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Behavior in Cats - Hair Damaging, Self Damaging
Tail Damaging
Cat pulling out fur
Biting hair
Psychogenic Alopecia
Licking abdomen
also see Parasites
also see Allergy
also see Behavior
also see Skin problems
Question: Dear Dr. Richards.
I have a four year old, long haired cat (I have been told he looks like a
Maincoon). Last August he had fleas and I treated him with a flea dip.
Afterward he kept twitching his tail and seemed to be annoyed by something at
the tip. I thought maybe he still had fleas and I examined his tail and the
rest of his body, but could find nothing wrong. Then he started to bite the
tip of his tail. I took him to my Vet and he was placed on antibiotics for a
week and given a collar to keep him from reaching his tail. Unfortunately
the collar I was given was not large enough to keep him from reaching his
tail and he bite his tail to the point of mutilation. We went back to the Vet
and I was told that the tip of his tail had been crushed, it was then covered
with a bandage, he was kept on antibiotics and placed in a larger collar.
After a month of this treatment he was still attacking his tail. It was
decided that amputation of the tip was the only solution.
The amputation was done, removing approx. 1" of his tail and he continued
on antibiotics. After two weeks the stitches were removed. His tail had
been shaved to the skin approx. 3" down from the tip. When he looked back
and saw his skinny little bald tail he was petrified and tried to run away
from it. If I put my hand or a blanket over his tail he would be fine, but
if he could see it he would either try to run from it or attack it. I tried
covering his tail with a gauze wrap, which I would remove frequently so that
I could try to get him used to his tail under my supervision. After a few
weeks of him constantly removing the bandage himself, I decided to let nature
take its course and just let him deal with his tail. The hair had grown back
to about a quater of an inch in length and he eventually got to the point
that he was cleaning his tail and he became much calmer. Then I noticed that
the tip of his tail was bald and I caught him biting at the hair. I again
wrapped his tail with a gauze bandage in hopes that if the hair had time to
grow in, he might leave it alone. After about a week I noticed that he was
biting the bandage and had actually bitten and mutilated his tail again. I
contacted my Vet and she had no idea as to why this was happening or what
could be done.
At this time I decided to get a second opinion and I took my cat to
another Vet who had come highly recommended. Again my cat was placed into a collar and back onto antibiotics for two weeks. At the conclusion of this treatment
he was still biting his tail. Again amputation was performed removing
approx. another 1.5". This time though the Vet did not shave the hair to the
skin. Enough hair was left that it wasn't bald, but it was still quite
different from the rest of his bushy tail. When it came time to remove the
stitches the Doctor decided to leave them in an additional week. Then came
the day the stitches were removed. Immediately we were back to square one
and my cat was again scared of his tail and again tried to mutilate it.
I am at my wits end. My cat and I have been dealing with this problem for
over four months now. He is again in a collar, which I try to remove when I
can watch him, at which time I bandage his tail so that he can clean himself
and have some semblance of a normal existence. I am also again trying to get
him used to his tail. I will sit with him, pet his tail and let him smell
and clean it, but as soon as he gets the chance he immediately tries to bite
his tail and the sight of it terrifies him. I imagine that if this behavior
continues the rest of his tail will have to be amputated, but I am not sure
that even that will stop him from mutilating himself.
If you can shed any light as to what I need to do to help him I would be
forever in your debt. My cat's playful and loving personality has changed
drastically over the past few months and it breaks my heart to see him so
scared and depressed.Respectfully, Kathleen
Answer: Kathleen-
We have had this problem with tail mutilation in our practice several
times. It has been frustrating enough that we advise cat owners to allow us
to amputate most of the tail when it is necessary to amputate a portion of
it. I can not explain why some cats will continue to mutilate the tail when
a partial tail is left but leave it alone when most of the tail is
amputated (we leave about 3/4 inch of the tail). This may be a form of
obsessive-compulsive behavior or it may be a variation of feline
hyperesthesia syndrome, which is a problem with sensitivity to touch that
make some cats have episodes of "rolling skin" and biting at their back and
the area around the base of their tail. Some cats do seem to respond to
medications used for obsessive-compulsive disorders based on anecdotal
reports, including clomipramine (Clomicalm Rx, 5mg per cat twice a day),
fluoxetine (Prozac Rx, 1 mg/kg once a day) and amitriptyline (Elavil Rx,
2.5 to 10mg per cat once or twice a day).I have not tried this for a cat, but we have had some luck using a liquid
bandaging material, Facilitator (tm) on dogs with sores that they will not
leave alone. It is applied once a day to once every three days and seals
the wound, apparently making it less stimulating to lick it.I wish that I had a sure cure for this problem.
Mike Richards, DVM
2/4/2001
Q: I have two female cats, and one, Samantha, is pulling out her fur. I've
tried salves and sprays for itchy skin. She doesn't have fleas. The skin
itself looks fine. But nearly every day I find tufts of fur. I'm supposing
some kind of emotional problem.She's a tabby and has always been aggressive when anyone tries to pet
her--other than me; with me she's quite docile and accepting of pretty much
anything. She's very vocal and, if I'm not giving her enough attention,
she'll begin calling, sometimes loudly. She is slightly aggressive toward
her companion cat, although they've never hurt each other. Sam will hit Kitt
over the head with loud thumps of her paw and hisses, and she'll bite her
around the neck, although, with Kitt's ruff, I doubt Kitt even notices too
much. I think there's some contention over which cat is head-cat, but I
hestitate to interfere if they're vying for leadership. You'd think, though,
after about 10 years together, they'd have it worked out by now.I don't quite know what to do. Any ideas?
Debbie
A: Debbie-
There are several reasons that cats pull out their fur. Sometimes it is a
behavioral thing but lots of times it is due to problems such as fleas,
mange, ringworm (a fungal infection), allergies, immune mediated disease
and bacterial infections.Even if you never see fleas, you can not assume that they are not present
on a cat that has skin disease. Cats are extremely good at removing fleas
from their body and cats that are allergic to fleas are usually even better
at than other cats. So it is almost always best to use a product like
fipronil (Frontline Topspot Rx) or imidoclopramide (Advantage Rx) that will
kill fleas. These products also kill some of the types of mange mites that
affect cats, so they help if that is a problem, too.If using a flea control product does not solve the skin problem, then it is
a good idea to have your vet examine your cat and determine if one of the
other skin diseases is present. This can take several visits since the
conditions look very much alike and it is easy to believe that one problem
is present and decide to treat for it rather than do a lot of testing. If
the treatment doesn't work, then testing becomes much more important.Behavioral hair pulling is usually a diagnosis that is made after other
causes have been ruled out and the problem still persists. There are
medications that help many cats with this type of problem and sometimes
relatively easy to implement changes in the cat's lifestyle can help. I
really think that behavioral problems should be considered but I also
really think it is important to eliminate most other causes before relying
on this diagnosis.I honestly think it would be best to get Frontline or Advantage, if you are
not already using one of these products. If they do not produce a lot of
improvement in two to three weeks, then it would be best to have your vet
examine Samantha and start the process of diagnosing her problem.In the meantime, some cats respond favorably to antihistamines.
Chlorpheniramine (Chlortrimeton TM) 4mg, 1/2 tablet twice a day is an OK
dose for most adult cats but it would be best to ask your vet to help you
determine the dosage specifically for Samantha if you want to try
antihistamines.Hope this helps.
Mike Richards, DVM
8/22/99
Q: Dr. Mike, My male cat , about 6 years old, is biting out his hair on the sides of his body (about 3" in diameter). Thre are no fleas, appetite is good & there appear to be no other symptoms. He then swallows his hair & coughs on it. Do you have any ideas why he might be biting his own hair out?..No scratching is involved. Thanks, L.
A: Lots of cats bite at themselves instead of scratching when they are itchy. I would consider this to be an itchy condition until it is possible to prove otherwise. The most common cause of this sort of behavior in my practice is allergy -- either flea allergy or inhalant allergy. Mite infestation occasionally occurs in cats and is a possible cause of this sort of behavior. Some cats do seem to have "pyschogenic" hairloss, in which they deliberately chew their hair for reasons of stress, compulsive disorder or some other psychological cause.
The first step is a visit to your vet to start sorting through these problems. Your vet will probably be able to help.
Mike Richards, DVM
Q: I have a cat with what I think is psychgenic alopecia, I found this out by looking through your index of info on cats. I am unsure as how to treat this because my cat "Jack" hasn't had any major disruptions in his life (to the best of my knowledge) so I'm not sure how to make him "less stressed out". He has always been very skittish and only comes around for attention at bed time (Primarily an outdoor cat). Do you think it would be helpful to start a routine of brushing every day, or some activity that he enjoys??? He doesn't have fleas, but could this be a dermatological problem??? I would never take my cat to a "pet psychologist" but I'm really at a loss as to what to do, his belly is completely bald, and now he's working on his flanks, pulling the hair in large tufts!! Any advice would be greatly appreciated and by the way thank you for providing such a helpful service!!!!
A: Jack may have psychogenic alopecia but it is also possible that this could be flea allergy, inhalant allergy or parasitic infection (Demodex or notoedric mange). It would be worth having your vet examine him to be sure that none of these other problems is likely. Flea allergy is particularly important to eliminate. In several studies of cats with this condition no fleas were found on exam of the affected cats in a majority of the cases. Apparently, cats are very efficient at removing fleas from their bodies if they are allergic to the bites and irritated by the flea.
If this is not a physical condition, it is sometimes beneficial to do things like grooming or games which distract your cat. Antihistamines seem to help some cats even when the problem seems to be psychogenic. There are several anti-anxiety medications which can be helpful and it is often possible to use them for a relatively short duration of time then wean the cat off the medications. Sometimes, just breaking the habitual cycle of licking and chewing helps for a long time.
Mike Richards, DVM
Q: My 8 1/2 year old cat has been licking her lower abdomen for almost 5 months now. I took her to the vet in January and they ran extensive tests on her and found nothing physically wrong with her. She was given steroid shots to possibly stop the psychological licking, but that did not seem to work. Is there anything that can be put on topically, or will she always have a bald spot on her stomach?
A: When this condition is not responsive to corticosteroids I usually look for one or two other conditions. Some cats lick their abdomen when they have cystitis or other causes of abdominal pain. We have seen this resolve in cats with bladder stones once the stones were recognized and removed. I felt really bad about not recognizing this possibility in the first case --- but I just hadn't thought about the possibility of pain as an initiating factor in the licking. Some cats do seem to do this as a neurotic type behavior. Using anti-anxiety medications or identifying the underlying cause of stress can help in resolving the situation in that case.
Ask your vet about the possibility that this behavior may be related to cystitis or abdominal pain and about medications for anxiety if you think that may be helpful.
I don't know of a topical medication likely to help.
Mike Richards, DVM
Last edited 01/08/07
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