She licks her back my her tail almost bald. I've taken her to the vet many times and they say thats the way she is. I worry something could really be wrong with her.
This is very common in Siamese cats. These cats NEED to stay with their moms until they are at least 12 weeks old, as they mature more slowly as kittens than many other breeds. Yet most people are shipping them out the door at 6 or 8 weeks old, with no regard to the effect this has on them. This isn't * your * fault, I'm just pointing out a fact.
Your vet's response is unacceptable. She can be safely medicated for this disorder - it's really a kind of OCD. Prozac - yes, human Prozac - works very well on it. Properly dosed (by a vet who has training in animal behavior) it will not "drug" the cat, and really does break the overgrooming cycle. The cat generally does not need to be on it long, and then is weaned off. It's not expensive, as it's a human drug with a generic, and can be gotten at any human drug store. It can also be compounded into a tradnsdermal ear gel, which is much easier if you have a cat you cannot pill.
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com This is a sign of anxiety, and not something to just ignore. She is at risk for developing infections from the overgrooming, so it * does * need to be treated. Time to find a new vet who will take this seriously, so that it can be treated.
its an Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, pure bred dogs and cats tend to develop it sometimes. You can either A) get something bad tasting to spray on the areas she licks to train her to stop. or B) seek another vet to have her medicated for anxiety.
Some vets dont really diagnose mental disorders in pets unless they are severe, though if shes licking the fur off her body it has gotten pretty severe, because once her fur is gon she will lick her skin raw no doubt. Find another vet, yours obviously isnt prepared to deal with this.
Yes, there is a treatment where you cover the cat's back with peanut butter. It may sound strange, but when the cat tries to lick the peanut butter off only to rub it further into the fur , the cat will no longer want to "make the mess again" after you treat it to a bath. In other words, the cat will always think the peanut butter will be there, even though it can see that it isn't. It cannot correlate the difference between what happened before the peanut butter incident and after.
She's obsessive, it happens. Licking her fur is part of a cat's natural instinct, they do it for survival purposes, keeping warm, or keeping cool, keeps their scent from being noticed by predators also, so it's hard to stop her. There may be something in her environment that is causing stress on her, so she reacts sorta neurotically.
Treat her for anxiety. "That's the way she is, "is unacceptable. I would take her to a different vet.
