D'Artagnan is pulling out his hair...

[melissaranks]

This all started about 3 weeks ago. Specifically, when my MIL and husband were redoing the bathroom downstairs. D'Artagnan is a skittish cat to begin with. Well, all the noise and commotion, he pulled out a chunk of his hair. I thought that would be the end of it. Now, I find that his stress relief is to coninue to pull out his hair! He's got a growing bald spot on his back. He only pulls the hair on his back. It's all pink from him doing it. I've caught him doing it a couple times and each time have said, "D'Artagnan stop that," to get him to stop and look at me. And when he stops and looks at me, I praise him and pick him up and reassure him that he's okay. He does it for any little stress. Pepperanne barked at him. Booker looked at him funny. He can't find his mousey toy. Anything. Tomorrow, I'm calling the vet just to make sure there isn't something wrong with his skin. None of my other pets are showing any signs of transmittable skin problems though. Poor sweet kitty. He's just a year old and I love him desperately. If he keeps this up though, I know that the best solution is going to be finding him a quiet home where he is an only child and where not a lot of people come to visit him and there are no children. I'm actually HOPING it's a skin condition that can be treated. I wonder if shaving him would keep him from doing it or if he would start to chew on his skin. Any ideas??

[davet]

don't know what happened to my post so repeat...cats are strange people, could be anxiety, mange, ring worm etc etc...get it checked and then would you post tha results....????thanks

[Traci]

My guess would be stress-induced (re: the remodelling) and with your constant supervision and attention, he might subside the behavior. However, stress can induce any health illness, so best bet is to get him checked thoroughly by your vet. At that time, your vet can tell you if there is cause for concern regarding skin conditions.

I wouldn't shave him at all (unless a health condition requires it, unlikely)...as you said, he might then resort to chewing at his skin. Try minimizing the stress in the environment, give him lots of love and attention, try to get things back to normal as soon as possible, and keep things as quiet for him as possible.

[melissaranks]

Well, we're back from the vet office. Things are good. D'Artagnan is healthy. He's just really stressed out. There is no sign of infection or anything like that. So, she prescribed Amitriptyline. He'll take it for a while to keep him mellow. When he's done with the drug, the hair pulling shouldn't happen again (since the house is already back to normal). He just needs some help right now to calm down. I'm glad it's not an infection. The vet told me it was good I brought him in because hair pulling can lead to expensive infections and the stress is really bad for them too. My sweet boy. Even though his name means bravery (part of the Musketeers), I basically have one big wimpy kitty.