Cats that overgroom to the point of hair loss are experiencing significant psychological distress. Understanding the causes and treatments improves welfare for affected cats.
Overgrooming is a behavioral indicator of significant psychological distress. A cat that compulsively licks areas of its body to the point of baldness, and often to the point of skin irritation, is experiencing ongoing anxiety that the grooming behavior temporarily relieves through endorphin release. The underlying anxiety state is the welfare concern - the grooming is a symptom of distress, not the distress itself. Identifying and addressing the stress source is the primary welfare intervention. If the stress cannot be eliminated, anti-anxiety medication significantly reduces the compulsive grooming drive. However, distinguishing genuine psychogenic alopecia from allergic skin disease that also causes pruritis-driven overgrooming requires thorough veterinary assessment - many cats diagnosed with psychogenic causes actually have treatable allergic or parasitic conditions.