Pet Paradise

[samls324]

Show off pics of your pets, tell stories, anything you want to share about those special animals in your life 🙂 Post as much and as often as you want!




Here are are my fluff babies DJ and Gunner (also called Lulu or Lou). They are mother and daughter. DJ is my baby and Gunner is a daddy's girl. They are approximately 9 years old and very spoiled!

This is DJ. She loves to be near me.

Miss Gunner Lou loves her catnip carrot

[tsavorite]

@snoflakefaerie,

Beautiful Marzipan!  So lucky to be able to go with you instead of being left at home!

What a good kitty!

[yankeefaithful]

@snoflakefaerie Oh, I love Torties, and Marzipan is sooo pretty!! I had one before, Pepper,  and she was such a sweetie! Does she travel well?

[snoflakefaerie]

@yankeefaithful thank you. She definitely has "tortie-tude" but she is also a cuddle bug. She's been flying 2-3 times a year for most of her life, so it's old hat to her. I'm pretty lucky that she's an adventurous kitty that way.

[faeriegirl]

She is beautiful @snoflakefaerie!

[snoflakefaerie]

Thanks @faeriegirl!

[jozkid]

So I’m looking for advice. My kitty Ernie turned a year old in September. Maybe some of you remember when I adopted him in March when he was seven months old. Not long after he got really ill with a roundworm infestation. After several trips to the vet we got that all taken care of and he was doing great. Then around September I noticed he was getting bald patches on his sides. The vet didn’t see any evidence of any mites or skin irritations and said it looked like Ernie was overgrooming due to stress. I have NO idea what might be stressing this cat out. Has anyone out there ever dealt with this issue before? The vet wanted to put him on meds for anxiety. I hate to have to drug the poor guy. We’ve talked about adopting a second cat as a companion but are worried that might backfire and stress him out even more. Any thoughts are appreciated!

[Samtian]

@jozkidPoor Ernie! Has the vet done any blood work or anything to test for infections? There could be parasites, ringworm, thyroid, or steroid levels could be too high as well.

[jozkid]

No not yet. Actually they didn’t even suggest other possibilities @Samtian  I’ll have to read up some more

[itscarin]

@jozkidI sort of have dealt with this.  About 6 mos after I broke up with my ex, he told me the cat was losing hair due to stress.  The triggers for my cat were that my ex got a new gf who moved in with them, they all moved to a new apartment, and the gf would chase the cat around the apartment like Elmira from Looney Tunes Jr. 

Sounds like Ernie was doing fine March - September.  Did something change around August/September?  Does Ernie have enough play time/toys?  If he doesn't already have, can you get him a toy with feathers?  Pumpkin has a few toys with feathers and sometimes she likes to just sit down and groom the toy.  Maybe a feathered toy would give Ernie an outlet for his grooming behavior.

[jozkid]

Thanks for responding @itscarin The only thing that happened in September was that my kids went back to school. But when we first got Ernie in March, my kids were in school. I don't know if he got used to having them around and got lonely in September, but he's not really alone for super long periods. I don't often leave for work until after 9 and my kids get home about 2:15.

I do worry about him getting enough play time. The kids don't play with him as much as they used to, but they do have more homework they have to do. We bought him a bunch of jingle balls which he loves, but they always end up under the furniture. Lol!

[alexasteph]

@jozkid Are there any other signs of anxiety or just the over grooming? It could also be an allergy... sometimes that can cause skin irritation but won’t necessarily leave any evidence. My parents dog can experience irritation due to allergies and she will obsessively lick her paw. After some trial and error they found a food that doesn’t cause a reaction and she’s been fine!  

[jozkid]

Nope @alexasteph. Just the overgrooming. There's no sign of irritation at all on the skin, just a lot of broken hairs from the grooming.

Ernie is already on special food from the vet (which he loves) because they prescribed it when he had the worms (and diarrhea). When we tried to transition back to his regular food after the worms were under control, his stools got looser and frankly, he didn't like his old stuff as much as the prescription.

[Meghan12]

@GG84 my dog used to do that every spring, he would lick his front leg raw. Vet said seasonal allergies so every year had to get a hydrocortisone shot and then he would stop.

[jozkid]

@Meghan12 the vet didn't mention any cortisone injections, but then again, nothing is irritated.

[GG84]

@alexasteph Omg! My dog has started obsessively licking his paw and I could not figure out why! I have security cameras and can watch them on my phone and I watched him lick his paw for 45 mins straight. I took him to the vet thinking he injured it and no, he's perfectly fine. She didn't suggested that it could be an allergy but now I'm wondering..

[Meghan12]

Hi! I'm not a vet but here's my experience: absolutely don't get another cat. I have one very territorial male cat and he had to go on amitriptyline due to being stressed out from other male cats in the house. It made him sleep a lot and gain weight. Have you heard of Feliway? It's a plug-in that resembles the smell of cat pheromones in order to calm them down. It's effective in my experience but can be costly if using long term. Hope this helps and your kitty feels better!

[jozkid]

@Meghan12, we wouldn't go and get a companion without talking to the vet first, and if we did, we would get a younger female since that's an easier transition for a young male cat. I know it's not always a great solution to get a second one. I got a companion for my old cat Lucy who was about 7 at the time. The vet suggested a younger female, so I got another female about 1.5 years old. While they didn't fight, it was a very tense relationship and Lucy ended up being booted out of the alpha cat role. I still regret that, although I loved Abby (cat number 2) dearly.

ETA: I haven't heard about the Feliway, but I'll ask the next time I take him in. I can't imagine it would be much more expensive than giving him anti-anxiety meds.

[sockmagnet]

Totally second the recommendation for Feliway. One of my Mum's cats was spooked (possibly attacked but no obvious injuries) outside and then spent the next two months not wanting to go outside much at all and was marking in the house and exhibiting signs of anxiety and stress. Tests at the vet didn't find any issues, so I ordered some Feliway for my Mum to use and it has really helped for him to calm down and relax and, after about two weeks, he even started to venture outside again.

[Before anyone freaks out about the cats going outside, my Mum lives in rural England where it is quite normal to let your cats outside - but she always shuts them in at night time for their own safety and the cats are used to that routine.]

[Meghan12]

Are there any wild animals or feral cats living outside around your house that he might be able to smell? Or cats that wander your neighbourhood? Sometimes that's enough to set them off. Or it could be an allergy to something. I would get it checked out further by the vet since if there's been no sudden changes to his environment, it could be something entirely different.

[jozkid]

@Meghan12 Ernie is a strictly indoor cat. We do have small animals around like squirrels, chipmunks, rabbits and the occasional raccoon or skunk but the windows are closed so the scent probably isn’t getting to him although the sights might. We used to have more cats roaming the neighborhood, but hawks and coyotes (yup, we’ve got them at times too) have reduced that number considerably. Which is why Ernie is an indoor cat. But all those things were around before he started grooming in overdrive. 

[yankeefaithful]

My sweet Buddy