[Harrison]

Hi everybody, I'm new here. I'm just curious whether anybody else has experienced this kind of problem:

Our cat Harrison (single/6yrs/apartment cat) sometimes loses little tufts of his fur. I think he actually rips them out, since his fur is sometimes wet when I pat him. He used to do this mostly during summertime, but now he's been doing it over the past few weeks. He actually has a dimesize bald patch that's almost bald on his flank!

We went to the vet with him last summer (an experience I'd rather not so soon repeat - he (the cat) went absolutely nuts), who said it might be an allergy and gave him an antibiotics shot. Didn't help a thing, though. The skin looks fine, no eczema or reddening.

Now my question - is it possible he does this out of pure boredom? I work from home, so he's hardly ever alone. I play with him a lot, too. Oh, that leads to a second question: He loves playing with balls made out of aluminum foil. Races all over the place and brings them back to me, too Sometimes he chews on them a little, though. Can that be dangerous for him?

So, I'd be curious about any similar experiences. Thanks in advance!

 

[Max&Ben]

My cat Ben literally licked his entire backside clean of fur due to an allergic reaction to scented kitty litter. I am still not 100% sure but it seemed to be the only thing that had changed in his environment. It took almost a full year to regrow his "pantaloons" back. He is a very fluffy cat by nature and it sure looked funny with his back haunches all bald. I still find the odd tuft of Ben's fur but nothing serious. I try to remain constant with the brands of cat food and litter I use.

I know how frustrating it is to watch your cat lose his fur. Be glad he has no skin irritation because Ben was covered in little measles like scabs. At first I thought it was some type of parasite but the vet took an ultra-violet light to his fur and found nothing plus Max had been unaffected. We even did a skin biopsy on Ben....Nothing!

As for the tinfoil, as long as he's not eating clumps of it he will be fine.

 

[Harrison]

Thanks for your reply! And thanks for the tip about the scented cat litter. I've never liked that scented stuff anyway, so we're going to change that. Fortunately, Harrison's been better the past week. I guess he overheard us mentioning the "VET"...