# How can I get my cat to stop licking himself?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-get-my-cat-to-stop-licking-himself/170863>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 24, 2003, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-get-my-cat-to-stop-licking-himself/170863 "2003-04-24T14:58:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Gulo\_gulo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bcef8e/32.png) [@Gulo\_gulo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gulo_gulo)\
**Post date:** [April 26, 2003, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-get-my-cat-to-stop-licking-himself/170863/21 "2003-04-26T14:35:26Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Eats\_Crayons \*  
> **Lissla sounds like a responsible pet owner. Vet’s prefer to avoid the dramatic surgery if possible so I’m quite confident that the vet would have had her try a special pH balanced food designed to prevent urinary infections like FUS. (And likely her cat will remain on this diet.)**

Oh I’m not insinuating that she’s not a responsible pet owner, I was just wondering what other foods she may have learned about and tried, or that her vet recommended.

For instance, I’ve heard that some preservatives could be a factor in FUS, so I avoid buying foods that are preserved with BHT, BHA or Ethoxyquin.

So I’m just curious what other info I can glean to help my loudmouth, annoying fuzzhead. 🙂

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**Author:** ![Lissla\_Lissar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lissla\_Lissar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissla_Lissar)\
**Post date:** [April 26, 2003, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-get-my-cat-to-stop-licking-himself/170863/22 "2003-04-26T15:48:53Z")

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::runs into the kitchen to check::

It’s a precription diet. He’s been on it since his first incident in September. He never begs for human food, so it’s _all_ he’s been getting.

I’ll look into that different collar. Thanks, **Eats\_Crayons**

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**Author:** ![StanDup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e5b9ba/32.png) [@StanDup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StanDup)\
**Post date:** [April 26, 2003, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-get-my-cat-to-stop-licking-himself/170863/23 "2003-04-26T17:03:57Z")

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**Nad Wounds… Band name!** But seriously, your cat should keep wearing the lampshade(?), at least until he gets better.

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**Author:** ![StanDup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e5b9ba/32.png) [@StanDup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StanDup)\
**Post date:** [April 26, 2003, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-get-my-cat-to-stop-licking-himself/170863/24 "2003-04-26T17:05:28Z")

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\*\*

> [@](#):
>
> Lissla, unfortunately, the collar is the best way to go. If you haven’t tried it already, you can get a flexible fabric collar. It’s more like a round bib, rather than the rigid “satellite dish style”. It looks like a blue clown collar.

\*\*

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**Author:** ![drhess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/94ad74/32.png) [@drhess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drhess)\
**Post date:** [April 26, 2003, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-get-my-cat-to-stop-licking-himself/170863/25 "2003-04-26T17:29:29Z")

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You might also want to try the website [http://cats.about.com](http://cats.about.com)

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