raeanna74

Our cat chews. ANYTHING. We had cats in my home while I was growing up and they never exibited this same kind of behavior - at least to this extent. Our cat Catrina has always shown an affinity for our daughter's plastic bead necklaces and things. The cat will not just play and naw on them she bites them threw and tries to chew them up. I've seen her chomping furiously on a bead or beads that she's bitten off some thing. Of course she'll eat rubber bands but I've seen that before. She will crawl under my sink if I leave the door open and drag out my bag of scented trashbags. She's taken them numerous times (with several different scents) and hidden them under the table or in a corner where she'll chew on them. I found once she'd dragged a pencil out of the pencil can and chewed through the metal holding the eraser on. I caught her chewing on the eraser top. I had a bag of garlic on top of my fridge and she found it. After that I had to keep it behind closed doors because no matter where I put it she'd find it, drag it down off the fridge even, and take it under a chair to chew away at. She's torn her rubber/fur mice apart. My parents and aunt have the exact same mice for their cats and they haven't demolished them. Catrina though has bitten them in two and eaten the rubber insides out. I found bits of red foam (our daughter made christmas ornaments with it) in her litter box. I've watched her sit on a dining room chair and naw on the top of the spindles. I've watched her chew on my daughter's carboard and foam puzzles. She found my package of toilet paper and chewed all around the top of the package. I could go on. You get the idea.

Is this NORMAL?? Somewhat Normal? Or completely abnormal? She gets fed and seems happy otherwise. She's a very affectionate cat. About 1 1/2 years old. She plays well with the kids and knows where she can go to be left alone. She has her own places to sleep away from the kids and eat away from them. I feed her canned as well as dry cat food so she does get food she can chew. She was not taken from her mother too early. She's been neutered and declawed. I'm not sure why she does this or if I should be concerned about it beyond keeping things safely put away.

Any of you have things your pet does that's totally wacked? I know there was a thread about kwirks of your pet but I think this is a little off that exact subject. Share anyway - make me feel not so wierd about our cat.

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IC3

Every cat that i have ever had and have now, seemed to be totally amazed with straws..Yes straws, Give her a straw and see if it keeps her occupied..or anything that makes noise like a plastic wrapper..Or give her a big box and throw a straw in it..I'm sure you know that cats love to be inside of something where they think they can't be seen.

I don't know if your cat is actually meaning to eat everything she plays with or that she plays with it so much that she just eventually bites through it.

Cat's will play with anything especially if it makes noise, It's that killer instinct.

I can't say that my cats chew on everything, I like to give them grociery bags makes lots of noise and it's somewhere for them to hide.

I think your garlic issue on your fridge may be part of the reason that cats love to be up high..They can see more of whats going on and garlic rolls which will engage the killer instinct.

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Cadwiz

My cat likes to chew on things, not quite as dedicated as your cat though. She is odd in the fact that I believe she loves me. My wife says she hardly makes a peep all day. As soon as she hears my car pull up, she starts purring and shaking and meowing until I pay attention to her. She is not like that with my wife or daughters, just me.

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Ripsaw

Does she chew on you or other people? A cat that is allowed to play in this fashion may turn to biting, especially since kneading and scratching on objects has been taken away as an outlet for stress.

As for objects or food, my cats enjoy the odd bagel or danish when they think they can get away with it. Also, twist ties, of any sort, and cardboard that they rip off of the boxes we have in the house.

If you might recall, my cats are scared to death of grocery store plastic bags. The noise makes them remember a self induced trauma. Hilarious to no end.

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DEI37

No, the kitty doesn't bite people, really. If she gets upset, and cantankarous, maybe, but it's definitely NOT normal behavior. She's just started this phase recently.

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Grasshopper Green

I don't remember any of our cats ever having this sort of behavior. We did have one that liked to chew on humans though, that was always a joy. He would lie in wait in the stairwell and attack as you walked down the stairs; he would hide in paper grocery sacks or boxes and attack as you walked by; he would attack pretty much anytime. He was pretty aggressive, but only with us, not anything else.

raeanna74

No she's not allowed to chew on me or the kids. I've discouraged the use of her teeth with the kids for fear of injuring kids that I watch.

As for the garlic bulbs. They were in a flat mesh bag and consequently did not roll at all. She acted over the garlic as other cats would with catnip. On that note she's almost immune to the effects of the fresh catnip my parents grow for their cat. She would take the garlic and hide it. Sometimes going back to it later. I found it in some odd places under things and once in a small box of kids toys. I know it wasn't the kids because I watched her drag it away and tuck it somewhere more than once.

Oh and on the subject of hiding it. I've watched her drag small articles of clothes or washcloths that she manages to get ahold of and pulling them over her dish effectively hiding it. That I can sortof understand but I've not seen any other cat do that either.

It's not like she's playing with these things either - she chews with viggor and then leaves it. She PLAYS with her balls and toys, throwing them in the air and batting them around like a normal cat. When she chews she'll just sit there with it between her paws nawing on it the way a dog does a bone.

As for what she's scared of - the new doorbell we got. I'm terrible. Ringing it while she's sound asleep and sending her into catatonic fits. It's just too hilarious to resist once in a while.

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*Nikki*

Ask your vet. It might be a dietary need that your cat is missing. Sometimes erractic behavior like this can really mean there is something else wrong.

K-Wise

To my knowledge eating plastics and rubbers is actually quite bad and could be deadly. They can't be digested properly. Shame you can't keep her from doing that sort of thing. I'd ask a vet about it and see if he recommends anything. It's not healthy for the cat to be chewing and eating things like that...especially if they can break into shards that could tear up it's insides. I understand cats are a bit of an exception..they can eat chicken bones, which splinter and dogs can't but still they aren't invincible.

Asta!!

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ICER

I have two cats, The male will chew on anything plastic. its like candy to him, The female however could care less about plastic.

I've had many cats in my life. and he is the first one I've seen that likes to do this. when I did some research on it. the only thing I found is tha some cats suck on wool because they were weined to young (which the male also does) so it may have something to do with that. since he was weined at a very young age, And the female wasn't.

But that's just a theory.

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alicat

I have had cats all my life and my male "Grover" that I've had a little over a year is the same as your cat. He doesn't eat, but instead, chews plastic. We have a very dinky bathroom with no storage so unless guests are coming over, the four pack of toilet paper sits on the floor. Grover constantly gnaws on the bag as if it was candy. He does the same with grocery bags or any type of plastic baggage type material that happens to be one the floor. At first this behavior freaked me out thinking he was going to choke or suffocate, until I realized that he doesn't eat the plastic, just chews on it.

The only time I spazzed was when he was chewing on a rubber band that had fallen on the floor and could easily have choked him. I got it away quickly. It is indeed an odd thing for cats to do and I have no idea what explains this behavior. I thought Grover was just the weirdest cat on Earth.

Ali

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Grancey

One of my cats has a fetish for stamps, the glue on envelopes and tape. If he finds tape on a box he will try to pull it off and chew on it. Many stamps have been sent through the mail with teeth marks in them. So, of course, I have adjusted to this and no stamps, tape, or envelopes are left out for him to find. But these are the only items he is strangely attracted to.

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bing bing

According to Freud, she has an oral fixation.

raeanna74

We try real hard to keep rubber bands, erasers, and other foamy chewable things put in drawers or cupboards. Plastic bags too. If we forget or don't realize it though she's like a magnet to them.

I think I may check with the vet cause I've not seen a cat that is this "oral". It's almost like it's comforting to her. She does seem to do this more if we leave her alone for a day or more. Even if we leave plenty of food. We were gone for two days once and when we came back I found chewed up things all over the house. One thought is that it could be a "revenge". Though I always though cats weren't that attached to people. She follows me around the house a lot though. She's almost always in a room where a person is.

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My Karma just ran over your Dogma.

R-Dubb604

ya right my cat does that too hes fuckin crazy n breaks into the cubbard to eat the catnip ahahahaha

skier

Could it be she's chewing to relieve pain? Dogs go through this phase when their teeth grow in, and they chew everything. It could be some sort of cat toothache.

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raeanna74

She's 1 1/2 years old now. No new teeth at this point that I know of. Or do they get adolescent teeth?

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"Always learn the rules so that you can break them properly." Dalai Lama
My Karma just ran over your Dogma.