Question: I am very worried about my cat. He is biting his fur out and now has bald spots on his body. He’s 1 year old and this has never happened before. I thought it could be fleas, but he’s an indoor cat and no other pets besides his brother (also an indoor cat) have come in the house. Why is my cat biting his fur out?

Why Is My Cat Biting His Fur Out?

Answer: Fleas are always possible even with indoor cats. With cats, fleas like to hang out around the head and neck. It is normally hard to find the actual flea since they are so small and fast, but you can normally see their remains. The polite term for it is flea dander, but it is really flea feces. It looks like tiny specks of ground black pepper at the base of the fur and skin.

If fleas aren’t the culprit, your veterinarian will need to check your pet to make sure there isn’t an underlying medical problem. Vets may check for mites, bacteria and yeast.

Sometimes they’ll look for a fungus called ringworm (don’t ask me why it is called this; it’s not a worm). If that’s not the culprit, your vet may consider a special diet to see if it is from food allergies.

I have also seen cats where there was nothing medically wrong and it was simply stress induced.

There are some medications that can help take the edge off (yes, your cat may go on Valium), while you can try some different behavior modification training methods.

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