Obsessively licking cat -

[Hell Hath No Fury]

My cat Stumpy Pete is a 4 year old tabby. He was neutered and chipped at 2 years. After his surgery he began licking -- first around his rump, then moving on to his legs, then belly and sides. At first I thought it was flea related (he is indoor/outdoor) and treated him for fleas, even though he'd never had any sort of flea/licking reaction before his snipping. It got a bit better, but he was still licking all the time. I've changed his food, kept up with flea treatments, but he is worse than ever. From the reading I have done, the two most common causes are fleas and mental health issues.

Is there anything else I may be missing? Anyone else have experience with a licker like Stumpy??

Many thanks in advance!

[CurtEastPoint]

1. Definitely a vet visit. May need a cortisone shot.

Do you feel any little bumps in those areas? They may be old bites.

[meti57b]

2. My ten-year-old cat constantly licks either himself or one of my other two cats or me.

They were all "fixed" when I got them (at different times). I think all this licking is in the more recent years. I don't remember him doing it, years ago.

I think it is stress-related. One of my three is older and one is younger than the the cat that licks. When I got the third cat, the second cat that licks, sort of took advantage of being larger, and played a little rough with the new (third) kitty. Then the third cat has grown to be larger than cat #2, and seems to think that turnaround is fair play. He hassles the (fully grown but smaller) second cat. ... which is why I think it may be stress related.

They are not attracted by catnip. I have asked our vet if there is any kind of safe kitty tranquilizer, and she says no.

[yellerpup]

3. Mr. Spitz was really bad about that.

We adopted him and his brother from a shelter when they were 5 weeks. His feral mother and a littermate were hit by a car and the orphans were taken to the local shelter. We took the last two, both starving and nearly hairless from malnutrition and both were skittish, but Mr. Spitz was also highly neurotic. We called him the Barney Fyfe of Kitties. He regularly would pull his tummy fur out and one or twice he would lick his inner thighs clean of fur. He stopped doing that when we moved out into the country where he could enjoy the outdoors. Once he had enough mental stimulation, he stopped sweating the small stuff and stopped pulling his fur out. Relaxing was the only thing that helped my kitty.