Why is my senior cat pulling out his fur? Pain, anxiety, or other?

This can be a sign of a medical disease such as hyperthyroidism, which can be common in senior cats. I'd have Sweetie seen by a vet for this behavior. The vet can do a physical exam, geriatric blood panel, and urinalysis. I'd take him into a vet today if possible. Best of luck.

This is probably due to an allergy, although it could also be infection or mites or it could be stress related. First of all, in order to rule out skin parasites, you will need to treat with a high quality flea treatment (advocate or advantage), then ask the vet to perform a skin scrape - this might reveal an infection or a mite infestation. If all of those came back negative, the next step is to treat the allergy symptomatically and try to discover the cause of the allergy. Three main type of allergies are usually affecting pets: food allergies, flea and parasite related ones and environmental type (allergens coming from trees, pollens, dust etc etc). If allergy is not identified this behaviour could be purely stress related. Some medications can be given by the vet in order to repair the skin lesions (steroids and antibiotics). Please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further.

Hello, and thank you for your question. Fur pulling can be a behavioural response to stress, or it could be due to a medical problem such as itching from bacterial infection, ringworm, mites or fleas, or allergies. Contact with a male human is unlikely to be the cause. More common causes of stress would include any new human (male or female), new pets, change in environment, stressful noises, or stress due to pain. I would start by eliminating any potential stressors, if present. You can also try using a feline pheromone spray called Feliway, which can help to reduce stress in cats. If this does not help, I would recommend getting him seen by the vet. They can perform some skin tests such as a skin scraping, cytology, or fungal culture, to rule out a medical problem, and prescribe appropriate medical treatments if so. I hope this helps, and that your kitty feels better soon!

If you’ve ruled or fleas, it could be some other allergy, though over grooming is not uncommon as a behavioral issue. Here is an article I think you may find very helpful. https://www.mspca.org/angell_services/overgrooming-cats/ Thanks for asking PetCoach!

Thank you for contacting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach with your question about Cookie and for providing pictures, they are very helpful. She is beautiful. Yes, this is quite concerning. This can be a sign of a medical issue like hyperthyroidism, fleas, allergies, or severe stress. You should have her seen by a vet for this, and I recommend getting a geriatric blood panel and urinalysis done. Not only will that check for hyperthyroidism, but it will also check as to how her organs are functioning. I would see if you can take her into a vet tomorrow. I hope this helps!

This could be either one or both. Without seeing him in person, it’s hard for me to say for sure. Since the hairloss is new and since your are pregnant, I would have your vet check him out to see to make sure nothing else is going on. Your vet will be able to start him on some medicine to help his fur. Your vet can even start an anti-anxiety medicine if he isn’t improving. I hope this helps!

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! This is possibly due to allergies. It really comes down to figuring out what is causing his allergies so that they can be treated or the specific allergen avoided. A secondary infection is likely and also needs to be addressed. There are many things that can cause allergies though in most cases they can be broken down into 3 big categories: flea, food and environmental allergies. Allergies are usually worked up in a stepwise fashion starting with flea allergies as this is the easiest and cheapest to take care of. If not on a flea preventative, then it would be a good idea to get started on one. If already on one then it would be a good idea to change to something else (there are many new products out in the market). If not improved in 1-3 months then it is time to move on and check for food allergies by switching to a novel diet (new protein and new carbohydrate). If that does not seem to be the issue then you are left out having to check for environmental allergies which require blood and/or skin tests. Allergies can be very frustrating to deal with at first but so rewarding at the end when we are able to treat them effectively!