So Your Cat Has OCD…How About Your Human?
When I started this year, I told myself that when I did the Infectious Disease Ward, I’d focus more on mental illness than I had in previous issues. It’d give me motivation to pay more attention in psychology class. That was the original plan at least, and then I got distracted. Instead, I got completely swept up in said classes and forgot for a moment my plan to give mental illness the focus it deserves in our lives. But not today! No, after my first ever visit to the vet with my cat, I found my inspiration.
Cat OCD. Can your pets exhibit signs of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)? Yes, they can, and the symptoms manifest in a similar way that they do in adults. And, for the record, the cat my parents got me for my birthday this last November—a cat they lovingly adopted from the animal shelter—has it in a major way.
That sounds a little weird, written out. And sounded better in my head. You may think I’m lying, but jokes on you – it’s a real thing. It’s called Feline Psychogenic Alopecia, and as I write this I can see my cat obsessively grooming her sable coat until it literally falls out. Whoops she just bit the tail. Bet that leaves a mark. Turns out, if this keeps up, I’ll be dropping Prozac in her kitty chow.
WHAT IS IT: Long story short, if your cat has this and gets overly stressed, they begin to hyper groom themselves. Better worded by Cathealth, here’s their definition of it: “Feline Psychogenic alopecia is a condition of excessive grooming. Cats usually spend 5%-25% of their waking time grooming. Excessive grooming occurs when the grooming behavior takes precedence over other activities, with no apparent goal. Feline psychogenic alopecia and feline hyperesthesia syndrome are two interesting and often overlapping syndromes of cats. “Psychogenic alopecia” means “hair loss having a psychological or emotional origin.” In short, your cat is ‘feeling’ stress in a similar way that a human might. The human version is a condition listed under another name in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM), the psychologist’s Bible for diagnosing mental illness. Cats, instead of washing their hands, groom themselves constantly even after it damages their fur and nails. They do it so often that it becomes habit. Over time, this habit becomes problematic because it can cause damage the skin beneath the coat, the nails, etc. inviting cellulitis and other skin infections.
HOW DO DIAGNOSE IT: It’s a harder thing to diagnose, and is typically done by ruling out all other conditions first like ringworm, bacteria, and more. Your cat can have allergies which might make them groom to the extreme. In short, to diagnose this you must rule out every other medical option just like you would in a human per the DSM. You don’t want to give your cat drugs to make them chill when what they needed was something to cure ringworm. So, make sure your vet is thorough as far as checking for every other medical possibility before arriving at a psychological one. Interestingly, this is good advice for a human seeking psychological help as well. The symptoms list from drbarchas include:
Symptoms (FROM DRBARCHAS.COM)
”Loss of hair resulting in baldness is the key sign of the syndrome. Baldness usually is first noticed on the abdomen. As the syndrome progresses, baldness may spread to the backs of the rear legs, the tail, and the skin along the spine.
Affected cats may be noted to groom themselves excessively. However, many cats engage in the behavior only in the owner's absence. These cats appear not to over-groom.
Cats engaging in over-grooming may spit out hair in piles as they engage in the activity. These piles of hair are sometimes found in the homes of cats with psychogenic alopecia.
In most cases, the skin in the areas of baldness appears normal and healthy. However, in rare instances cats traumatize the skin in the process of over-grooming. This leads to redness, rashes, or scabs on the skin.”
HOW TO TREAT IT: Drugs, kids! Say no to drugs, though, under any other circumstances. But in his case, what is most likely going to happen is your vet will hand you some medication that’ll help with your cat’s mental issues. From there, you’re supposed to keep them in a calm environment. The hope is if the environment is calm, whatever triggered their anxiety won’t come back. Most often, your cat will be prescribed a pharmacological treatment, like Prozac or Paxil. These drugs may take a while to be fully effective, and like a human, once the drugs are started they should not be taken off of them suddenly.
I said that I wanted to focus on mental illness, and so I’m going to give you my unlicensed opinion for a moment. Let’s consider my cat, as Subject A. A six year old cat arrives in a household with lots of young kids. There are no other animals in the house save for the potential stray mouse that I don’t even want to know about. What do you think the odds are that the environment she has suddenly found herself in is jarring at best and unnerving at worst?
Before we break out the drugs, would it not behoove us to consider using her own body’s neurotransmitters to balance out her behavior. Instead of allowing her solitude in the basement, why not give her a calm environment in my attic with a support network—me—consistently present to reassure her. No kids allowed to turn her into a shawl, or science project testing the theory that cats always land on their feet regardless of the height from which they are dropped.
Seriously, people, that would freak me out.
What I am trying to say is that triggers in our environment—as innocuous as they may be to some people labeled as ‘resilient’—are in fact very serious and common not just to cats. A little consideration coupled with a support network that cares would likely go a long way to solving a lot of America’s mental illness woes. Self-medicating is on the rise people. There is a serious reason for it. Stressors are very, very high as our media sources daily remind us to keep up with our neighbors latest toys (and personally, I refuse to play this game). Instead of blaming the patient and assuming a pill will solve it, I suggest we look at the environment, wrap our arms around the people we know we love, and let them know our feet are planted, and we don’t give up on them…so they don’t have to worry or give up on themselves. I believe we can love people well, and that a support network is “prescription one” for any therapy. Might drugs be necessary? Sure. Brains break. If there is someone in your life that is suffering mental illness, the hardest thing to do is decide to be strong where they aren’t, and stick to it. You’ll likely need a support network too. But, in the end, what I want to emphasize is that mental illness is nothing to be ashamed of any more than one would be ashamed that they have a broken leg, heart, or immune system. Triggers are everywhere. Let’s protect each other from the cruelty they can inflict on the ones we love.
SIDE EFFECTS OF PROZAC: Since any drug has side effects, the ones for cats aren’t any different. However, at the very least they are said to be a lot rarer. Your cat may experience drowsiness, or a lack of appetite. Potentially, even increased anxiety. But the hope is that none of this happens. That’s what the experts write in the literature I was given at the vet.
I’m going to go out on a limb and say that I bet the side effects are far more similar to a human than not, but since cats are good soldiers we don’t think they are as changed by the meds as they in fact are. This is something to consider when deciding to use meds on anything or anyone—animal or not.
Here’s one more thing to note: it is naïve to say people should avoid medication to treat mental illness, in my opinion. From what I can tell, they are good stabilizing devices. But, while we stabilize we don’t want to forget that a cognitive-behaviorist approach and an amended environment are the real cures, in my opinion, to righting an imbalance of neurotransmitters misfiring and reacting instead of responding.
COMPLICATIONS: Good news about cat OCD, is that it usually isn’t life threatening if treated. But, that doesn’t mean there aren’t complications. Drcbarchas says, “For most cats diagnosed with the syndrome, psychogenic alopecia is a long-term problem. The degree of baldness may wax and wane over time. The most severe cases of psychogenic alopecia can result in near-total baldness on all areas of the body except the head. Cats with severe baldness are at increased risk of sunburn and hypothermia. As mentioned above, some cats traumatize their skin in the process of grooming. This leads to rashes, irritation, and infection of the skin.”
So, to sum up my fellow future doctors, tune in next month for further exploration of how our brain can break on us. And if you happen to be in a position to spread some love, spread it. Be the solution; fight the trigger. Save a life. What else could be more important? I can’t think of anything. #Real love works.
Sources:
"Over-grooming (Psychogenic Alopecia) in Cats." Over-grooming (Psychogenic Alopecia) in Cats. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Dec. 2016.
"Psychogenic Alopecia in Cats." Advances in Small Animal Medicine and Surgery 19.10 (2006): 5-6. Web.
LLC, Aquanta. "Psychogenic Alopecia." CatHealth.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Dec. 2016.
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