Friday, July 17, 2009

stress issues

My little fluffy guy has a new (or worsened) stress disorder. Leo, my big poofy, has taken to pulling his fur out tuft after orange tuft, leaving a good sized baldish spot and a smaller, going-to-be-baldish spot on his back. Egads, this can't be good.

It took the combined efforts of Ben and me 15 minutes (two capable adults v. disgruntled cat) to get him in the cat carrier just so that I could drag him to the vet, whereupon he was combed for fleas again (still nothing) and then diagnosed with a stress/anxiety disorder.

Alas, what has brought about this hair-pulling inclination in my lovable boo? Ah, yes...there is a new little member of the fam who cries a lot. Leo has never been socially inclined, and I guess that he sees Abby as some little usurper who just won't go away. He's getting better, but he's still pulling the fur out. What's to be done? Is he destined to a life of cortizone shots or Prozac?? Those seem to be the options.

And, oops, didn't think about how the new carpet was going to send him into a mini tizzy. I found 3 clumps of pulled out fur on him yesterday, the day after the carpet came. How's he going to react to the rest of the new flooring that's going to be installed in a few days? Sigh.

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