My cat is excessively cleaning himself! Help...?

Question

Because my cat is excessively cleaning himself, he is losing his hair on certain parts of his back. Any suggestions to stop this?

Answer 1

It is NOT normal for anything to clean themselves to the point of losing hair.
He could possibly just have fleas.
He could have a skin allergy or something ON it which would cause a cat to lick or scratch the area to the point of losing fur.
He could also just have a compulsive personality about cleaning(Highly impossible though)
My advice it to take him to the vet since it has gotten to the point of losing hair. When any animal loses hair it becomes a serious problem that the owner should be concerned about(which you have).
The best thing would be to take him to the vet because they can do the most for him.
If you want, you can try bathing him with cat shampoo or a spritz that helps moisten skin and coat. There are things you can put on his food that contains ingredients that will help the health of his skin and hair. If none of these work, you should definitely take him to the vet. They can give him antibiotics and a shot to make the itching stop( histamine blockers most likely).
Good Luck!

Answer 2

It's not from cleaning. He must have an allergy or fleas. My cat has a flea allergy and even though we give him Frontline, he occasionally gets a flea on him and won't stop licking himself. He gives himself big, open sores which sometimes get infected. It's a big problem. Anyways, you should take him to the vet and have them give him a cortisone shot to stop the itchiness. You can't give him too many cortisone shots in his lifetime though because they can be dangerous if given frequently. If you don't mind spending some money, they can run allergy tests. Flea allergies are the most common so if he has fleas, the first thing to do would be to get rid of them. I recommend Frontline Plus. You could try putting that bitter tasting stuff they make on him to stop him but chances are, he'll lick it off anyways (mine did) and it isn't solving the problem. Like I tell everyone, only a vet that actually sees the pet can know what's going on. This site is just people offering advice based on their own experiences. Good luck.

Answer 3

My cat does this from allergies. We eliminated a lot of the suggestions here by taking her to the vet, and her belly is still bald! The strange thing is that my daughter has my cat's littermate and her cat does the exact same thing. I gave her coritsone for a while, but wasn't comfortable having her on it for long periods of time. It doesn't hurt her, so I've let it alone.

Answer 4

My cat used to clean his tummy so much that it was bald. His vet thought it was fleas or he was allergic to something, so you can try flea medication or giving him a bath or have you changed the cat litter or cat food or anything he's been around lately? Aslo it could just be nerves. I had another cat ( I have five cats lol) And she would bite her paw constantly until it was raw, and she's kinda crazy. She likes to hide under the bed a lot, she's kinda antisocial, so we tried putting this sour apple stuff on her paw so it would taste bad when she bit it. That works, but it's hard to keep them still to put it on them. Anyway, good luck!

Answer 5

Stienbabe is right ...My daughter's Cat had to be put on a anti depressent for a short time, and her over grooming stop very quickly... it is stress related.. My daughter's cat did not like the addition of a male cat in the house.

Answer 6

First, you need to check with your vet to rule out flea allergy, mange, ringworm and other conditions that could be affecting his skin. If he checks out ok, then the problem is behavioural and needs to be tackled by changing the underlying cause.

The cause of this kind of behaviour problem is stress. This can be caused by changes in the household, an unsuitable environment, or boredom. Once you have identified the cause, then you can take action to solve it.

Answer 7

When was the last time you gave your cat a bath? Try doing that, then brushing him daily. Get into a routine with grooming him, so he won't have to do it himself.

Answer 8

take it to a vet it could be a infection or a rash or dry skin
and then get another so he dose not need to lick him self because the other one will do it

Answer 9

If he's been diagnosed for fleas or anything close, use what the doc gave you after giving him a big bath.

Answer 10

i think its normal for him to do this, thus the world fur ball.....i would check for flees and things like that though because he may not be licking but bitting