Adopted this cat (Ruthie)before she was to be put to sleep. The vet says she was between 1 & 2 years old at the time. We have had her a little over 8 years. This cat is petite and a "lover". She gets stressed very easily. When we moved the last time to our current residence (8+ years ago)it took her over 6 months to start acting "normal" for her. We have 7 cats in this household with the youngest being a male that is overly aggressive, ornery, protective, and in general, just a mess. He is ALWAYS after Ruthie if she's in his line of vision. He stalks her and attacks. She began (this past year) pulling her hair out-we figured from the stress of his antics; so did the vet. He put her on Ovaban and it did seem to help with the return of hair growth. But, in the past two months she is eating excessively and drinking water excessively all the while losing weight. She used to weigh in at about 9-11 pounds and now is only about 4-6 pounds. She has me worried. She had a tumor removed from her front chest about 18 months ago. We chose NOT to know if it was cancer. We love her and just wanted to be with her as long as possible. As a result, we check her constantly for such things. (By the way, the vet said the tumor just peeled out intact and said that was a good sign that it wasn't cancer.)
Can stress be causing all this and what would be the best was to deal with it. We take her to our bedroom at night to give her some relief from the male.
Just a note:
He was fixed just before turning 7 months. He had become overly aggressive and attacked all the other cats (playful and mean) The vet and I thought it would tame him some - All I can say is that if it tamed him some, I'm sure glad we did it when we did before it got really out of hand. He resembles a Blue Russian - beautiful gray with silver highlights.

Maggie Donahue

Hi,

A couple of things: Ovaban is a horrible drug for cats and should never be used on them. It has been known to cause a number of diseases, including cancer. Her symptoms sound very much like those of diabetes, which may have been caused by Ovaban also. She needs bloodwork right away. It is much more important to find out what is going on with her medically right now than to worry about the behavioral problems. Please let me know what you find out.

Dr. Neely