I still have a large symmetrical bald spot on my tummy. My mom noticed it in September, and there were two things she could think of that had changed in my world.

1) She had started adding canned food to my diet in July, trying to transition us to canned food because I am overweight.
2) She had been working a lot more, jumping onto the computer as soon as the dinner dishes were washed each night.

The reason that last one may be important is that this article about psychogenic alopecia sounds a lot like my own bald spot, because I still play and eat with gusto! I have my yearly trip to the vet next month anyway, so before I go there my mom wanted to see if there was anything like food allergy that she could rule out at home. Otherwise if the vet didn’t see anything wrong with me or my hair, the vet would just have to ask us about my food and our house anyway, so we may as well get a jump on it!

Although apparently a lot of animals do pull their own hair out due to stress or boredom, some parasites and serious diseases also cause hair loss. This article has a great chart of illnesses and conditions that cause hair loss in cats. It would be impossible for a layman to tell the difference between them all, so the point is, if your kitty is losing hair, take him or her to the doctor if the problem does not go away pretty soon.

I know I’m going to have to go to the doctor next month, but meanwhile, my mom is going to make sure she and I have lots of quality time each day where I can chase paper balls, sit in her lap and purr, and just generally be the center of attention. It may still take the vet to get my hair loss figured out, but I will enjoy all the play time meanwhile!