Tamfana Posted March 28, 2019 Share Posted March 28, 2019 This is the weirdest thing. My cat has started tearing out her fur since my mom moved in with me 5 week ago. Her cat did that but my cat (10 years old) never did it before. This might be relevant- My dog avoids my mom and both my cat and dog stay closer to me since she moved in than they used to. My mom has a separate suite in the house so she doesn’t hang out in the living room but even when she's back in her part of the house, both pets sit on the sofa right next to me every night now. They never did that before either. Can you think of anything I can do about this? My cat’s fur on her shoulders is getting very thin and my mom isn't moving out. Link to post Share on other sites
vla1120 Posted March 28, 2019 Share Posted March 28, 2019 I don't really know what to say. Years ago, I had a cat that over-groomed and ended up with some bald spots. We took him to the vet and found that he was allergic to something (and stopped using the flea and tick powder we were using.) It sounds more like your animals are afraid of your mom? Did you have pets growing up? I can tell you this much. About a year ago, when my daughter moved back here with her small dog, he hated me. He would growl and bark at me and didn't let me touch him. I must have reminded him of someone because he did not have that reaction to anyone but me. After a few months, he warmed up to me. I expedited the process by always having snacks in my pocket when I went to visit. Now, they live with me and he sleeps with me in my room and never leaves my side. Maybe just encourage your mom to have some quality time with them. Link to post Share on other sites
amaysngrace Posted March 28, 2019 Share Posted March 28, 2019 Animals are allergic to her? Karmic universe. Link to post Share on other sites
preraph Posted March 28, 2019 Share Posted March 28, 2019 Sounds like they find her stressful. That's usually a stress reaction. But you should definitely have the vet check your cat in case it's something else, like mange or some other thing. 2 Link to post Share on other sites
CautiouslyOptimistic Posted March 28, 2019 Share Posted March 28, 2019 Could be stress, but also could be a medical condition like eosinophilic plaque lesions. Last year both of my cats came down with this...first one, then the other. The first got better quickly with one round of antibiotics and steroids. The other one took months to heal, with multiple trips back to the vet for the "debriding" of the rough scaly skin she developed. (The vet and techs had never seen anything like how hers presented). It is usually caused by an unknown allergen, but for my two cats it appeared to be something contagious since they both got it. And they got it on their right shoulders, which was also very odd. My first cat had licked herself raw on the inside of her front arm, but the second cat didn't seem bothered by it even though she got it much worse/took longer to heal. https://www.vet.cornell.edu/departments-centers-and-institutes/cornell-feline-health-center/health-information/feline-health-topics/eosinophilic-granuloma-complex 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Author Tamfana Posted March 28, 2019 Author Share Posted March 28, 2019 I don't really know what to say. Years ago, I had a cat that over-groomed and ended up with some bald spots. We took him to the vet and found that he was allergic to something (and stopped using the flea and tick powder we were using.) It sounds more like your animals are afraid of your mom? Did you have pets growing up? I can tell you this much. About a year ago, when my daughter moved back here with her small dog, he hated me. He would growl and bark at me and didn't let me touch him. I must have reminded him of someone because he did not have that reaction to anyone but me. After a few months, he warmed up to me. I expedited the process by always having snacks in my pocket when I went to visit. Now, they live with me and he sleeps with me in my room and never leaves my side. Maybe just encourage your mom to have some quality time with them. Maybe they are afraid of her. My mom doesn't like the dog, or dogs in general, but she likes cats. Treats are a great idea. It's great it worked for you. Sweet. Thanks! Link to post Share on other sites
Author Tamfana Posted March 28, 2019 Author Share Posted March 28, 2019 Animals are allergic to her? Karmic universe. (That's possible.) Link to post Share on other sites
Author Tamfana Posted March 28, 2019 Author Share Posted March 28, 2019 Sounds like they find her stressful. That's usually a stress reaction. But you should definitely have the vet check your cat in case it's something else, like mange or some other thing. Yeah, I'd better take her in. I hope my mom isn't stressing her, the cat. I hope that is it is stress that it's just stress from the change. Link to post Share on other sites
bathtub-row Posted March 28, 2019 Share Posted March 28, 2019 Is your mother ever alone with your pets? If so, she may be abusing them. Get a hidden security camera and see what’s going on. Something is deeply upsetting your pets. 2 Link to post Share on other sites
Author Tamfana Posted March 28, 2019 Author Share Posted March 28, 2019 Could be stress, but also could be a medical condition like eosinophilic plaque lesions. Last year both of my cats came down with this...first one, then the other. The first got better quickly with one round of antibiotics and steroids. The other one took months to heal, with multiple trips back to the vet for the "debriding" of the rough scaly skin she developed. (The vet and techs had never seen anything like how hers presented). It is usually caused by an unknown allergen, but for my two cats it appeared to be something contagious since they both got it. And they got it on their right shoulders, which was also very odd. My first cat had licked herself raw on the inside of her front arm, but the second cat didn't seem bothered by it even though she got it much worse/took longer to heal. https://www.vet.cornell.edu/departments-centers-and-institutes/cornell-feline-health-center/health-information/feline-health-topics/eosinophilic-granuloma-complex Yeah, I'll take her to the vet. That sounds terrible! I'm so glad your kitties both healed. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
LuckyM Posted March 29, 2019 Share Posted March 29, 2019 You could try this question on a cat forum, if you haven't already. It sounds serious and I am a cat owner. Is it possible the situation is a coincidence and something else is wrong with the cat? Link to post Share on other sites
Author Tamfana Posted March 29, 2019 Author Share Posted March 29, 2019 You could try this question on a cat forum, if you haven't already. It sounds serious and I am a cat owner. Is it possible the situation is a coincidence and something else is wrong with the cat? Yes, thank you. I scurried off the vet today and we'll see what the blood work says. This cat is made of steel, usually. When she we got her she was starved and they said she probably wouldn't make it six weeks. She's tiny, probably from the starvation, but we're in her 11th year now and she's never had a medical problem. She's amazing. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
major_merrick Posted March 29, 2019 Share Posted March 29, 2019 Try a cat forum. One thought I have, though: Is your cat preferential to men or women? Has she ever reacted badly to other people, even in a different way? My husband has an older cat...she absolutely hates new women. That animal is jealous like a girlfriend. She accepts men automatically, and women who speak Spanish. If you're female and don't speak Spanish, kitty will give you hell for 2-3 weeks. She doesn't pull her own fur out, though. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
CautiouslyOptimistic Posted March 29, 2019 Share Posted March 29, 2019 I'm wondering if kitty might have an allergy to something Mom moved into the house. Link to post Share on other sites
Author Tamfana Posted March 30, 2019 Author Share Posted March 30, 2019 Try a cat forum. One thought I have, though: Is your cat preferential to men or women? Has she ever reacted badly to other people, even in a different way? My husband has an older cat...she absolutely hates new women. That animal is jealous like a girlfriend. She accepts men automatically, and women who speak Spanish. If you're female and don't speak Spanish, kitty will give you hell for 2-3 weeks. She doesn't pull her own fur out, though. No, she likes both men and women. She's never reacted badly to people except my mom. And now that I say that I realize she's always reacted badly to my mom. How could I forget that? No animals like my mom, actually. Hm. Link to post Share on other sites
Author Tamfana Posted March 30, 2019 Author Share Posted March 30, 2019 I'm wondering if kitty might have an allergy to something Mom moved into the house. That's a very good possibility. She brought boxes of toxic cleaners. They're in the garage but it might still be that, whichever ones she's using. Link to post Share on other sites
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