>>Food algeries and fleas/ticks have been ruled out. I'm not sure what triggered it, but I think he continues now just out of habit. He can be a little sensitive, and demands a lot of attention when I'm home. I've been trying lately to give him attention and play with him a lot in case he has been bored. He was an outdoor cat the first two years of his life, for the last year he has been an indoor cat only. He seems to have adjusted, but I know he would love to be let out. (Not going to happen while I live where I do.) My sister once had a cat that overgroomed, and the only way they got him to stop was to use one of those funnel collars. I know my cat would hate it, but maybe it would work.
>>Thanks for the advice.

Can you let us know how food allergies were ruled out? Perhaps your cat has an intolerance, but not necessarily an allergy, to some ingredient in his food.
Also, have other allergies been ruled out? Are you using any new products in the home? Carpet cleaner? Laundry detergeant? Cleaning products?
You may very well be right in your guess that whatever triggered the overgrooming is no longer a problem, but his overgrooming has become habit. In fact, this is typically how obsessive-compulsive disorder starts. If this is the case, using a "funnel" could be helpful. (They're called Elizabethan collars or E-collars for short.) If he's not able to overgroom, he will start finding alternative behaviors that are incompatible with grooming. Cats do hate wearing these at first. However, they get used to them in a few days. Some are quicker than others. If you decide to go this route, watch your cat carefully for the first few days. Sometimes they get themselves sort of stuck while they're adjusting. They learn to adapt fairly quickly though. Similarly, anti-anxiety medication is helpful to some cats in a similar situation.
Keep in mind that all the behavior modification or veterinary treatment in the world isn't going to fix this permanently if your cat is having a reaction to something he's eating or in his environment. If behavioral methods don't work, you're going to have to play detective and keep searching until you find the culprit. Sometimes this can be harder than it sounds. I once had a cat who had a bad reaction to his food. Yet I hadn't changed his food. It took a while for me to figure this out, but the cat food company changed the formula of his food. Although I hadn't switched brands or flavors, I had unknowingly started feeding my cat a different food. It can be frustrating.
Please let us know which route you take and how it works for you. I hope that by the time you read this post, the problem has already been resolved and your cat is back to his non-scratchy self.




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PHCurious
Cat Chat Host

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