# Callie's licking the fur off her belly



## Krista2882 (Jan 26, 2012)

A few months ago, Callie started licking the fur off her belly. At first, it was just a small area, but now it's her whole lower belly and the insides of her back legs. I've read that cats usually do this because of nervousness or even boredom. Sometimes it's from an allergy and because of itching a cat might groom excessively until the area is bare. Well, the skin doesn't look irritated at all.
She started this past summer. Now that I think of it, it was after Puffy died which was also a couple weeks before my mom went into the hospital for 2 months. So her sister was gone and my mom wasn't home for 2 months. I guess that's enough to make a cat a little stressed out. The weird thing is that she didn't really get along with Puffy all that well, and her personality changed after Puffy died, but not in a negative way. She's more affectionate now and "talks" to us a lot more. But I guess just the absence of Puffy was just a big change for her and could have stressed her out?
But that was about 8 months ago, and my mom has been home for about 6 months, but Callie's still got a fur-less belly. And the weird thing is that we never even see her grooming herself. She seems to be always sleeping, or hanging out with us- mostly in the mornings and at night.
So I don't know... we think it's stress related, but should we still bring her to the vet anyway to make sure it's not something else?


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## Milky's Mammy (Oct 17, 2011)

Bring her to the vet and get her checked out. Just to make sure it's nothing serious. Maybe she really is just bored.


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## catloverami (Jul 5, 2010)

I had a cat once that did exactly what your Callie does---overgroomed her belly and inside hind legs until they were bare. She was a breeding queen, and started licking her belly I think because of stress when I added another female---at that time I had 5 or 6. Altho she got along well with everyone, it was just one more cat that tipped the balance. However , when she kittened she didn't overgroom and her fur would grow back in. It was between litters that she overgroomed. She stopped overgrooming for good some years after she had been spayed and after I retired from breeding when she was 10 yrs. old and by then I had four spayed females. Eventually it was just 2 females for a few years and by this time she was in her mid-teens. So, Callie most likely will give up overgrooming as she gets older. In the beginning it's usually stress related, but then can become a habit that relieves boredom and soothes the cat.


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## Krista2882 (Jan 26, 2012)

Ok, thanks, both of you.


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