Expert: Jessica - 11/15/2011

Question
We have a 2 year old neutered cat and he has started losing hair on stomache but the odd thing is his stomache is always wet.Took him to vet said was allergic to something gave him antibiotics and shot of steroid. Hes eating well and is happy but we are curious as why he is so wet all the time anything else we can do?

Answer
Hi Tammy,

I haven't seen the cat, and I'm no vet, but I'm going to guess that your cat is wet all the time because he's licking himself excessively. This may because he's itchy because of allergies, as cats with allergies will lick with their rough tongues and scratch to relieve the itchiness.

Or, the vet’s diagnosis may be incorrect, and your cat might be suffering from a condition called psychogenic alopecia, a fancy term for hair loss because of obsessive compulsive grooming. The most common place where cats with this condition will lick obsessively is on the stomach. It later moves to the front and hind legs, and sometimes to the flanks. With allergies, however, fur is most often lost on the back and head area.

If the steroid shot provides relief, you can safely assume that his problem was due to allergies. If it does not, I think you might need to consider the fact that the problem could be behavioral. I would recommend trying an anxiety treatment such as Feliway or the Good Behavior collar by Sentry HC. Some cats with psychogenic alopecia will get through their anxiety issues after several weeks, when whatever stressor that’s caused their behavior has passed (we can rarely identify what this was, but it may be a vacation we have taken, or visitors in the home, a new pet or a change in our schedule). But sometimes they’ll require a round of antidepressants to help them get over the ordeal.

Good luck!

Jessica