Can anxiety or stress cause skin conditions in my cat?

Yes, we do see that in cats. I will say that the overwhelming majority of itchiness in cats is related to an underlying organic skin condition. It is also often other issues in the body that are causing skin conditions. There's usually an underlying cause that's not behavioral. In some cases, cats that are stressed, anxious, or dealing with high levels of day-to-day anxiety will pull their hair out, not because they're itchy, but because they're stressed. It is difficult to determine the issue in those situations. First, focus on the common things that cause cats to do that. It is often a skin condition, but it's also important to understand that sometimes, especially indoor cats, are dealing with a lot of stress that's related to a lack of environmental, mental, and physical stimulation. Work through factors like inter-cat conflict or conflict with other pets in the house. Many behavioral things impact cats that sometimes lead to them pulling out their hair. These are complicated situations, so it's best to work through those things with your veterinarian to get the best results.

It can. Cats are very temperamental, and they tend to be, as we have said, great groomers, but over-grooming can cause hair loss and secondary skin irritation, and secondary skin infection. One of the reasons that cats tend to overgrow is they're stressed. What stresses a cat, and what doesn't stress a cat? Everything. You name it. You change your furniture, the litter, there's a stray cat outside, there's a new dog in the neighborhood, and your mother-in-law comes over for the day. I mean, you name it; it can stress out a cat and cause them to lick. We definitely will see some of those cases, and then it's a matter of trying to determine what's causing the anxiety and then relieving it in some way or the other. Pheromones might be a help there. There are some diet changes we can do there. There are several things we can do to help.

Yes, they can. Uniquely, we do see it more in the Asian breeds, Himalayas and Siamese. It's more common in those breeds. I should say mixes of Siamese primarily, but not exclusively. We do see more behavior issues, and one thing that makes those issues unique is we'll see the cats that'll be excessively grooming. They'll lose a lot of hair, but typically it's going to be very symmetrical. You can look at your cat and say, Gosh, they've lost almost the exact same amount of hair on both sides. We typically don't get irritation to the skin. We don't get the scabbing and things of that nature. They are what we call self-barbering, but not mutilation. They're not ripping their hair out or leaving sores or scabs. They just have symmetrical hair loss.