Re: Biting Wood

My cats Texas and VonRey love to chew on the corners of magazines and books. I think they are just leaving their mark. It may also feel good to them. I've never seen them eat it. :)

Re: Biting Plastic

I have one cat that incessantly chews on plastic. I worry that it may cause her digestion problems, but
except for vomiting from time to time, she seems fine. I would like to break her of the habit, however.

Re: Biting Plastic

Oh....not HARD plastic! She enjoys chewing on plastic bags, for example.

Re: Biting Wood

My girl Toes LOVES to riffle thru a stack of papers and find a sheet or two to rip off tiny little bits of paper.
She only does it with uncoated papers. She sits on top of the stack (5 or 50 sheets - it does not matter!) and riffles for a good couple of minutes. She clearly enjoys doing it, I often wonder if she was a bureaucat or accountant in a previous life!

I have also wondered what triggers it - she is already on a prescription diet so I am not sure why she would be doing this.

About the wood - could it be some kind of effort to soothe a sore tooth or something like that?
I would worry about splinters - unless she is just leaving tootharks.

I am sorry about your loss. I hope you and your kitty are recovering your equilibrium.

Re: Biting Wood

When my son moved back to Illinois from Florida, he brought his 2 cats with him. Both of them stayed under our bed, tore the sheeting off of the box springs and chewed on the wood in the box springs. Our vet said that it was due to the stress of the move & after about 6-8 months, they finally quit. My calico loves paper, she will chew newspaper, magazines, books, etc. & after being checked out by our vet, it was decided that this is a territorial things because she thinks that she is QUEEN of the house.

Re: Biting Wood

My Cat Chews on wood all the time, and he is 8 monthes, the vet says he does it to feel confident.

Re: Biting Wood

My son's cat totally chewed up their mini blinds. They replaced them with some hard "cat proof" wooden blinds. the first day they were up, the cat tried to chew so hard that she literally shook. She did leave teeth imprints, and this seemed to frustrate her to no end. She is still trying to bite through the blinds. Doesn't this seem like a frustration situation with the cat, in that she doesn't want anything blocking her vision of the outdoors? They close the blinds during the day when they are not at home. This is an indoor cat.

Re: Biting Wood

If this behavior wasn't going on before your husband's passing, perhaps your kitty is stil feeling some stress. You might try to spray some bitter apple on the wood or other spray that cats don't like the smell of.

To those whose cats chew on plastic bags - PLEASE throw them away immediately or put them out of reach. Very dangerous if eaten & can also smother.

Re: Biting Wood

Debscalicats: My three kids all like to be able to look out at the world as well. It does sound like your son's cat is wanting to see what is happening around her. I solved the proplem of closing the blinds by putting a cat perch up in their room and they are now happy.
As for strange chewing habbits, my little girl loves anything sticky. I have caught her with band-aids, tape, address lables, boxes with tape, etc. My vet is ok with this as long as she is not making herself sick.
Whenever my back goes out, she likes to lay on my tummy right above the injury. I really beleive that animals try to comfort us when we are not well. They also greive when they loose someone in their lives. I try to make sure that they all know what is going on and that they will be ok.