Cats with Pica Condition: Strange "Eating Habits"

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| Print | By Jo Singer | May 13, 2009 1:41 PM

Is your cat a "wool eater"? Have you discovered your cat chewing on items around your house which puzzle you? While not extremely common, there are kitties that seem to delight in ingesting objects which can totally mystify and frustrate their caretakers. In fact, I cannot recall how many times I have been asked about why some cats seem to be magnetically attracted to non-food items and appear to eat them with gusto. In my experience, Siamese and Oriental Shorthairs seem on the top ten hit parade for consuming these unusual items, demonstrating a passionate zest for wool sucking and chewing on wooden objects.

13-Cat Cloth.jpg But of all the cats with which I have shared my heart and home, the weirdest one was a half-Siamese neuter named Nemesis, whose obsession for wool nearly drove me crazy. One night when my husband was taking a shower, without thinking, he left his expensive brand new wool bathrobe on the bed. Several minutes later I heard a blood-curdling shriek emanating from the bedroom. I dashed into the room, worried that he may have fallen; thankfully he was fine. But I fell on the floor laughing after discovering that Nemesis had chewed a gigantic hole in the back of my husband's bathrobe.

The "cupboard was bare", so to speak. My husband became unglued as he modeled his "air conditioned" bathrobe and of course he was highly concerned about our cat. Two hours later, much to our relief, Nemesis upchucked the remnants of his "bedtime snack".

The ingestion of non-food items for both cats and humans is due to a condition called Pica. The underlying cause of this disorder is not precisely understood, but it is by its very nature, extremely dangerous to a cat, since indigestible items can become lodged in the intestines and cause considerable damage. A few of the more popular objects range from wool, leather, wood and shoes, to rubber, silk, rubber bands and even children's plastic toys.

Some experts theorize that this condition may be caused by nutritional deficiencies, or even feline leukemia, or feline Aids. If your cat is dining on non food delicacies, it is crucial to arrange an appointment with your veterinarian.

A practical and easy first line of defense which protects your cat and your possessions is to keep these objects away from your cat and stored safely out of reach. I also had a kitty that loved to chew on my stuffed animals, so sadly I had to relegate my collection into the closet.

For more information about Pica with helpful hints how to manage this condition, visit http://www.vmth.ucdavis.edu/home/beh/feline_behavior/pica.html

Have you lived with cats who had this disorder? Share your experiences and any suggestions that you found useful in dealing with Pica.

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Iniki May 13, 2009 4:21 PM

Well... our cats seem to be fine with the exception of plastic. They drive me bonkers because they will chew plastic every chance they get. I know it is not Pica though. I talked with some officials from a local plastics company and they assure me that they chew plastic because animal sterol (Fat) is used in manufacturing of plastics and the cats can pick up on that.
My biggest concern here is one cat. Missy Mouse thinks that chewing any and all cords is fine. We have to double cover ALL cords in the house. Our fear is that she will bite through one and electrocute herself. We tried using Bitter Orange and Bitter Apple. It works for her but attracts one of the other cats. He likes it, go figure. Thanks for a great article.

Diana May 13, 2009 5:51 PM

Humans can suffer from this condition as well. We had a maid once who would eat chalk and chance she got.

Vicki May 13, 2009 5:56 PM

Well I guess I am never surprised at what animals can ingest. I guess if they can eat poop without much problems, what's a little wool? LOL

jmuhj May 13, 2009 8:23 PM

No pica among the clowder, but there have been/are some plastic drinking straw biters, pen stealers, and how could I ever forget my beloved Queen Simba's penchant for chewing on phone cords? Once I had to go to Radio Shack after, in the middle of a conversation, the phone suddenly went dead. SIMBA had struck again! You can imageine my friend's surprise when I called him back and explained the reason our call was cut off. ;)

Janis May 13, 2009 10:54 PM

Wow, I never thought about cats eating thoss things. So far mine just love catching bugs and chewing them up. I love it too since they keep my home pretty bug free. The got their first taste of a toad this summer when we were in the backyard planting flowers. Yup, we tasted the little sucker and spent some time foaming at the mouth but after a little while all was fine and we don't taste those anymore. LOL We just swat them a little with our paw and make sure mommy sees it.

Ruth May 14, 2009 2:07 AM

In 35 years of cats,luckily we've never had this problem,and we have had some traumatised pusses come to us over the years. Rarely did we see this at the vets either.It's a very interesting article ! But something I really don't know a lot about.

Amy May 14, 2009 5:32 AM

I have had cats for over 40 years and never had a problem until the latest two, Dot the Snot and her sister Freckles came to live with us. They both had a strong desire to chew electrical cords for some unknown reason. I had to make sure there were no cord exposed anywhere in the house. I made sure that they couldn't get into spaces where there cords, which did not make them too happy. They have seemed to outgrow this passion for cords but I still to this day make sure they can not be reached by either of the two little demon kitties. lol

Martin May 14, 2009 11:50 AM

Ever wonder where the missing sock is?-huh and you thought it was a black hole. Purrrplexed no doubt.
Well Watson wheres the kitty cat ?

Robin May 14, 2009 1:15 PM

Loved this arttcle! Mr.GoodCat seems to enjoy plastic bags (which i had no idea contained animal fat) and it drives me crazy trying to hide every bit from him, only to clean up some kitty vomit in the morning! Thanks for all the info!

Rani May 14, 2009 5:31 PM

Hi, Iniki, LTNS!

When I got My Baby, a Ragamuffin, I noticed his propensity for chewing plastic. After I joined a 'Muffin list, I learned that practically all the other Muffins were plastic-chewers... and even in those households with other breeds of cats, the other breeds were not consistently plastic-chewers. They like rubbery-plastic, plastic bags, elastic, bubble-wrap, just about anything nice and chewy, but not harder plastic. Harder plastic, they like to chase around the kitchen floor,but not chew.

I worry because you know they don't just chew... they chew and swallow. Not healthy. And you have to really get rid of it, because guess who will dig it out of the trash, given half an opportunity?

When I was a kid, we had a Persian who chewed on the curly phone cords (remember those?); every year or so, we had to get a new cord for the phone.

Rani

Rhia June 13, 2009 4:53 PM

Just recently my 21month old female has started to eat the silicone from all my windows. Nothing i seem to do will stop her from striping all my windows and i am very concerned this will get caught up in her digeestive system. Does anybody have any other ideas as to how to stop this?
Rhia

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