Expert: Kate Tilmouth - 5/9/2009

Question
A friend of ours has a female cat and she had kittens.  We adopted a girl at 8 weeks and she is now 10 weeks.  She is usually very playful and then takes a nap.  Very sweet and lovable.

Today however, she has been acting very skittish.  Can't sit still, looking nervous or scared, hiding in the basement, constantly licking her tail or back.  Doesn't want to be held like she usually does and tries to run off anywhere she goes.  We have a 2 year old cat, but they have been getting along just fine.  

She hasn't been like this at all and I'm worried about her. What do you think might be going on?

Answer
Hi
Sounds very much to me like your cat has either got a flea or mite problem or a skin allergy.

the symptoms you describe are very similar to my own cats who is actually allergic to flea bites. So even though she doesn't have fleas herself due to regular monthly flea treatment. if she picks a stray one up from the the garden etc and it bites it sends her into a very skittish mood and biting of her tail area.

Check to see if there are any signs of fleas in which case you will need to treat those. if you can't see anything it could be that your cat has come into contact with something which she has had an allergic reaction too. Some types of food can also do this.

i have some web pages about these issues which you may find of interest
http://www.our-happy-cat.com/cat-fleas.html
http://www.our-happy-cat.com/cat-allergy.html

best wishes Kate
http://www.our-happy-cat.com