Cat missing patches of hair

[Morrigan]

We have a 3 year old manx mix male named Ziggy, and a 6 month old longhair named Cease...we just got Cease back from my mother and he's been playing really rough with Ziggy (who is now missing many patches of hair...) Cease isn't missing any...

Within the last week, we noticed that Zig was missing two patches of hair, one on either side of his stump. If we touch them, he starts to groom us (or anything he can reach). When we stop, he stops. Today, we noticed that the rougher we groom (I mean rub or scratch or touch), now anywhere up to the middle of his back, he starts to groom hard (really hard) and is now nibbling/biting (and snorting...)

Is this normal?

[blucanary]

You may want to have him checked out for mites or fleas. Another possibility is allergies. He is probably chewing or grooming a lot because it itches or is tender. Either way take him to a vet.

[Morrigan]

Uh, I know that's not the problem.

He's not doing it himself. It's from Cease roughhousing with him. We've seen it. He's on flea meds, and other than the missing hair, he's healthy. Vet checked and everything. He's not grooming a lot or chewing.

Please reread my initial post. My question was that "what his chewing and grooming us normal since it's something he's just started."

[Horse Chestnut]

i used to have two bob-tailed cats ( Manx is a specific breed. There are plenty of bob-tailed cats with no Manx blood to speak of ). One think i found is that the bones of the tail stump can be somewhat delicate. My one cat started out with easily felt tail bones, but towards middle age these were somehow aborbed by the body and her tail was nothing but a little blob of flesh. Possibly the tailbones were broken and died off? I don't know. All i know is that they were there at one time of her life, and gone as she grew older. Her bob-tailed daughter had a pronounced kink in her tail, and she had to be very carefu, or her tail stump could get hooked on appliance cords or venetian blind strings. So it is possible that your Ziggy may have suffered some trauma to his tail and is worrying at it because it is sore to the touch.

The other thing I noticed about my bob-tails is that they were rather high-strung and neurotic, more so than any other cats I have ever had. I've learned more about cat nutrition since those days, so I don't know if this was caused by nature or nuture, but they were very sensitive towards stress, especially bullying by other cats. i supposed it could be that the hair loss and licking is some kinds of reaction to the stress of the rough play.

[LyndaD]

One of my cats has a 'licker button' at the base of her tail. You scratch or pet that spot and she has to groom something. She'll groom whatever part of you she can reach, groom herself, or if there's nothing handy, she'll lick the air. The more you scritch her there, the harder she'll groom.
Although I've had cats all my life, she's the first cat I've had with a licker button, but I've since found that there are other cats out there that do this, too. It almost seems like a tickle reflex. When she starts grooming in response to somone scritching her there, she gets this crazed/bewildered look that reminds me of the dinner party scene in the movie Beetlejuice -- when the ghosts are making everybody sing and dance.

[Lachrymose]

No advice, but I'll just leave this here. (Yeah, I know it's old. )

[Psihala]

In addition to what the others have said, if Ziggy only just started doing this since the kitten's arrival, I suspect Ziggy has been the victim of piggyback attacks and there are likely some claw marks hidden beneath his fur that are causing some irritation.

When Klondike had a bit of a skin problem a few months ago, he had a couple of bare patches on his hind legs. If I touched or rubbed them, he'd start licking his front legs or his chest. I was simply doing what he wanted to do, except he couldn't reach them.

So the reaction is probably normal. Hopefully, once the kitten settles down a bit, the "problem" will lessen a bit.

~Psihala