Compulsive licking (cat)

[Yooper]

I have a 14 year old cat. She seems happy, healthy, and very friendly. However, she has always been a licker. She will lick any human that will let her for HOURS. This is annoying but we are used to it She has started licking herself on her hind legs until all of the fur licks off. She has bald legs now. She looks really goofy. Her hind legs do not seem to be in any pain and she has no trouble with stairs and such. There is no rash or bites. She is quite overweight and has been so since we adopted her. All attempts at "diets" have failed. She cannot reach her butt and other areas for cleaning so we do have to bathe her about once a month. She does not seem to mind. she does seem to be losing it brain-wise. She forgets where her food is and does goofy things. This has been going on for a couple of years though. We have even checked her poo for worms or anything that might make her itch or something. We have another younger cat that seems completely fine excvept for the occasional hair ball hacking session.

I am wondering if we should take her to the vet. Money in really tight so I would prefer to skip it if they are just going to tell us she is crazy (which we already know). Is this sort fo thing normal in crazy cats? Is there any way to stop it so she does not make other parts of her bald? Should we be worried?

[northern_sunshine]

I have one cat that will get up on your lap and if you let her, will lick the same spot of bare skin on your hand/arm/leg until it's raw. She's a pretty normal cat in all other respects, so this is her one quirk. Nothing we've done will stop her, other than just moving her or the body part that's getting the "love."

Ahh, the wonderful world of cats.

[livinzoo]

Is she an orange tabby perhaps? All the orange tabbies I have been around are compulsive lickers. My orange boy licks from his tummy to his ankles and random other patches excessively. I have tried them on many other foods and the problem remains the same. Currently he is on a raw diet (which solved his weight problem) and still licks excessively. In fact he occasionally gets a sore on his chin from licking so much.

My moms orange tabby will lick anything. She will lick a light bulb, your nose, what ever. We right it off as an orange tabby thing.

[starry_mama]

I've actually heard that cats who are taken from their mothers too early will lick compulsively

nak

[Yooper]

She is all black

We suspected that she was taken from her mother too soon. We adopted her when she was 7. She had spent an entire year in the shelter She is so friendly, I cannot believe no one else wanted her.

I would not be concerned about it except that she keeps licking the same spots. Just checking to see if this is normal.

[thekimballs]

Sounds like senility or OCD. You can treat both with meds, but it's expensive if money is tight. Is she hurting herself? Licking anything raw? If so, I'd say it's more urgent. If she's just making herself look bizarre, you can wait. I might take her in for a workup and med suggestions when money loosens up, but for now if she's keeping her own skin intact it's not an emergency.

[Yooper]

Thanks for the help. Her skin is fine so far. She just looks strange. Money is tight but I would still take out a second mortgage to help my cats. However, actally taking her to the vet is very traumatic for this cat so that is another factor. It seems that every time I run her to the vet, I totally traumatize her for nothing. I do not eant to spend our limited cash and scare the cat if they are just going tot ell me she is crazy, which we know already

[thekimballs]

When money loosens up, you might consider finding a good vet homeopath either after or in conjunction with an allopathic vet. Compulsive behaviors are often handled beautifully with remedies. Of course, vet homeopaths are just like any other modality--some are great and some are useless. But I've had more "miracle" cures of odd issues with vet homeopaths than any other kind of vet. There are a lot of disorders abot which allopathic vets sort of throw up their hands and treat the symptoms--let's try prednisone or let's try keflex or let's try [insert tranquilizer here] or let's try rimadyl. When it gets to that point homeopaths have real insights and abilities that allopathic vets don't access.