Obsessive Licking

Question
My cat, Bonita, is an almost 8 year old, long-haired, mixed breed.  She is the oldest of three cats in my home, and the only female.

Bonita has always had a "button" near on her lower back and tail area that, when petted, resulted in her licking herself.  I never thought anything of it - I figured it was normal.

In the past few months, the button has spread to her entire back, sides, and stomach areas - in fact, I would say pretty much anywhere other than her head, neck, and face - and the licking is feverish and includes gnawing at her fur.

She has had many bouts with matting over the past couple of years.  She is "chubby" and cannot get the mats out herself, so I work hard to comb them out, often times leading to the hair coming out.

Do you think she may have some type of skin condition?  Or do you think it could be an obsessive behavior?  I would appreciate any guidance you can provide.

Thank you!

Answer
Hi Kim,

It's hard to know without seeing your cat, I can't quite picture what you are describing.. are there red areas, scabs, etc? You should take her to the vet and have a skin scraping done to see if she has mites, mange or some type of parasite.

Also food allergies can be a major source of skin problems in cats. You should not feed any food that contains grains, especially corn. Instead feed a high quality meat based grain free canned food or a raw meat diet.

Dry cat food and low quality canned food contain high levels of carbohydrates, cats do not use carbohydrates for energy like other mammals do because they are strict carnivores.. so carbs get turned directly into fat by cats. High carbs cat foods are the cause of obesity, diabetes, and kidney disease in cats.

Here is some further info on cat nutrition:

http://www.felinenutrition.net

http://www.catinfo.org

http://www.catnutrition.org

Good luck!