Please help, our cat wont stop biting and grooming himself raw.

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Mythery
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Please help, our cat wont stop biting and grooming himself raw.

Post by Mythery »

Hi sorry for the long incoming post, but im hoping someone here has experienced this before and there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Our cat Pepper is a year and a half old and was a normal healthy cat until last Septmber when he started over grooming and biting himself. This went on for a few months and the vet gave him anti-biotics as he had an infection. When we went back to vet for the 5-6th time the vet mentioned about any changes to his environment and it turns out it could be anxiety caused by a new tom cat in our neighbourhood since Pepper has been neutered, the vet said non neutered cats can smell the difference and be aggressive. This makes sense as pepper started rushing in through cat flap and there was a new cat.

Since we found out this December time we have started giving pepper Serene-Um calming tablets containg L-Tryptophan and cetirizine (reccomended by the vet) but no change. We have tried playing with him more, but still bites himself raw, bought new indoor play toys. Even with the vets cone of shame he rubs the cone against his skin and makes it red, and this isnt a long term solution.

Our last trip to the vet was tough as vet said not sure what causing, can do allergy testing but vet said often still difficult to pinpoint whats causing him to bite himself. We have also tried feliway and regular steroids from the vet for 2 months solid but no change. The vet said could refer to a dermatologist in a big city, but we just cant afford this at the moment having spend hundreds and hundreds already. Were currently resorting to a baby wet suit modified to fit which stops him biting to bleeding but still makes him red, have also tried letting him back outside but every time we do he bites himself to bleeding within a few hours then have to keep him inside again.

Like i said at start im sorry for the long post but were at our wits end here and not sure what to do to help our baby out. Has anyone experienced this? Are there any weird and wonderful herbal meds or techniques that have helped people?

Any suggestions would be welcome it breaks out hearts seeing him this way.

Yours greatfuly

Phil
LittlePenBigHeart
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Re: Please help, our cat wont stop biting and grooming himself raw.

Post by LittlePenBigHeart »

You've looked at behavioural problems so the next thing to look at IS dermatological issues but rather than spend a fortune going to a dermatologist, the best step is to look first at the diet. An incredibly high number of skin problems in pets are caused by poor diet. It's completely understandable; you see an ad for pet food on the TV, they tell you how wonderful it is, how healthy it will make the cat, etc, and you go buy it. But in reality, pretty much every pet food you can buy in supermarkets is complete and utter rubbish. I'm sorry, but it is.

Cats are carnivores so their diets should be very high in meat, but the majority of pet foods have as little as 4% meat or animal DERIVATIVES. That means not that there's 4% meat, but that just 4% of the food is made using things taken from that meat. BIG difference. Such foods are also horribly high in processed fats, sugars and cereals. Natural fats are fine but cats shouldn't have either sugars or cereals in their food. It doesn't belong.

If you're in the UK, I can't make any direct recommendations for alternatives but you should be able to find something with some Google searching. If you're in the UK there are stores, such as Pets Corner, who sell foods like Canagan, which is 60-65% ACTUAL meat, rather than rubbish derived from it. They're also grain free, and as grains in food are often a trigger for skin problems, it's a good food to aim at. It's more expensive than 'normal' foods but your cat is more likely to live a longer, healthier life without all the rubbish they put in supermarket cat food, and it'll still be cheaper than hiring a dermatologist! However (and this is REALLY important), if your cat has been on a low meat diet you shouldn't jump straight up to something like Canagan. The meat content will be too high and it'll likely go straight through him. Not pretty! I'd recommend a stop-gap food that has fewer grains and a mid-level meat content, like Symply (free from wheat and wheat gluten, so far less likely to cause skin irritation, and still 23%-26% meat) or More (around 40% meat and, very low on grains again). But you must never switch foods immediately - change the food gradually, a quarter at a time, over a few weeks, so they have time to adjust to it and see how he gets on.

Hopefully, once you've had him on a lower-cereal, higher-meat food for a while, the skin problems will start to die down. Just, for heaven's sakes, please don't fall into the trap of thinking a prescription diet like Hills, Science Plan or Royal Canin is the answer. They're very low in meat and very high in things that can make the problem worse. They're also ridiculously expensive for what they have in them.
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Ruth B
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Re: Please help, our cat wont stop biting and grooming himself raw.

Post by Ruth B »

Poor Pepper it sounds like he is having a rough time at the moment.

Like Littlepenbigheart says it does sound like either behavioural or dermatological in nature, or possibly both if it started as a skin condition and then developed into a bad habit.

Looking at the behavioural aspect first, you mention that there is a new cat in the area, possibly unneutered. Have you seen any interaction between Pepper and this cat, and if so how do the two react. Is Pepper allowed out and if so does he have a Cat flap, is there any chance that the new cat is actually coming into the house when you aren't around. Even if the other cat is neutered if it is coming into the house then Peppers safe den area is being invaded and he has no where he can feel safe. Does Pepper have a litter tray or does he have to go outside (and brave the other cat) to do his business. Could you keep Pepper inside for a while and see if that helps, boarding up any cat flap is fairly extreme but does make it look to Pepper that the weakness in the defences has gone. Sorry for all the questions and I know you have spoken to your vet about this other cat, but from what you said I wasn't sure if the vet had made any recommendations that might help, or even suggested you consult a behaviour specialist.

Going on to the possibility of a skin problem, has the vet tried any antihistamines for Pepper, if it is an allergy they might be able to calm it down and give him time to recover. At least you would know whether it was an allergy and could then move on to working out what he is allergic to, unfortunately the list is very long. In the meantime it might be worth having a think of anything that changed just before the problem started. This could include any cleaning products used around the house, any change in washing powder or capsules or fabric conditioner, even any soaps you use, any thing he comes in contact with could cause an allergy. As has been mentioned his food could play a part. I would suggest looking at the actual Protein levels in the food offered (look for between 12 - 15% for wet food) rather than the meat levels, and if possible try and avoid anything with cereal, particularly wheat in it, rice doesn't seem to be quite so much of a problem, but cats aren't meant to eat cereal it is just used as a bulking agent. If you are in the UK the Felix As Good as it Looks is normally reconned to be one of the better supermarket brands, if you opt for some of the more expensive options that have a very high meat content you do need to check that they are 'complete', many of them don't have enough of the trace minerals and vitamins that a cat needs, a cat doesn't only need meat they need all the other animal parts as well, skin, bones, gristle etc. It does mean that trying to decipher the cat food labels can be a bit of a nightmare.

Hopefully this has given some pointers of where to look for poor Pepper's problem and if you can identify the problem you are halfway to solving it.
Mythery
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Re: Please help, our cat wont stop biting and grooming himself raw.

Post by Mythery »

Thank you so much for the replys. I will try to answer your questions as much as i can and let you know about wht i have found out so far as well.
-Pepper is on Royal Canine hypoallergenic food
-He takes refular cetirizine(antihistmine) reccomended by the vet
-He has a cat flap with microchip so only he can come in other cats cant and he can come and go as he pleases, recently when he was biting himself we have kept him in and blocked the cat flap as soon as he goes out he bites. We have sporadicly let him back out once he has healed after biting (he still contiues to bite indoors as well but we have a baby wetsuit modified to help his skin heal) but usually within a few hours he is raw again and sometimes bleeding from grooming and biting.
-We have tried to get toys and jungle gym's for him to play on so he has things to do
-Someone suggested on another forum Pepper may have feline hyperaesthesia, now when i looked this up online and vidoes on youtube Pepper has these exact symptoms, skin rippling, can go from sleep to manic biting itching tail swishing within a second and this is when he bites and gnaws at his skin, he also bites the areas usually prone within this condition. It seems at this point this may be what is wrong as it can be caused by stress or pain and he was stressed by the tom cat which was when his symptoms started.

What do you reckon could this be whats affecting my baby?

Thanks again

Phil
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Ruth B
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Re: Please help, our cat wont stop biting and grooming himself raw.

Post by Ruth B »

To me it certainly sounds like the problem is outside, either the other cat or he is allergic to something out there. My best advise to start with would be to keep him in for a while so his skin can heal up, the continue to keep him in and have supervised spells where he can be played with and fussed with out his protective coat, if he starts over grooming and biting then try and distract him, but be carefull as far as the grooming goes, after having his coat on it is natural for him to want to sort his fur out, you need to make sure it is normal grooming he is doing not over grooming. It could be that it partly is a bad habit he has developed and as anyone who has a habit will tell you they are very hard to break. If by keeping him in and working with him to control his behaviour you can stop him hurting himself then I would suggest starting to let him out again, but only supervised, if he reverts to his bad form then it will be back to stage one and having to break him out of it again, but at least you will know the problem is outside and can look at tackling that when Pepper is at least healthy.

Unfortunately I don't know anything about Hyperaesthesia so I can't really comment on that, but if the symptoms fit it might be a good contender and something to discuss with your vet.
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