Over grooming

Question
I have this one year old female kitten, recently i have noticed that she has been over grooming since my partner moved in with me. I have a male cat and he had this problem but it went on its own. I have taken her to the family vets and they said that she was stressed and it would get better on its own. But it has got even worse now because she is starting to go bald around her neck. What else can i do? Please help?

Thanks Tony

Answer
HI Tony,

First of all congratulations on your partner moving in :)

If your cat is not already on a flea control medication like Advantage, I would start her on that. You only need to apply it every 8 weeks and make sure it is on the kin not just the hair. Even if you don't see fleas on your cat, some cats are so sensitive to fleabites that a single flea can jump on, bite, and cause your cat to scratch for days. Before worrying too much about an emotional problem you want to make sure she's not just terribly itchy! I know so many people who would never believe their cat could have fleas, but the problem disappeared once flea control was started. I recommend Advantage because it's safe and effective. NEVER use over the counter pet store flea products. Many have been implicated in pet deaths and poisoning (do a web search on flea, toxic, cats or similar search terms). Your vet can apply Advantage or you can buy online and apply it yourself.

If your cat is on flea control and you are therefore certain it is not fleas, and probably stress, you might want to try Feliway spray and/or plug-ins/ You need a plug-in for every large room in your home. You can buy Feliway at pet stores and it comes with directions on use, basically it is a cat-relexing pheremone initially developed to reduce territorial urine spraying but it also helps ease anxiety due to other issues. a New person moving into the home can trigger territorial issues in cats, they feel insecure about "their" territory.

Is there anything your partner might be doing to make your cat feel like things have changed - maybe taking up too much of your attention, paying too much attention tot he cat? Yes a new person who tries TOO hard to make friends with your cat can stress them out - they feel "stalked". So if your partner may be trying too hard perhaps backing off an letting the cat alone a bit will help too.

You might also want to try flower essences. These work well in combination with the Feliway I mentioned above... this company sells some formulas meant for your cats' problem. Flower Essences can be used in many ways: sprays can be sprayed around the room a few times a day, you can apply to your hand and run into your cats' ears, or put a few drops in a water or food dish (the alcohol preservative will evaporate after about 15 minutes so let it stand first to evaporate off the water or food)

I think either of these would be suitable, maybe if you read the descriptions one of them will match your cat most closely:

Obsession remedy
http://www.spiritessence.com/?action=product&act=view&id=142

Territorial Remedy
http://www.spiritessence.com/?action=product&act=view&id=19