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I think my baby has pica. He wants to eat tape, all kinds of tape:scotch tape, duct tape, electrical tape, it doesn't matter. He also tries to eat string and yarn and paper.
He was not fed properly by his former humans. I have taken sterling care of him for two and a half years, and he does not want for anything. However, he has not overcome this weird yearning for weird stuff. Can animals have pica also?
I think it's more that he enjoys the chewing and texture of plastics and tape. Most of my cats are entertained (to a degree) by chewing. Current kitty, JinxyBean, loves to chew on plastic shopping bags because she loves the sound it makes.
Have you given him any small cat toys for chewing? He might like crinkle balls, those metallic little pom poms. Also any small plush toy that gives a crinkle sound.
I had a cat that was gaga over tape. I found this out when using double stick tape on furniture to keep her from scratching on it. She was two years old or so when I got her and not trained to use scratching post. Most cats hate any kind of tape in any form. She would pull the tape off furniture and chew on it. Also went after packages that had shipping tape, wide cellophane tape.it was the only really strange thing she was attracted to. Plus, she was just weird.
She did like to play with yarn and string too, like most cats. But I found out that skinny string is very dangerous for cats. One day she got a hold of a piece of yarn about one yard long. I heard her gagging and had about a foot of yarn hanging out of her mouth. She was probably chewing and playing with it, it got stuck on her rough tongue and swallowed and kept swallowing. I gently pulled it out, about one foot or more had been swallowed. She might have ended up at vets with a serious problem if she had swallowed it all. The only string I would allow for play was the heavy duty work boot shoe string. Never had a problem with that stuff getting stuck on tongue.
Cats are attracted to strange and sometimes dangerous things. It's up to us to keep certain things away from them.
If it's just tape your cat is attracted to I don't see it as a serious issue. Just keep it away. I would imagine the adhesive is not good for them.
Max is at it again tonight. He was playing with a drawstring, the kind you close your sweatpants up with. He walked it in his mouth across the living room, and plunked it down in his food dish, right across his Chicken Hearts Fancy Feast. Like what does he think it is String Sauce? Does he want me to puree it in the blender, maybe dice it up and mix it with his Grilled Chicken Feast?
He's so crazy, I love him so much, he's my little weirdo.
I think it's more that he enjoys the chewing and texture of plastics and tape. Most of my cats are entertained (to a degree) by chewing. Current kitty, JinxyBean, loves to chew on plastic shopping bags because she loves the sound it makes.
Have you given him any small cat toys for chewing? He might like crinkle balls, those metallic little pom poms. Also any small plush toy that gives a crinkle sound.
I agree with this. I used to have a cat (Tasha) who absolutely loved chewing on plastic grocery bags after I'd come back from getting food. It got to the point where I had to make sure there was never a grocery bag left out, otherwise she'd chew and ingest hunks of plastic. I suspect it was simply the texture that appealed to her.
Our one cat, Chewy, LOVES to chew on plastic of any kind. Bags, tape, etc. We have to keep all of it away from him, and if we cut off a piece of plastic, he finds it and we will find him there chewing away. Not sure what his fascination is with it, but he has always been this way.
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