Cat Problems - Siamese Neutered Male Ripping Out His Fur On His Back Legs And Lower Back

by Andy
(Oxford, UK)

My cat problems are with my Siamese male, Jazz. I have four cats in my home - two Oriental neutered males, one neutered Siamese female and one Siamese neutered male. All of similar age (2 years).

Jazz is a typical Siamese cat, full of character and energy. The boys have the occasional stand off, but recently they are becoming more aggressive to each other.

Jazz has recently began to pull his fur out of his back legs and lower back. He has been to the vet and on inspection, there is no medical ailment to the skin to cause this.

My vet seems to think this may be a behaviour problem, any ideas or remedies?


Reply from Liz (Editor): The most common cause for hair pulling on these areas of the body is cat fleas. However, if you're regularly trating him for these, and the vet doesn't think this is the problem, we can hopefully rule this out.

It's possible Jazz had fleas at some point which caused him to itch in these areas, and although the fleas are now gone, he's stressing over something and thr scratching has become more of a habit (a bit like an OCD in humans).

You say the cats have been fighting more recently, which could be a cause of stress for him. Has any change happenened which could have caused this? If you can think of anything, can you do something to remedy it?

Have you had all the cats since kittens or are some more recent additions? A new addition can sometimes cause an already resident cat to be stressed, especially if the amount of attention they get is reduced because of the newcomer.

To remedy this, if you can figure out the possible cause and do something to address it that should definitely help. But it may well be you don't have any idea what the cause could be... If this is the case, I'd suggest giving Jazz loads of attention and stimulation. A Feliway diffuser may also help to calm him, or Bach's Rescue Remedy as a cheaper alternative.

If all this fails, your vet should be able to prescribe some medication that will help with this. It needn't be a long term thing, but may help him nough short-term to stop the behavior and break the habit.