Is our cat lonely?

Question
We have a 5 year old, male, domestic short hair - indoor cat.

About 3 1/2 weeks ago, we noticed a small patch of hair missing on his right front leg.  Then about 1 1/2 weeks later we noticed the hair on his side seemed to be becoming thinner. Last week, we took him to the vet and they found nothing wrong with him physically. By the size and shape of the missing patches of hair, they could tell he was licking it off.  They said most likely he was lonely.

We currently live in a 2 bedroom apartment. We moved from his first home about 1 1/2 years ago and then again this past Feb to our new home (so this is his 3rd apartment).  At no other time has he ever had this kind of problem.  And in this home, he seemed very very happy.  It's much bigger, so he has much more room to run around.

The other changing factor in his life has been the amount of time we spend at home with him.  When we first got him 5 years ago, we (my boyfriend and I) were both away from home most of the day.  My days off were never set, but my boyfriends were always Sat and Sun.  So, our cat was alone a lot, but not terribly much.  About 2 years after that and for the following 2 1/2 years, my boyfriend was at home most of the day, pretty much everyday.  Then about 6 months ago, we returned to the initial routine of both being away most of the day with one of us being home at least a couple of days of the week/weekend.

I appreciate our vets diagnosis, but wonder if it's typical for the lonliness to set in with such odd timing. If it were the fact that we are back to being gone most of the day and he got used to my boyfriend being home, why did this not surface many months ago. And if it is the fact we moved, why did the licking/lonliness not begin soon after we had moved (4 months later)?

From reading on the internet, I understand there are many factors that could cause this behavior.  Around the time it happened, we did move his food dish about 10 feet away from where it used to be (from the kitchen area to the dining room area).  Could this have something to do with it?

If necessary, we will get him another cat so he has a playmate. This is difficult though as my boyfriend is highly allergic to cats and has just managed to balance his allergy medicines to where he can tolerate the one animal we have.  We have started playing with him more and giving him more toys and things during the day, hoping he will be happier. We know it will take a long time for the hair to grow back and for us to notice a difference to know we are helping. As of now though, we see no difference and it seems the hair on his side might be getting a little thinner - it's very hard to tell though.

Can you please address my concerns about the moving and time spent with him.  Also, can you please offer so advice on things we might do to help him. He's also very hard to please (plays with a new toy for like 30 seconds sometimes!) - which make it more difficult!

Thank you so much for any help you can give.

Just to add one last thing - he is alone approximately 9 hours a day about 3-4 days a week.

Answer
Hi there!

Did your vet (out of curiosity) speak to you about food allergies at the same time?  If not, get a second opinion with a cats only vet that has been recommeneded by the American Association of Feline Practitioners.  MANY vets are too soon to throw in behavioral problems to cats when most of the time there is an underlying medical problem.  Your cat should also have some bloodwork run too.

Stress can cause a cat to lick. If you feel that you would like to treat this at the same time get a FELIWAY diffuser. It has calming phermones in it for the cat AND your boyfriend won't be allergic to it- its that safe. :)

Lots of love and attention (not just play, but brushing and just stroking the cat) can help out quite a bit. Also look into the stress in your life. Cats tend to stress when their humans stress. :)