Cat is Plucking Out His Fur
 

My 12 year-old cat, Timmy, started plucking out his fur in April. He has created stripes on each side of his spine, plucked the hair off his thighs and on the lower part of his belly. Once he has pulled the hair out of one spot, he never returns to it, and allows the new hair to start growing back in. He always plucks the fur from a new spot. He has seen two different vets several times since he started this behavior 4 months ago. We have ruled out fleas, allergies, and mites. Prednisone and then a steroid shot did not work. He was put on Buspirone, an anti-anxiety medication in May, and the fur plucking reduced somewhat. We also tried Chlorpheniramine, an anti-histamine, and quite a bit more of the fur plucking stopped, but we are wondering if it might be because of a sedative effect, and if the Buspirone was really starting to kick in. The vet recommended this past week that Timmy stop taking the Chlorpheniramine for a few days and see what happens, because he suspects he has obsessive compulsive disorder. So far, he seems much more alert without the Chlorpheniramine , but he is also pulling out his hair a bit more. He does not scratch or chew at his skin at all and his diet consists of Wellness grain-free canned food and Science Diet Hairball Light Dry Food. Timmy also takes Aminophylline for asthma. There is one other cat in the household, a litter mate, who was sick for about six months this past fall and winter with hyperthyroidism, and inflammatory bowel disease. The other cat is doing extremely well now, but tends to boss Timmy around. I really want to do whatever I can to help Timmy stop pulling out his fur. Has anyone had any experience with a situation like this one? Any suggestions as to what we can do next?

Do you recall anything at all that changed in his life 4 months ago? Maybe even something you feel is minor, such as a renovation? change of furniture? New neighbourhood cat outside? Has your other cat changed at all?

I would immediately ditch the SD food :yuck:, In my opinion it is a crap food and no cat should be eating it. To me, it is worse than feeding your child hotdogs for every meal :yuck::yuck: You just never know what process foods will affect.

[url]http://www.hillspet.com/products/sd-feline-adult-hairball-control-light-dry.html[/url]

[COLOR="Red"]Ingredients
Chicken By-Product Meal, Brewers Rice, Corn Gluten Meal, Whole Grain Corn, Powdered Cellulose, Chicken Liver Flavor, Lactic Acid, Soybean Oil, Animal Fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid), Calcium Sulfate, Potassium Chloride, Choline Chloride, Glyceryl Monostearate, DL-Methionine, Iodized Salt, Vitamin E Supplement, vitamins (L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (source of vitamin C), Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin A Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Riboflavin, Biotin, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Folic Acid, Vitamin D3 Supplement), Taurine, minerals (Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Copper Sulfate, Manganous Oxide, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite), L-Carnitine, preserved with Mixed Tocopherols and Citric Acid, Phosphoric Acid, Beta-Carotene, Rosemary Extract.[/COLOR]

[QUOTE=Love4himies;1044209]Do you recall anything at all that changed in his life 4 months ago? Maybe even something you feel is minor, such as a renovation? change of furniture? New neighbourhood cat outside? Has your other cat changed at all?

I would immediately ditch the SD food :yuck:, In my opinion it is a crap food and no cat should be eating it. To me, it is worse than feeding your child hotdogs for every meal :yuck::yuck: You just never know what process foods will affect.

[url]http://www.hillspet.com/products/sd-feline-adult-hairball-control-light-dry.html[/url]

[COLOR="Red"]Ingredients
Chicken By-Product Meal, Brewers Rice, Corn Gluten Meal, Whole Grain Corn, Powdered Cellulose, Chicken Liver Flavor, Lactic Acid, Soybean Oil, Animal Fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid), Calcium Sulfate, Potassium Chloride, Choline Chloride, Glyceryl Monostearate, DL-Methionine, Iodized Salt, Vitamin E Supplement, vitamins (L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (source of vitamin C), Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin A Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Riboflavin, Biotin, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Folic Acid, Vitamin D3 Supplement), Taurine, minerals (Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Copper Sulfate, Manganous Oxide, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite), L-Carnitine, preserved with Mixed Tocopherols and Citric Acid, Phosphoric Acid, Beta-Carotene, Rosemary Extract.[/COLOR][/QUOTE]

Colgate-Palmolive brought out SD pet food , I wonder if it was better for pets before Colgate-Palmolive took over. I agree SD is overprice crap , I brought for my dog once and it was a waste of money . I wish vets would stop pushing this pet food onto pet owners.