy.
Not spaying her wasn't a problem for ten years, until about a month ago when she had to have emergency surgery for pyometra.  We thank God that she made it through the surgery and is better and healthier than before.
It was a scary time for us, and I don't want anyone else to go through it, I feel it's important that I tell you to look up pyometra. Sometimes the licking in the back end, or over grooming can be a symptom.
Best wishes.
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Avatar universal
i have a snow shoe (half siamese and half domestic) they are big babies! she cries over everything and follows me everywhere i go. comes running to me when i get home. and is terrified of everything she doesn't know. she is extremely! emotional! she is the most sensitive animal ive ever come in contact with. like a little person. and extremely intelligent there isn't a room she can't get into opens doors and cabinets shes very eccentric.

now ill get to the point. well she is just so so sensitive to i think maybe because we got her when she was just under a year old from the humane society and she was so traumatized. i never let her outside once in her whole life so when we take her outside to go to a vet or moving she absolutely loses it. goes into shock and pees herself and screams for help. its heartbreaking. well me and im pretty young and have had her about 8 years now when i left home she had never been anywhere but the house i grew up in. and in the last three yrs  i have moved about 4 times and with every move she had a hard time but was okay after about a day.

well that all changed on my 3rd move. we moved on the water and all of her hair on her face fell out. the vet didn't do anything said allergies it was an overnight thing. i was soo upset she looked like she had been n a fight. it was crazy i then realized had to be dermatitis i gave her some benadryl because she was bleeding from the scratching as well. it took a while but she got better. at the same time she was over-licking as well on her front paws and under neck area the vet said stress from  being sick and moving and possible itchiness so we just did the same with monitoring it and it got better.

well now she is over-licking again it started in the same area and has spread to everywhere. we recently moved again abt 3 weeks ago and she started sometime around then. its bad. shes a creamy siamese color and has tarnish her color from the licking to a light brownish color. u can see where she wont stop. it's so bad to the point where ill pick her up and shes wet from licking herself to death all over. i dont know what to do. ive tried everything i can to make her emotionally happy thought it was the move. pay extra attention to her but thats not helping.
after reading things online im scared now of what could her insides be doing with all this hair she ingesting. she has very thick hair that is now thin very thin. im very worried about her.
I also tried the change in food to help with allergies and she refused to eat and got sicker.
Any suggestions?
u can email me at ***@**** or facebook me at ashley dalton name search
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
i have a snow shoe (half siamese and half domestic) they are big babies! she cries over everything and follows me everywhere i go. comes running to me when i get home. and is terrified of everything she doesn't know. she is extremely! emotional! she is the most sensitive animal ive ever come in contact with. like a little person. and extremely intelligent there isn't a room she can't get into opens doors and cabinets shes very eccentric.

now ill get to the point. well she is just so so sensitive to i think maybe because we got her when she was just under a year old from the humane society and she was so traumatized. i never let her outside once in her whole life so when we take her outside to go to a vet or moving she absolutely loses it. goes into shock and pees herself and screams for help. its heartbreaking. well me and im pretty young and have had her about 8 years now when i left home she had never been anywhere but the house i grew up in. and in the last three yrs  i have moved about 4 times and with every move she had a hard time but was okay after about a day.

well that all changed on my 3rd move. we moved on the water and all of her hair on her face fell out. the vet didn't do anything said allergies it was an overnight thing. i was soo upset she looked like she had been n a fight. it was crazy i then realized had to be dermatitis i gave her some benadryl because she was bleeding from the scratching as well. it took a while but she got better. at the same time she was over-licking as well on her front paws and under neck area the vet said stress from  being sick and moving and possible itchiness so we just did the same with monitoring it and it got better.

well now she is over-licking again it started in the same area and has spread to everywhere. we recently moved again abt 3 weeks ago and she started sometime around then. its bad. shes a creamy siamese color and has tarnish her color from the licking to a light brownish color. u can see where she wont stop. it's so bad to the point where ill pick her up and shes wet from licking herself to death all over. i dont know what to do. ive tried everything i can to make her emotionally happy thought it was the move. pay extra attention to her but thats not helping.
after reading things online im scared now of what could her insides be doing with all this hair she ingesting. she has very thick hair that is now thin very thin. im very worried about her.
I also tried the change in food to help with allergies and she refused to eat and got sicker.
Any suggestions?
u can email me at ***@**** or facebook me at ashley dalton name search
Helpful - 0
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