Cat pulling out small clumps of hair

Question
Hi Jessica -

My 11-year old female mixed cat, Abby, was recently diagnosed with stomatitus (inflammation of the oral mucous membranes) due to plaque on her teeth. We had her teeth cleaned by the vet about a month and a half ago, but her symptoms are coming back - which the vet said was very likely since this is an autoimmune disease. Anyway, we started feeding her T/D cat food (dry food provided only by vets) and she seems to like it as she always eats everything we give her. Anyway, there is now a new symptom and I don't know if it's related to her stomatitis or not -- she has started pulling clumps of hair out along her back by the base of her tail and on her sides by the knee portion of both of her back legs. I've caught her doing this and I try to make her stop, but I can only stop her when I see her doing this behavior. Could this also be due to her stomatitis? Or is she just thinning her hair due to it possibly being her summer coat. She doesn't have fleas and she never goes outside. She is causing bald spots in her coat, and she has never done this before, only the last two weeks or so. I will be taking her in for a follow-up visit at the vet on 11/23/10, and I will inform the vet of this odd behavior. Please tell me this a a normal thing for cats to do, because I am very worried about her.

Thank you for any information you can give me, I truly appreciate it.

Have a terrific day.

Liz Linn

Answer
Hi Liz,

The new behavior isn't directly related to the stomatitis.  However, because grooming is a behavior that cats sometimes engage in to distract themselves from feelings of unpleasantness, called a "displacement behavior," it's possible that oral pain or stress could be causing her to overgroom and even pull out her fur.  This is a type of obsessive compulsive behavior, resulting in hair loss called psychogenic alopecia.

Another possibility is that she has other auto immune issues going on.  Cats with one auto immune disease, like stomatitis is suspected to be, are more likely to have other ones, which can affect the skin.  Most of the time, the skin will be visibly irritated, as the conditions tend to be itchy or at least mildly uncomfortable.  The treatment for these is typically an injectable steroid, such as cortisone.  This can temporarily help inflammation of the gums, too, although pulling the teeth will be the best fix for the stomatitis in the long-run.

There can be other explanations for fur pulling, including allergies (potentially to an ingredient in her new food), fungal and bacterial infections, mites or even dry skin.  These all tend to cause itchiness in cats.  Your vet should have a good idea of the cause just by looking at the pattern of the fur loss as well as the appearance of the skin.  If necessary, the vet might want to send a hair sample or skin scraping off to a lab to check for parasites, bacteria and fungus.

I would probably try to get your kitty in to check on her skin before her scheduled follow up appointment.  If she happens to be having an issue with a bacterial or fungal infection, you'll want to nip those in the bud right away.  Bacterial infections such as staph can be deadly if not treated in a timely manner, and fungal infections like ringworm can be contagious to people.  It can be difficult to contain if the kitty isn't started on treatment promptly.

Best of luck!

Jessica