Suddenly, without warning, robro exclaimed (9/2/2008 9:03 AM):
I have an indoor cat here at the office, he's just over 8 years old.
I've had him since he was 2 weeks old. He's a big, long hair, never
had health issues other than weight. We had to move him out of the
house when he bit my 1 year old. His diet has been purely Innova
reduced fat adult cat food for the past 18 months. It has not helped
his weight, and I measure his food out and provide it over two
servings using the recommended amount on the bag for inactive cats
(0.64 cups/day for 14 lb cat that needs weight loss, this guy is
around 18-19 lbs).

Anyway, he's always had this giant fluffy tail. He did on Friday. I
came into work today and one of my employees asked what was wrong with
his tail. It now looks like it belongs on a short hair cat. It's
thin. There's no fluffy hair. I don't see any hair around the office
that looks like it may have been shed en-masse. It's never done
anything like this before. My first though was nutrition as I realize
it would be better for him to give him a mix of wet/dry. Still, in 3
days that's just strange... and where did the hair go? I'll make a
vet appointment, but figured I'd ask here as well.

I'm going to agree with the general consensus of fur-mowing due to
anxiety. He's probably very lonely on Sat and Sun with nobody around.
Can you find a coworker who can take him home on the weekends, so he
doesn't have to be alone? Or have someone visit him over the weekend?
Friday night to Monday morning is a long time for a cat to be alone,
especially *every* weekend.

My cat suddenly took up fur-mowing a section of her belly, for several
months. We were treating it, but I'm not quite sure if the treatments
worked, or she just got over whatever was bothering her.

Good luck.

jmc