a reader of books
Warren Veteran
So, for the past several years Sophie has had periods off and on where she'll wash a small bit of fur under her chin a lot and pull on the fur (though she doesn't pull the hair out). It's really only a tiny patch of fur where her hair is a bit longer than the surrounding hairs, not even a centimeter wide. She does this almost compulsively sometimes, where she'll pause during a meal or while running around to give that patch of fur a few licks and pulls. She'll do this so much, the fur turns yellow and is almost constantly wet. Then without any reason that I've been able to discover, she'll stop doing it, only to start again several months later. She hadn't done it in quite a while, but today she's started washing herself there again, and pulling on the fur. I've discussed it with the vets before, but they've never been able to find a cause for it. There's nothing physically wrong, and the skin looks healthy, so the only reason I've been able to think of is that it must be because of stress. I just can't think of what would be stressing her out. I've never discovered anything that triggers these times; they seem completely random to me. When we moved to our current place a couple of months ago, she didn't do it, and that must've been a really stressful time for her. I hate the thought of something stressing her out, though, so I'd love to know what it is so I can fix it for her, but I'm stumped. I know they can overgroom because of pain, too, but wouldn't she do it all the time in that case, instead of going months without doing it? Does anyone maybe have any ideas what could be causing her to do this, or how I could find out?
I'll see if I can take a picture of the area tomorrow.
I'll see if I can take a picture of the area tomorrow.