Expert: Jessica - 7/11/2009

Question
My cat is pulling out her hair and we can not figure it out. One day my mom was at work and she fell from a 10 foot celling when she was about 9 days old. so my mom brought her home and started bottle feeding her. she just started doing this about 4 1/2 years ago. she does not go out side of around any other animals who go out side. she doesn't have flies. so what is making her pull out her hair all over her body?

Answer
Hi Tiffanie.  She should get to a vet to check for physical causes of itchy skin.  One common reason for this is food allergies.  But other causes may be environmental allergies, fungal or bacterial infections, auto immune disease and mites.  These can usually be treated with a special diet, antibiotics, pesticides or a steroid injection, depending on which cause is found.

If these are all ruled out, then she may be suffering a behavioral problem.  Some cats pull their fur out because of anxiety.  If it’s possible, determining the source of her anxiety and putting a stop to it is the best treatment.  If there are lots of visitors in the home, this can be very stressful to a cat.  Noise, constant changes in schedule and boredom are also sources of stress.  Many times, no source of stress can be found, or if it can be found, the stressor cannot be changed.  A good product to help reduce anxiety in this case is Feliway.  This comes in a spray or a plug-in diffuser.  I use the plug-ins in my own home.  You can learn more about how it works at www.feliway.com  It’s available online and at pet stores.

Some cats will get to the point where they begin causing skin sores that can become infected.  At that point, it may be time to consider antidepressant treatment with medications.  You should talk to your vet about the possibility of this treatment later, if all of the tests for infectious causes of excessive licking come back negative.  There are a number of successful treatments to choose from, and many cats only need treatment for a few months.