My cat is a freak!

by Scully 23 Replies latest social humour

• 

  Scully

  We adopted an abandoned kitten almost a year ago. At the time, she was just a little ball of fluff and my youngest found her caught in the hedge near the house. She couldn't have been more than 5 weeks old at the time.

  She's recently gotten into the habit of chewing plastic. She'll pull a piece of plastic wrap out of the trash bin and drop it in her water dish. She'll hop up on to the kitchen counter and chew through the plastic of the bread bags. Whole wheat only, she won't touch white bread. I've started storing the bread in a sealed container to keep her from getting at it.

  This morning, I caught her chewing the plastic tips on the spring door stoppers. She's also been caught chowing down on the plastic-coated handle for Mr. Scully's Lazy-boy recliner chair.

  It can't be good for her! Maybe she needs a plastic chew toy, like a dog's? Any suggestions?
• 

  Elsewhere

  She's recently gotten into the habit of chewing plastic.

  Ugggg! My two cats do the same thing... and to make it worst they end up puking all over the carpet after the plastic gets hung up inside them.

  I have come up with two things that have resolved 99% of the plastic chewing:

  1. Hide ALL plastic so the cat cannot get to it or find it.
  2. Give the cat a replacement to chew on.

  Regarding #2, I went to Pets-Mart and bought a small bag of "Cosmic Kittyherbs".
  http://www.fuzzycat.com/amazon2/B0002DGJ0A/Cosmic_Kittyherbs.html

  This is not cat-nip... instead it is seeds that grow grass the cats love to chew on. Just plant some in a small flower pot and in a few days your cats will be chewing on the grass instead of your plastic. An added benefit is that my cats prefer this grass to my other house plants... so the other plants are left alone.
• 

  gumby

  Any suggestions?

  I wish I had some suggestions.

  Scullymeister, my wife and I too got a cat that was dumped along with some others and my daughter rescued this one as it came to her. It was so precious!

  Now, the little shit shreds the toilet paper rolls.... while they are on the rollers, tears up newpaper( not too bad), try's to put her paw in my bowl of ice cream while I'm eating it.....won't eat normal wet kitty food...it has to be real human tuna like we eat. If this cat didn't love me so much I'd....Id........well, I ain't sure.

  Gumby
• 

  carla

  My cat likes the ring off the top of a milk carton and wings across the floor as well as being chewy! Easily replaced. Is your cat swallowing the plastic or just chewing? Teething? I had a cat that loved to chew those squishy rubbery toys kids get (like snakes) he would actually eat them and I would be worrying about having to bring him to the vet and the kid would be crying about the chewed snake! haha, fun days. Lesson for the kids, put your stuff away.
• 

  Lady Lee

  I had one cat that did this. The other avoided plastic entirely. But the one that did - unbelievable the lengths he would go to to get plastic. Plastic shopping bags were the worst. Well he couldn't swallow them but I would find his teeth marks in them.

  The most dangerous was that curly string that are tied onto balloons. If allowed he would swallow yards of the stuff and then start choking on it. I hear tinsel is the same for them - very dangerous.

  Other than hiding everything or making little covers on the things you can't remove.

  Gumby - I was told by my vet that the worst thing is to give real tuna to cats. Tuna is addictive to them. Believe me I could never eat tuna without the cats going crazy. Try buying tuna flavored cat food and mix it slowly with the real tuna. Over time mix less and less tuna in with the cat food so you are weaning the cat off it. It worked great for us. Eventually they were eating the cat food.
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  unclebruce

  A lot of modern plastic is made from natures cat food - mice. So if you give your cat a real mouse to play with it will no longer be interested in your plastic home furnishings.
• 

  Lady Lee

  BTW Whatever you do buy to replace the plastic chewing make sure it is something the cat cannot break off and eat and that it is too big for him to swallow. A lot of this stuff can block up the cat and require surgery.

  unclebruce If it wasn't for the mouse on his head I would think you had a picture of my non-plastic eater.
• 

  unclebruce

  g'day Lady Lee,

  That pic is from a site about unusual friendships - apparently the mouse and the cat get along fine.

  we had a gentle tortoise shell cat and as she grew old my eldest started buying her special little tins of premium food - tuna with russian caviar or something. Anyway, she started getting fussier .. but still loved roast pumpkin.
• 

  looking_glass

  I was told by my vet that it was because I did give her enough exercise. So now I try and play with the cat as much as possible. It does seem to have helped. But I also keep most plastic things away from her.

  What is the favorite thing that you cat does? Mine likes to sit on the top of my head and burrow her head in my hair and then just purrs and purrs. I love that.
• 

  unclebruce

  Our 'shelly' was a very gentle cat. I bought her home as a kitten and had to teach her to be a cat - climb trees etc.. (though she could have done without the swimming lessons). She loved being dressed up by the girls in nice jewellery and such but if she saw me she'd get embarrassed. She didn't like being laughed at and got very annoyed if a let a swear word slip (just like my wife and daughters).

  I haven't a photo here but she looked identical to this little fluff. Not long before she died (at 18 years) I took her to the bush where she loved the beach, was fascinated by kangaroos, freaked out by goannas and eagles and not impressed with possums.