new kitty

[cathiw]

Hi, it's me again. I just recently adopted a 6 year old cat (Monty) and I have another question. I have always noticed that there were lots of clumps of hair around the area that Monty slept. At first I thought it was just excessive shedding but was suspicious. Today I witnessed him licking at the base of his tail and then he just pulled out a chuck of hair. He was just recently at the vet's for a thorough checkup (had bloodwork and urinalysis etc.) because he was urinating outside his box (on the carpet). They found crystals and he's on a special diet. I read that the pulling out of hair on the base of the tail might indicate a flea allergy but I would think my vet would have noticed a flea problem. Monty did pull out hair before I brought him to the vet's so I don't think he got the fleas there. I didn't mention it to the vet because I didn't know he was pulling it out. I heard this could be stress related as well? Someone suggested to me that maybe he was abused and has resulting nerve damage in this hind and tail area causing him to pull the hair out. I need advice on what might be the cause of this and what steps I should take now. Monty currently resides in my bathroom where we are trying to make his life stress free and refresh his litter box skills. Any suggestions are appreciated.

[Traci]

It could also be the result of pain too, so get that ruled out ASAP. Any time a male cat is diagnosed with crystals in the urine/bladder, you need to be prepared that an obstruction could occur at any time, especially if the current treatment and dietary approach is not working at this point.

What is his urine output? Normal, or does he strain and only produce drops at a time? If the latter, get him rechecked by your vet ASAP. Have you noticed any evidence of blood? If so, again, to vet ASAP.

Otherwise, this could be a food allergy or flea allergy dermatitis. Your vet can re-check for indications of fleas or mites (are kitty's ears clean?). The stress of the situation is probably adding to the problem as well, confinement is not the ideal situation to an already stressed kitty.

In a nutshell, get him rechecked....plus a recheck on the urinalysis for evidence of new or increased crystal formation, rule out fleas or mites, and discuss the diet you're feeding him with your vet.

[melissaranks]

You are right, hair pulling CAN be stress related. My poor D'Artagnan is a hair puller. I took him in right away and had a battery of tests run. NOTHING came up funny. All was normal. He STILL pulled his hair. The doctor deduced it was stress related because it all started when we remodeled the bathroom. But, as the pp said, I would definately get your boy back to the vet for another check, he could have a blockage.

[cathiw]

He is not blocked because he is using his box for urinating 100% of the time since he has been in our bathroom and is going well. He is on prescription diet food from the vet. His appetite is fine and he is drinking normally. I was told that he needed to be confined in a stressless environment (he just moved in with us 2 weeks ago), away from our other cat until he can get used to our house little by little.

[Traci]

I remember the other post, but wanted to focus on the tail aggrivation...for this reason, the stress of confinement could be adding to the problem. Not that you can do anything about the confinement at the moment, just need to rule out other possible causes to the tail problem.

I'm assuming your vet has scheduled a recheck urinalysis anyway, right? This is usually done whenever crystals are diagnosed, and after an initial course of antibiotics if there is an accompanying infection. If he hasn't scheduled this with you, I would call him tomorrow and talk to him about it.

The cause of the tail problem could be just about anything. With the present FLUTD, you just want to rule out pain as a potential cause, and then focus on the other rule-outs, as mentioned above.