Cat is overgrooming my other cat

We have two cats. They are both male and are littermates. They get along very well and are partners in crime. However, for some reason, the bigger cat is always grooming the smaller one, but he does it too much and it is giving the smaller cat bald spots that bleed. He does not overgroom himself. Just his brother. We are at a loss. We have tried scaring the bigger cat away or spraying him with water when he gets a little too enthusiastic, but he just comes back after we scare him, and he likes the water. :/ Any advice would be appreciated.

Answer by Kate
This is strange and I haven't heard of over grooming another cat. However it must be a stress thing only he has got so used to grooming him brother that he takes out the stress on him.

My only suggestion is to separate them for a few days completely. this will give both of them some quiet time and also time to refrain from the behavior.

If the behavior continues afterwards, you will have to pick up and remove to another room the cat doing the licking straight away. The more times this is done, the quicker the cat will learn that this is a negative response to this action.

You may also want to try and distract your cats from this behavior by making there home environment more stimulating. Please see my pages here about this here https://www.our-happy-cat.com/indoor-cats.html

best wishes kate

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