She's biting her tail fur off

2897 Views 5 Replies 3 Participants Last post by Prissy, May 10, 2012

Prissy

Discussion Starter · May 9, 2012

Hi, I had to leave the country due to a 3 weeks vacation so I left my cat (a Persian) with my mom at her house which has 3 Yorkies, but the cat and dogs were separated in different rooms.

Now I am back from my vacation and I've found that she ate part of her tail fur. I did some researches and found out that she might've been scare, unsecured, or maybe misses the owner. I thought she would stop biting on her tail since I am back now, but she's still doing the same thing, maybe it has became a habit? How do you stop her biting on her tail so her fur will grow back? Thanks!

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laurief

· #2 · May 9, 2012

Sounds like either she was stressed while you were gone and started overgrooming as a result, or she picked up fleas at your mom's house. If I were you, I'd pick up some Advantage or Frontline from your vet (do NOT use retail store flea products. Too many of them are highly toxic). If that doesn't do the trick, then speak with your vet about the problem. You may need to put an e-collar on your girl for a while so that she can't reach her tail and will, hopefully, break the habit.

Laurie

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Prissy

Discussion Starter · #3 · May 9, 2012

laurief said:
Sounds like either she was stressed while you were gone and started overgrooming as a result, or she picked up fleas at your mom's house. If I were you, I'd pick up some Advantage or Frontline from your vet (do NOT use retail store flea products. Too many of them are highly toxic). If that doesn't do the trick, then speak with your vet about the problem. You may need to put an e-collar on your girl for a while so that she can't reach her tail and will, hopefully, break the habit.

Laurie

I really doubt she has any fleas, shes not really scratching herself and I just fixed her fur today. I'll put on her e-collar for now and give it a watch... Thanks.

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laurief

· #4 · May 9, 2012

If a cat has a flea allergy, a single flea bite can cause enough irritation to trigger overgrooming and hair pulling. In that case, you may never actually see a flea on your cat, but that doesn't mean that a flea didn't cause the problem.

If the problem persists, and if it is stress-related, your vet may recommend an anti-anxiety drug for a while until your girl settles back into her normal behavior patterns at home.

Laurie

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Penny135

· #5 · May 9, 2012

Sounds to me like nervousness over the whole situation. I had a cat once that over groomed when we moved. She had a few patches of hair gone because of it. When the vet put her on prozac it stopped. After a couple months we took her off of it and she never did it again.

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Prissy

Discussion Starter · #6 · May 10, 2012

Thank you

I will take her to the Vet if the problem still exists

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