Abyssinian pulling out hair

Question
Thank you for looking at my question. My husband and I have a five year old Abyssinian. Out of nowhere he started pulling out his hair leaving tufts
around the house and little bald spots on his back. He's eating and sleeping
and running around as usual - we are moving on Friday so we have a lot of
boxes but his behavior hasn't changed - except for pulling out his hair -
could the stress of the move be causing this or should I be more concerned?
Many thanks again -
Amy

Answer
Amy,

I expect you have hitthe nail on the head.  He knows something is up and it is stressing him out.  Cats are creatures of habit, so all the activity preparing to move is out of the ordinary and has upset his normal routins. In addition, a cat is very territorial, so after the move, his world will be turned upside down.  Thus I would expect this over grooming behavior to continue after the move.

Another possibility is that you may have changed his brand of dry food.  Dry food often has corn and soy in it, two things many cats are allergic to.  If these ingredients are towards the top of the ingredients list in a new dry food you are feeding, you may want to go back to your old food, if indeed, you did change out the food.

Sometimes a shot of depo-medrol will stop the itching and the over-grooming may stop.  You should consult your vet about his.

Best regards... Norm.