Cat collars to prevent licking for fun.

[sheilarose]

Sam overgroomed due to his food intolerance. High grain foods make him hyper (and sometimes aggresive) but once we identified the intolerance and got him on grain free foods he bacame a much more relaxed cat. Very inexpensive to try this, there are may cats who go through myriads of expensive tests before the vet gets around to flld allergy/intolerance.

Try a change in diet for a couple of weeks and see if it works? We use James Wellbeloved dry turkey and rice but any quality grain free food would be as good or better.

[fluffybunny]

I would look further into why she is overgrooming.  My Milly had also been overgrooming, she had a blood test which showed elevated levels of eosinophils which at first we thought were due to a flea allergy, but she carried on when there were definitely no fleas.  Then (several months later) it dawned on me...I had swapped her from the RC outdoor mature onto the RC Ageing 12+ when they changed their range.  I checked the ingredients and bingo - the 12+ has high levels of wheat, which the previous one didn't.  I have swapped her onto a grain free food and she has stopped overgrooming and her beautiful fur is now growing back.

Generally speaking, I don't think cats overgroom 'for fun' so it's a case of trying to unpick what the cause might be.  If she is clean and flea free, then I would suspect either stress or some kind of food intolerance as two high possibilities.

Good luck!

[SamMewl]

hi peardrop,
have you had coco vet checked (and spayed)? Overgrooming may just be her stress response. i know a few stressed and non-strssed habitual overgroomers, and as a smoker and nail biter i know how it is 
Tummy overgrooming can be associated with cystitus though and Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease so worth ruling out if you haven't already.

Collars, even the soft ones, aren't nessasarily good as they may make her more stressed. Although they can be good in breaking the habit and getting her fur back. other remedies are for stressed cats, e.g. feliway, zyclene. not always effective though. if you can work out wether there is something she is stressed about you can deal with the cause, athough it may well be a habit and unfortunatly hard to beak.  good luck x

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

Oh dear

[Peardrop]

Cats like to be very clean and this is just part of their natural grooming so unlesss it is causing damage why stop what is natural to a cat and makes them feel comfortable?

Coco over grooms to the point of making bald patches. It is not ordinary grooming it is like a form of OCD. It is not very often I see her washing her face but her tummy!!!!

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

Cats like to be very clean and this is just part of their natural grooming so unlesss it is causing damage why stop what is natural to a cat and makes them feel comfortable?

[Liz]

Comfy collar is the best we had one on our Billie Jo for 4 weks when she had her eye removed they can eat, drink and be normal just no licking on body

[Peardrop]

If Coco was a human she would be on 50 Woodbines a day because she is a cat she licks her tummy and legs despite having no fleas and nice skin. We were looking at the pro-collars and wondering if she wore this all the time it would stop her from licking. They are not the Elizabethan type the vet uses but the same principle only made of soft material.