Cat not acting right

My cat is 3 years old and admittedly overweight. Lately, she has been tearing at her fur and has patches where her skin is showing. She has been staying exclusively under the cabinet in the kitchen after my roommate made it where she couldn't get behind the TV (which was out in the open, not an enclosed area). She eats very good but stays underneath the cabinet all the time except to eat. She is given a portion of canned food-usually 9 lives-and there is dry food and water all the time. The water is from a dish which filters the water with a small pump and they are given bottled water since the water here is not the greatest. There are two cat boxes in the house which are cleaned twice per day. What could be her problem-is her skin dry and what should I do to stop that-will a little vegtable oil in her wet food help? She can see what is going on under the cabinet, but just won't come out anymore and she was always around getting into trouble! Could she have worms? All the animals including the rabbit are exclusively indoor animals and never go outside. Any ideas? If so, please contact my e-mail at wildechild05@comcast.net Thank you!!

She sounds very stressed - both the skin showing (meaning she may have chewed it enough till it came off) and the hiding COULD be indicators of stress. Maybe something happened to traumatize her? I think the best course of action is to take her to the vet to rule out any physicial ailment - and stressd cats can get sick more easily (and cats are easily stressed to start with - a new study has demonstrated how much stress affects cats).

I usually loathe anectodes to demonstrate something but my neighbour's cat had what appeared to be patches of fur missing and her vet (same I have actually) told her it was likely stress. It turned out her brother (from same litter - both are now teenage kitties but were adopted from same breeder at same time) was "attacking" her when they were away and just bening nasty to her - he always the alpha cat. They got her some Rescue Remedy and gave her some safe places and she is fine now.

I am not saying that is the cure here - only you in consultation with your vet can figure it out. have there been recent changes in your life? New people visiting? It can sometimes take the smallest thing to stress a cat - things that may seem minor to us.

Good luck!