Firstly what a great forum, I've done usefull searches and got pretty clue'd now I hope


I have a gorgeous black/very dark brown moggy shorthair called roxy, I took her to the vets for her booster, de worm, and mentioaned the fact shes been washing ahell of a lot all night it would seem as it breaks my sleep as I can hear rasping and scratching against her belly, which is now very balding - as are the whole insides of her back legs, and bits on her front legs - the vet said this should sort her out, and sold me a very expensive £35 feliway wall plugin device, this has now run out and shes still no different, what else can I do? Im taking her to another vet tonight for a second opinion - I hate her being in distress, shes hasnt got fleas, I've sprayed the house, vacuumed - nothings changed in the house, nor my living patterns, only the tempreture outside I guess, shes still very playfull when I instigate it, and her eyes are very bright - maybe I'll psot some pictures for you all to share your thoughts -


the last month or so shes seemed a bit wary of me at times and not so uo for being stroked almost avoiding at times,

thank you all in advance - regards

Overgrooming can be a sign of stress. How long have you had your cat? Has she walys been like this? Has she been spayed? Does she go outside? Is another cat bullying her? Has anything changed at home? routine changes?

There are lots of factors that causing be causing her to become unsettled & Feliway diffusers can help alot in some cases. It still may be worth getting a refill (but buy one from Amazon or a pet related web site as they are much cheaper!).

What do you feed her? Has her diet changed recently? Doe sshe still eat & drink as normal?

Does she always seem to do this at a particular time?

It is worth getting second opinion if you are not happy with the original vet.

Hi & Welcome to the forum.

What age is Roxy please? And is she an only cat or do you have others?

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wow such a quick response thank you - roxy is 6, female - been spayed

always been a sole individual, but has always been content -

there are other cats around but nothing kicking off that I know off, -
I'll buy another refill online like you say,

roxys diet, is a bit all over the place as shes been off her food a bit, she has purina dried biscuits, the finest gourmet fish pate/or purina prawn/meat in sauce pouches, plenty of clean water in two places, she likes her own human glass the best,

usually all evening when i get home shes doing it to what seems like night, im shattered , sometimes I pick her up to comfort her in an atempt to show her its not nessecary but she gets hacked off me and carrys on scratching washing - I'll post how I get on this evening

wow such a quick response thank you - roxy is 6, female - been spayed

always been a sole individual, but has always been content -

there are other cats around but nothing kicking off that I know off, -
I'll buy another refill online like you say,

roxys diet, is a bit all over the place as shes been off her food a bit, she has purina dried biscuits, the finest gourmet fish pate/or purina prawn/meat in sauce pouches, plenty of clean water in two places, she likes her own human glass the best,

usually all evening when i get home shes doing it to what seems like night, im shattered , sometimes I pick her up to comfort her in an atempt to show her its not nessecary but she gets hacked off me and carrys on scratching washing - I'll post how I get on this evening

Does Roxy go out? Is the garden cat-proofed, or do neighbourhood cats come into her territory? Is there a new, dominant neighbourhood cat she can observe from the window, maybe?

This kind of licking is usually stress-related, unless she has an allergy.
My rather neurotic queen Tuppence used to lick her belly till she was totally bald, and in her case, it was stress at losing her territory to younger neighbourhood cats. It stopped when we added 2 young tomcats to our family, who reclaimed the garden and protected the 2 old girls.

Steffie, the other queen, had been showing signs of stress, too, she started pooping in the house. The feliway helped to some extent, but the cause of their stress was very real: other cats chasing them out of their own garden, so it did not solve the problem.
Only reclaiming the garden for them did.

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Jiskefet & the mognificent Dutch bunch

My little angels at the rainbow bridge

Have you tried to give her hypo-allergenic food?
The scratching and not wanting to be touched might point to an allergic reaction.

And it might be worth observing her interaction with other cats in the garden and around the house. They don't need to be actually fighting to cause stress. If another cat is very dominant, she may just cower down and be scared to go out when (s)he is around.

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Jiskefet & the mognificent Dutch bunch

My little angels at the rainbow bridge

It may be a skin issue, get her checked by another vet to rule that out.

Instaed of picking her up when she starts to do this, can you maybe try & distract her with a toy? Get her interested in this to try & stop her with the grooming. It may be that once you stop playing she will go back to the grooming so you may need a few interruptions.

What doe she do in the day? Do you think she may be bored? Maybe try playing with her in the early evening to tire her out a bit. Has she got any interactive toys she could be playing with by herself?

It may also be worth looking at her diet & ruling out certain additives. If you look in the nutrional section there is alot of brilliant info in there regarding brands & ingredients.

This kind of licking is usually stress-related, unless she has an allergy.

Possible demitosis? ie; itchy skin, hot to the touch. My parrot had this. He looked like a plucked chicken!! he would scratch and pluck all the time until his skin was red raw. Vet suggested aloe... but this made it easier to pull the feathers out... so I sprayed very watered down TCP and that stopped the itchiness.

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