Community Chat

[hckynut]

I left a long reply about our well over 30+ years of being multiple feline owners, all indoor only. Haven't a clue what happened to it or why it was removed. Surely I did not break and Community Standards by telling our experiences with this issue.

I plan on sending an e-mail once again asking why my reply was removed. Don't get it and will see if I can get an answer to this question.

E.T.A. Just sent an e-mail and will see if I get a reply, and if so, the reason it was removed.

[Jeremiah 2911]

Your cat may have been bothered by something and pulled some of his fur out. Sometimes this can morph from a one-time problem into becoming a habit --which then becomes a behavioral problem.

One of the most common reasons for cats to pull their fur out is an adverse reaction to internal or external flea treatments.

Food allergies can also cause a cat to pull their fur out. Food allergies are very difficult to pinpoint. A recent change in diet can cause problems too.

Fleas can bite just once causing flea dermatitis and cats will pull their fur out around that area. Once the bite heals up, cats can sometimes get into the habit of pulling their fur out.

Or your cat may just be in the habit of pulling his fur out because of some type of stressor.

If the case is that your cat is in the habit of pulling his fur out, you need to re-train your cat not to pull out his fur. Can be challenging, but is doable.

I would suggest that you buy a wrap-around cat harness or a Thundershirt that will cover most of the cat's body. This will immediately prevent him from pulling his fur out.

If it's the back or the tail where he is pulling out his fur, there is also a product called SELF-STICK WIDE BANDAGE WRAP that you can wrap around the cat's body which will also stop the cat from pulling his fur out. Make sure that you don't wrap it too tightly.

I suggest that you supervise your cat closely while he is wearing either the harness or Thundershirt and/or if you decide to use self-stick bandage wrap on your cat.

Next, look into changing the type of litter you are using. Choose a litter that is non-scented. Gradually add a cup or two daily of the new brand of litter to the old brand of litter so that the cat doesn't notice the change. Eventually, swap out the entire old litter and use the new litter exclusively.

Buy a Feliway plug in diffuser and plug it in where your cat hangs out. Feliway is a synthetic cat pheromone that calms anxiety in cats. Feliway takes a few days to work so don't give up on it if you don't see results right away.

Prednisone will help temporarily. But you still may need to interfere with the cats HABIT of pulling the fur out so you may still need to immediately prevent the cat from accessing the area's of his body where he is prone to pull fur out.

Increase the cats play time. Buy him a TURBO SCRATCHER ($12 Walmart) so he can play independently. Flick a feather at him so he jumps up and down. Increased playtime will get his mind off of pulling his fur out.

I've read that some people who had cats that pulled their fur out -- rubbed orange zest in their hands and applied some of it to the cats coat where he was biting at himself. The cat didn't like the taste of the orange zest and stopped grooming himself (temporarily.) By the time the orange zest wore off, the cat had forgotten about pulling his fur out. (I can't recommend this remedy as I've never tried it on any of my own cats so I don't know if this would be successful. I'd also be concerned about the orange zest getting into the eyes of the cat.)

Hope these suggestions are helpful.

[colliemom4]

The only bad thing about the allergy shots is that they don't always work. I'm sorry you are having this problem and wish you good luck for your cat. I do know how difficult it is to see a pet suffer and try many things and not be able to get answers. I've had to go to 3 vets before until I finally received answers about some health issues concerning one of my pets. I would definitely post on the pet forum because there are some very helpful kind people over there.

[Clover29]

John, did you see your reply actually posted, or did you just type it, hit submit and assume it posted? I've done that many times and wondered what happened to my post, when what actually happened was that I got a red notice under my unposted post saying there were words that aren't allowed (f-luff, u-rine, that sort of thing).

[kittymomNC]

On 9/17/2014 Clover29 said:

John, did you see your reply actually posted, or did you just type it, hit submit and assume it posted? I've done that many times and wondered what happened to my post, when what actually happened was that I got a red notice under my unposted post saying there were words that aren't allowed (f-luff, u-rine, that sort of thing).

It does get confusing when derivatives of certain words are not allowed, using one of your examples: I think that one of these is allowed but the other is not - u*rina*te or uri*nat*ion -- I tried to post on a thread about kidney disease in cats and had to go through a whole article adding asterisks to one of those words (don't remember which one). It really makes it difficult sometimes.

[happygolfcartrider]

On 9/17/2014 kittymomNC said:

On 9/17/2014 golfcartrider said:

On 9/17/2014 Matty6 said:

Please come to our Pet Chat forum.... I think he either has a allergy problem or he is just bored. Buy him some new kitty toys.

What category is the pet chat forum under?

It's Pet Lovers Forum under "For the Home". I'm sorry your cat is having this problem. I have no suggestions, but there is a thread called "Schmoo, kitty fighter" where the OP, Sammycat1, is sort of considered a "resident expert" on cat care.

There is also a website you could try - it's the site of a renowned cat behavioral expert. http://www.catbehaviorassociates.com/

I hope this helps - I'm a cat lover as you can tell from my nic, and I hate to see any of them having problems.

You might want to repost this on the Pet Lovers Forum - there are many wonderful people who know a lot about cats.

Thank You for this info I will definitely go to the Pet forum and the Website.

I took him to the Dr. today. Had blood work done to check his thyroid and other things, get the results tomorrow. He got a shot of antibiotics and is now on Prednesolone. I hope it works, I feel so bad for him.

While at the Vets office a couple came in and was having their cat put to sleep, I cried with them even thought I did not know them. It hurts so much to lose one of our four legged children.

[happygolfcartrider]

On 9/17/2014 chrystaltree said:

I assume you meant to say pulling out his fur. My sister's 8 year old cat was doing that, it was very distressing. He's an indoor cat and has no exposure to other animals. In his case, it was not an allergy, it was behavioral. We knew it wasn't an allergy because nothing in his environment changed, no new meds or foods, no new chemicals in the house, no new fabrics. It just started. He got a clean bill of health from his vet who suggested a crew cut and distraction. After his haircut, there wasn't enough hair left for him to get his teeth on. Not that he didn't try. When he did my sister distracted him with toys, treats, clapping her hands. The thing that worked best was spritzing him with water from a spray bottle. He hates that and he'd get very angry with her when she did it. But he stopped trying to rip out his fur. His fur grew back. He's not 100% cured, she's says he's about 90% cured. She keeps water bottles around so she can "spritz" him when needed.

My baby was an indoor/outdoor cat for 8 years, we moved and because of traffic he is indoor only. He was fine for a year and then the problem started. I thought it could be carpet since we had all wood floors before the move so I had wood put down in the L.R. and Linoleum in the kitchen, I still have carpet in the B.R's though. I put a calming collar on him and nothing. Before this he would play with his toys, jumping and running, now all he does us stay under the bed. He has a couch and a bed to lay on in front of window's to watch his birds.

I will have the expensive blood test done if the pills don't stop the problem in two weeks. At least I will know if it is an allergy or not.

[Pook]

It sure sounds like a stress/anxiety issue and it still could be from the move. A lot of animals get stressed out by simple things that we wouldn't suspect.

[happygolfcartrider]

Thank You all for your replies, I have moved this thread to the Pet Forum

[hckynut]

On 9/17/2014 Clover29 said:

John, did you see your reply actually posted, or did you just type it, hit submit and assume it posted? I've done that many times and wondered what happened to my post, when what actually happened was that I got a red notice under my unposted post saying there were words that aren't allowed (f-luff, u-rine, that sort of thing).

Hi Clover29,

I actually saw it posted and that is what I put in the e-mail I sent to QVC. I've had times like you mention where you have to look down at the bottom of the page and it shows words and/or letters that are not accepted, When I hit "submit" it took me right to the post I had just typed. Before I signed off a bit later I returned to see if anyone had added another reply to this thread. At that time mine was still there.

Will see if they know anything about it, assuming they reply to my e-mail. I am optimistic because they were very nice the last time I had a thread I started deleted, the whole thread, and they told me they had no idea why it was taken down. They also put the whole thread back up which I thought was nice of them.