Five reasons cats pull out their fur: allergies, parasites, skin infections, internal pain, and stress. The video walks through how to spot each cause and why you need a vet to figure out what's actually happening with your cat.
Have you noticed that your cat has a few bald spots and is pulling out its hair? This can be caused by different reasons and in this video we are going to see what could be causing this reaction and how we can treat it. The first thing we need to identify is whether our cat is grooming itself and as we all know, they are super clean creatures and groom themselves daily and at all times, or if we are experiencing moments of stress that can cause excessive licking. For example, if our cat is grooming itself, it may be that the dead hair it currently has on its skin, you see how it is licking and dragging that hair and it may even form a small bald spot which may be normal. But if we are seeing excessive licking and that bald spot is getting bigger and can spread all over its body, we are experiencing a situation that is no longer normal. Lets identify what these possible factors or reasons are for why our cat is licking itself a lot. One of the main reasons why our cat may pull out its hair is allergies. Allergies can come from eating food that doesn't agree with your cat's skin, or from household cleaning products that don't agree with your cat's skin, or even from chemicals in the environment that are impossible to treat. This is an allergy to something that causes the cat to itch very badly on its skin, which causes it to lick the area vigorously to relieve the itching, which will cause it to pull out its hair. Another major cause of your cat pulling out its hair is parasites such as fleas. Even if your cat doesn't have fleas. As such, if a flea bites it at any time, the bite can cause it to itch terribly. Therefore, your cat will want to relieve the itching by licking itself, which can also cause it to pull out its hair. Skin problems or infections caused by certain bacteria can also cause your cat to feel very itchy and uncomfortable leading to excessive licking of the area. This can even lead to Lopecia as the cat won't stop licking itself and continually pulling out its hair. One of the best known examples of skin problems is Bacterial infections are a very common problem that we all know about, which is dermatitis. Internal pain or discomfort can also cause your cat to want to relieve that area. For example, if it is experiencing a lot of pain in a joint or internal area, it will lick itself to relieve the sharp pain and feel calmer. That is why it is very important to identify where it may be licking itself so that you can go to the vet to see what may be happening. Finally, another reason why our cat may excessively lick itself and thus maintain compulsive behavior is stress or anxiety. As we know, cats are calm and have a daily routine, and if we make any changes to that routine, their behavior may change. Therefore, it is important to keep in mind that if we are moving house, if we have added a new family member to our family, or any circumstance that may alter that routine, it may cause our cat to feel stress and anxiety and it will not understand what is happening. This will cause it to understand that excessive licking will calm the situation, but it will cause alopecia and hair pulling. But be careful. This stress and anxiety can also be caused by our cat getting bored. It is very important to have an enriching environment at home. For example, it should have different litter boxes, easy access to its water and food, and also different toys that we change out so that our cat doesn't get bored and can thus prevent excessive licking and hair pulling. It is very important that you can identify the causes that may be causing your cat to pull out its hair due to any of these factors. Therefore, it is essential that you go to the vet so that you can explain what you think may be causing the hair pulling and they can prescribe the appropriate treatment. This problem, although we may think that it may happen every so often or never, is more common than we might think. Therefore, it is very important that you can identify the cause that may be causing the hair pulling and thus be able to prevent your cat from continuing to behave in this way, as it can lead to another another problem and greatly aggravate its health.
