[betenoire]

I have a question about cats who groom themselves bald.

When I brought Elphaba home she had lots of bald patches. Now, she was a rescue kitty and I know where she came from and it was a really bad neglect situation - so I attributed the bald patches to that. I figured they'd grow back in.

They didn't, and they got worse. Her entire belly is entirely bald (well, there's peach-fuzz/new growth hair but no real fur coat) as are the insides of her front legs. I've taken her to the vet and ruled out the regular stuff (no UTI, she's totally healthy, no fleas) and she isn't a stress bucket (she's actually the friendliest and most snuggly cat I've ever met) but for some reason she continues to lick herself bald. Her skin is fine and intact (no scabs or scars) so I'm not SUPER worried - but I do wish she'd stop because I always think she's going to get cold (drama).

I've seen her doing it several times, and it's just -really- hard grooming, no pulling or biting of the hair. When I've seen her doing it I've tried distracting her with love - but the truth is that I see her doing it very rarely. I think this is probably something that she does when I'm out of the apartment.

I figure it's an abandonment issue thing, because the person she was with before me would leave her locked out on the balcony and go away for weeks at a time (no food, no water, dirty litterbox, no love, nobody popping in to check on her) so she probably gets upset when I go to work. I've tried the feliway plug-in diffuser which is supposed to make cats feel calm and comfy...but it didn't help at all.

Is it -really- not a big deal (the vet says it's not, but I don't believe him)? Is there something else I can/should try?