I have a burning question that I'm hoping that someone in the blog-o-sphere can either answer or relate to ... This is the second year in a row that Sparky Fuzzypants has pulled all of the fur out on his belly and back inner thighs. The de-fuzzing started in May of 2005 and repeated in May of 2006. Mom would vacuum the carpet before going to bed and when we'd wake up in the morning, tufts of creamy white and caramel-colored fur would be littering the carpet. Since he's the only one with creamy white fur, all paws pointed to Sparky as the culprit.
Mom picked him over with a flea comb and then dosed all of us with Advantage. The V-E-T checked for signs of itchiness and found bupkes ... There's nothing organically wrong with Mr. Pants. Mom thought that he was sweaty, but I assured her that cats can't sweat as we have no sweat glands ...
What's up with Mr. Pants? Does he lose his mind each May? He's eight years old, why didn't he de-fuzz himself the first six years? Can sweaters be crocheted with the creamy white and caramel fur that he yanks out by the roots? I know that the boy's a little "off" by his room-temperature IQ and love of salad, but is he mental, too? Do cats sweat even though we have no biological means of secreting sweat?
My mind is boggled. A fresh perspective would be welcome. Are you a fur-yanker or do you live with one? Should Mom be looking into "lion cuts" when spring springs each year? Special shampoo? Belly toupee? Nads?
I don't get the allure of a freshly plucked belly. It's not like he needs a nice soft place for his chicks to hatch (or does he? That would explain the affinity for tweety feet, wouldn't it?).
Anyway, I thought that I'd throw that burning question out there even though San Diego is at "red flag" alert for fires this weekend. Put your thinking caps on "oh geniuses of the cat bloggin' world."
DaisyMae Maus, ponderer of bald bellies
6 comments:
My guess is he is alergic to something! Our dog cant get anywhere near anything with wool in it for the same reason....
I found some information on this website. It basically says that though cats could pull out their fur for behavioral reasons, it's more likely that the cats have fleas, mange, ringworm, allergies, immune mediated disease, or some bacterial infection.
It also stated that once you have ruled out those causes, you could revisit the behavioral diagnosis. There are medications which assist with that, and sometimes, it may be just something that you need to change in the cat's environment that will help it to stop.
I hope this helps, Daisy Mae!
The fact that it's seasonal suggests some sort of allergen, unless there's a particular change in your household around May. If there's a major change in the household (someone is a teacher or does major spring cleaning) it could be stress. It could also be that this is peak time for queens in season if there are a lot of unaltered female cats. While he's neutered, he shouldn't be affected, but he may have enough testosterone to be bothered and not sure why. You could try some rescue remedy in the water. There are some alternative health sites that might suggest where and when to find this. Otherwise, I'd keep checking with a feline vet who actually listened to the behavior and asks questions you haven't thought about or find a a naturopathic veterinarian.
My bruddy, Punkin, does something similar. He chews the furs off of his belly and inner thighs. He's been doin' this off and on for most of his 10 years. Also, he has congenital megacolon, a problem with lack of muscle tone in the large intestine (and should have been dead years ago). So, when it bothers him, he chews his belly. He also has allergies to nearly everything (I think even himself). The humans put bitterapple spray on him and this usually works. He also gets an abdominal exam every day (the mom squeezes and feels his belly to make sure that everything is working properly). And if he needs it, he takes propulsid (a human medicine compounded in liquid form and unflavored-allergic to beef, doesn't like chicken or tuna, very weird cat).
Thanks, Efurryone ...
It's likely that he's responding to stressors in May as that's a crazy month in our household. Mom says that she'll use the Rescue Remedy that our holistic medicine V-E-T suggested.
DaisyMae Maus
One of the cats who went before me licked all the belly fur off her. She didn't like the other cat here at that time, and got stressed out.
I arrived later, with the other cat already here. We didn't like each other either, but neither of us got stressed out. We just avoided each other.
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