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For all those people who are slaves to their cats!

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sossie 08/14/2008

My 13 year old keep licking her self. She is all the time cleaning. I have checked her for fleas and there are none though I would have no idea how she would have them because she never goes out side. She has even licked a balding spot on her side.

She also has scabs on her neck. I thought at first it was from my 2 year old playing to rough on her but her claws stay clipped. So I wondered if she could lick sores on her self.

HELP what could it be!!!!!

deleted_user 08/14/2008

I cats tongue is equal to a 60 sand paper so they can hurt themselves constantly licking. I would take the cat to the vet and check for mites or some sort of mange. Maybe she has another type of skin condition you cannot see with the naked eye and a topical prescription will help.

Let us know what happens, please.
Wishing her the best and to you as well.

deleted_user 08/15/2008

just and fyi..I took my kitty in last summer for fleas cuz she was licking herself all the time and had a lot of bald spots..and my vet told me he had a cat that would lick itself bald every summer..there was nothing wrong with the cat its just lickes itself all the time!!

biddy1 08/15/2008

my cat dali does the same thing.....it started about a year ago now and its something that we are still dealing with at the moment. I took her to the vet and she has been checked for fleas and allergies but nothing was apparent....so i have a hydrocortisone spray and feliway plug ins to try and help but every now and again she starts doing it again so her fur has never grown back to the same length.....she is 11yrs old.

Rusters 08/15/2008

Our 18 year old longhair tabby does that alot. We gave him a haircut and that helps. He's not in pain, but I wonder if he has some pain or ache or again, if it's a coping mechanism in some way? Not sure on it but I call it OLD - obsessive licking disorder.

deleted_user 08/15/2008

I seen a documentary on the television that if a cat has a worry, i.e. another cat in the yard that they are not used to. Or some drastic change they will sometimes go through a cleaning stage like that. I believed from the documentary that it will pass.

deleted_user 08/19/2008

I agree with leashell. While cats are finicky animals, its just in their genes, they do tend to develop obsessive compulsive disorder if anything in their enviromnent changes, if they're under a lot of stress, separation anxiety, etc. You should definitely take her to see her veterinarian just to make sure it's not a parasitic infection like mange, a bacterial skin infection or fleas. Sometimes cats are even prescribed anti-anxiety medication in severe cases of OCD.

Keep me posted sweetie! I hope your kitty will stop licking herself so much! If you need any more advice, you can mail me personally if you want to. I'll answer you to the best of my knowledge.

Love,
Krysta

PS-Rusters, I love the way you put it. OLD!! LOL!! :D

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