You could train your cat to wear a harness and teach them to take walks, suggests Moon-Fanelli. So make time for your attention-starved feline friend by giving them more mental or physical stimulation. Some cats that chew are just bored or lonely. 'Sometimes a cat ends up eating the potting material as well as the grass,' Moon-Fanelli says. To keep grass-eating cats from sampling houseplants, try growing catnip or a small pot of grass for your cat to nibble on. Divert your cat’s need to chew toward safer, more appropriate things like cat toys inside which you can hide an edible treat or some other appealing item made specifically for cats. The easiest solution may be simply to hide the clothes, plants, or other items your cat loves to chew on. Pritchard Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital at University of California, Davis, as well as other vets and animal behaviorists, suggest the following actions: Then discuss with your vet ways to discourage your cat from eating nonfood items. What You Can DoĪlways talk with your veterinarian first to rule out serious medical causes for cat pica.

This habit can be dangerous because many houseplants, such as lilies, tulips, chrysanthemums, and English ivy, are poisonous to cats or can cause gastrointestinal upset. What about grass? While many people think cats eat grass to stimulate vomiting and relieve hairballs, for some cats, grass-eating may eventually progress to chewing on houseplants. Moon-Fanelli says, could be extremely costly and even deadly. That’s because indigestible items could lead to intestinal blockages, which. Moon-Fanelli says, 'It is a concern' once they start ingesting inedible materials. Not every cat will progress from sucking wool to eating rubber bands, but some do.

'If your cat is eating something odd, it should first be seen by a vet.' If a cat simply sucks on wool or other soft and fuzzy items, that’s usually not a problem, say the experts.Īnd although nibbling on a bit of paper or occasionally chewing on a plastic bag - some of which contain gelatin, which cats can sense - could simply be a harmless little quirk, 'It’s hard to know,' Plotnick says. When that happens, says Moon-Fanelli, 'my first thought is, ‘Is there an underlying medical cause, or stressful changes in the environment that would precipitate this sort of behavior?’' Though feline pica shows up most frequently in young cats, it can also appear in older cats. We think it may have a genetic basis, because we do see it occurring more frequently in certain breeds.' Compulsive disorder: Once other possibilities are ruled out, Moon-Fanelli says, 'we start to investigate whether the behavior may be a compulsive disorder.Environmental factors: Is the cat bored or seeking attention? Do they need more mental or physical stimulation? 'Some cats require more environmental stimulation than others,' Moon-Fanelli says.For example, wool sucking, sometimes a precursor to pica, is seen more frequently in Siamese and Birman cats, says Alice Moon-Fanelli, PhD, CAAB, a certified applied animal behaviorist researching wool sucking at Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine. Genetic predisposition: For some cats, pica appears to be in their genes.Medical problems: Cat pica is also associated with feline leukemia and feline immunodeficiency virus, and it may be triggered by conditions like diabetes or brain tumors.'I’ve had two cases of cats with anemia, and that was one of the signs.' And although it’s normal for cats to eat a little grass, eating a lot of plant material may indicate something’s missing from the cat’s diet. Dietary deficiencies: Some cats will eat their cat litter if they’re anemic, Plotnick says.Cat pica may be caused by many things, including: 'I wish I knew the answer to that one,' Plotnick says. Dodman, section head and program director of Animal Behavior at Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine. Although some cats may only suck on such fuzzy items as wool, fleece, and stuffed animals, others progress to eating these fabrics.Īnd some cats move on to eating stranger items such as shoelaces, paper, plastic goods like grocery bags and shower curtains, and even electrical cords, says Nicholas H. The younger a cat is weaned, the stronger its drive to nurse and the more likely the cat is to suck on wool - or its owner’s arms, earlobes, or hair. That habit also may appear in cats that were weaned too early. Oriental cats 'are predisposed to that,' he says. Many cats will nurse on wool, says Arnold Plotnick, DVM, a veterinary internist and feline specialist in New York. The urge to eat nonfood items - called pica - can be pretty common in cats. Some cat cravings are easy to understand: Cream, catnip, mice.īut plastic bags, houseplants, wool, paper, rubber bands? Why would a cat eat those? Strange Things Cats Eat

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