Cat Hair Loss
Cat hair loss can happen, just like in us humans. The causes could be hereditary, facial alopecia, or due to outside reasons such as an allergy to mites, fleas or even to stress. Yes, your cat can lose its hair if it becomes stressed.
This stress can be caused by many different things. It could be as simple as a change to his diet. As cats are creatures of habit, a change in food can cause a stressful reaction. Chances are your cat will refuse to eat this new food as it smells different. I made this mistake with my cats, but only once. If you do plan to change their food, do it gradually by mixing the two foods together and slowly increasing the new food. Finnicky I know, but cats are like that.
In severe cases, you cat might refuse to eat anything. I do know of a case where this has happened and the cat would not even eat the old food that he loved. This particular cat refused cooked chicken, cooked and raw fish, cat treats, everything! His owners became quite worried. The poor cat’s routine had been changed and he couldn’t understand why. The owners finally realized that their cat thought he had done something wrong. The cat started losing its hair. He started pacing back and forth, meowing loudly, constantly grooming himself and craving attention. The constant grooming was creating further hair loss.
This caused stress for both the cat and the owners. It then became a vicious circle with more stress on both sides leading to more hair loss leading to more stress.
Being responsible pet owners they took their cat to the vet who ruled out any physical problem. However, he suggested that they start treating their cat like a kitten again. He recommended a special diet to get their cat interested in eating, with the owners actually sitting on the floor and talking to their cat to encourage him to eat. It might sound far fetched but it worked. I’m sure most of us have enjoyed being totally looked after and pampered when we are not well.
They started playing with their cat daily. They spent time during the evening grooming him. They gave him as much attention as they could without going overboard with it. They bent over to stroke him when they walked past and spoke to him when he came over to rub against them.
It took a couple of weeks but this treatment worked. The cat started to eat his food again and his hair began to grow back. The owners became less stressed and this flowed onto their cat.
The stress doesn’t have to come from changing your cat’s food. It could be due to a change in your household – someone starting a new job and not being around, someone losing a job and being around. It could be the arrival of a new baby or a new pet. Even grandma coming to stay could cause a stressful situation for your cat. Painting and rearranging the furniture can have the same effect.
I’m not saying that every cat will react in this way to any of the above situations. But if you do notice your sudden hair loss in your cat, after ruling out a medical problem look for a stressful situation. And always, if you notice cat hair loss when you can’t find stress or any other reason, speak to your vet.
