cat over licking

Question
Hello
My cat,4 years old, is over licking on front legs and front paws. It's just started and done in a very obsessive manner. Any suggestions - have tried giving him more attention, toy playing etc but he's quite happy to sit in his basket or on my chest madly licking away.
Look forward to your thoughts.
bw
susan

Answer
Hi
over grooming can sometimes be the symptom of stress in a cat. the other possible cause is a skin irritant of allergy. It is best to first check to make sure that there isn't a medical condition causing the over grooming like mites etc and then if that is not the cause you will have to look at the possibility that something has stressed your cat out and they are over grooming to comfort them selves.

My best advice would be to ask you to read my pages about firstly skin problems in cats and then may page about nervous and stressed cats to enable you to narrow down the possible cause.

here are my links

/cat-hair-loss.html

/scared-cat.html

best wishes
Kate