My cat chews and licks plastic bags

[Shy Spirit]

I worry that he will end up with a bowel obstruction, or something just as bad. I shudder to think of all the chemicals he must be ingesting. He really likes the taste of plastic! (When I take the plastic away, he sits licking his chops to get every last trace of the flavour.) Of course, I keep the plastic bags out of reach, but he manages to find them! He chews garbage bags, shopping bags, sandwich bags, any clear plastic packaging - what ever he can get his little mouth on.

Does anyone know what will cure him of the habit? Someone suggested putting hot pepper sauce on a bag, but I don't want to do that to him.

[Intrinsicat]

I wouldn't worry about it - I've got a 12 year old cat who has done that same thing as long as I can recall! He's fine... and I have that on good authority since he's recently had the gamut of blood tests for a teeth cleaning procedure. One urinary tract problem YEARS ago that I am sure had nothing to do with the licking and biting of plastic.

Of course my cat doesn't actually consume pieces of plastic - he leaves lots of bite holes, but no tears or anything. If he actually swallows pieces of plastic maybe check with your vet. I DID have a cat (not the same one) who swallow a whole bunch of thread-thin gold wire! She spent the weekend at the vets, and somehow managed to pass it all safely. Phew!

[Shy Spirit]

Wow - the wire incident must have made you frantic with worry! I don't know for sure whether he actually swallows any plastic - there's never any sign of it in the litterbox, but he does rip and tear the bags. I meant to mention it to the vet at his check-up, but it slipped my mind. (The vet had so much praise for my baby, I got all distracted!) I think I will give the vet a call.

Thanks!

[sunshines_minis]

I also have a plastic licker.Just get rid of the plastic bags. I hide my trash cans in cabinets. Other then that all plastics are kept put up where we can't get to it. Just like baby proofing.

[stantilda]

I have one, too. M'Tilda (avatar) doesn't eat any of the plastic, she just licks. I just let her do it because she doesn't eat it. My other cat, Ivan, is a whole other story. I have to be very careful about what we leave out. He eats hair, bugs, dirt, basically anything that is on the floor. I once caught him trying to eat a three inch long screw. I have also had to take a paper clip out of his mouth. His favorite is my hair. We let out cats sleep with us and Ivan likes to curl by head and start licking and chewing my hair. I end up sleeping with a sheet wrapped around my head. I know, I know. We could just lock him out, but then we have to lock all four out of the bedroom and that makes us all sad.

The vet said that Ivan may have pica. This is a disorder humans can have in which they feel an urge to eat inedible items. He told us we could try hot sauce, etc.. but it is really a mental disorder and would most likely not work for him. He even eats his medicine from the vet by just handing it to him. He comes running if you shake his capsule bottle. We just try to keep things off the floor.

[lynnae]

I thought I was the only one with pets with bad habits. lol I use to have a cat that licked lamp shades. I have no ideal why. We just kept the lamps unplugged incase she knocked it over. Which she never did. What we will do for our pets.

[Violet2Dawn]

Our local pet supply store sells a "bitter apple spray" that is sure to do the trick. It won't harm them, but they soon learn that what ever you spray it on is off limits. =)

[TinyJudi]

My cat Newman (in avatar) has the same problem, but he does actually ingest the plastic occassionaly. One day my hubby had to slowly pull a 6 inch long piece of plastic out of the cat's throat. He was choking on it. He loves those plastic bags that they load you down with at the grocery stores <and please tell me, whatever happened to paper grocery bags >. I have also found small pieces of aluminum foil in his litter box, mixed in with his...well, you know. He does not like large trash bags, as my son has scared him with them so many times that all you have to do is open the cupboard where they are kept, and he will run off. He will sneak into the bathroom and chew on the plastic wrapper the 12 roll TP comes in and recently started chewing on the plastic bag with rabbit food in it. I don't know what to do with him. My other cat Lainey doesn't chew on anything. He is a good baby.

[Annette]

Little Roo loves chewing on the bags that the loaves of bread come in, I just think he's trying to get to the bread. Luckily he hasn't ripped any plastic off. . yet . He likes playing in the plastic shopping bags, I haven't noticed any holes in any that he plays in. Basically he takes and chews on anything he gets his little mouth around, just like a kid . Precious doesn't do any of that, thank goodness.

[Shy Spirit]

Baby-proofing is hard to do with teenagers in the house! Even the bags of cat food have to be kept in covered containers, as he likes the semi-plastic coating on the paper bags.

The other two cats (my son's) don't bother with plastic - they go after my minis. Especially wooden chairs. I always forgive them, but one of them recently chewed a corner of my Haunted House! It's a work-in-progress on my kitchen table. Tai (the Siamese) gets jealous of anything that takes my attention away from him. I was painting a wall of the HH, and suddenly Tai jumped over the dh and into my lap! I almost knocked over the paint - I was so startled! :whistle:

[madhatter]

My cat likes to chew bags too, I believe it is because of the hormones that plastic contains. This is why i never use any plastic in the microwave. Its crazy what is in things.!!!!!!!

I keep all my plastic in a closet, I catch the cat licking other things though like luggege and othe plastic things. The more i learn about what is in the products we are using the more it scares me. I just recently learned that they use benzene in laundry detergent to make your clothers white. It adds floresent particles to the clothes, this is why they glow in the dark. Crazy eh.

jenn

[rbytsdy]

I also have a plastic licker.Just get rid of the plastic bags. I hide my trash cans in cabinets. Other then that all plastics are kept put up where we can't get to it. Just like baby proofing.

No cats here, but my male (avatar) will eat just about anything-- socks, pillow stuffing and rug-type items are his favorites. Anything from nails to furniture to tissue paper to dropped dollhouse parts! He has even chewed up half the door frames in the house, about two feet up from the floor!

I used to leave rugs for him to lie on (every week or so, "oh, he's eaten half his rug again, better get another one") but I stopped that really fast after one harrying episode in which he was leaking from both ends-- couldn't keep anything down, and had absolutely no appetite-- I knew something was really wrong when he let our other dog have his dinner! After a late night at the emergency vet's, we figured out that he had a big ol' impaction of rug-stuff blocking one of his sphincters. He ended up working it out of his gut the next day, but otherwise it would've taken surgery to remove it.

I don't even give him rawhide now, because he eats it instead of just chewing on it; any chew-toy has to be rated for a "power-chewer", and the house is proofed pretty well now. I guess you could say that I am very sensitive to this issue now!

[Shy Spirit]

That's what I'm worried about - at least your little guy managed to get rid of the impaction without surgery.

Jenn, I didn't know that plastic bags contain hormones. The things they add nowadays.

I recently found out that margarine is one molecule away from plastic!

[Wolfie]

Poetry Man loves to eat paper! Especially tissues! We have to hide the tissue boxes and/or toilet paper as he eats it! He's been doing this since I got him in 1988. Yes, what we do for our pets and their bad habits. Tigger only eats his food, some people food when he can get it, and Princess's dog food. He has no other faults! But Poetry Man drives me crazy. He empties wastebaskets in the night but only to get the tissues!

Wolfie

[aggiemae]

Bitter apple is much safer that pepper. you can buy it at big pet stores and most feed stores. 8 oz will last you the rest of your life.

[heidiiiii]

No plastic eaters here.

When I was a kid, our cats liked to lick the front of old polariod photos. I think it was the chemical left on the pic back then. I have never seen a cat do that to modern photos. I dont put tinsel on the tree because cats love the eat that stuff. It can become wrapped up in their intestines. I had the gross duty of chasing the cats around the relieve them of their *tinsel trail*.

[madhatter]

I did not know that about margarine, i only eat butter. As for photos yes if i leave them out, they get licked too. LOL I found some metal tinsel that is twisted but my cats bent that too trying to eat it. They are not able to injest it though so i would feel safe with it out, now for my kids no way. lol

[Shy Spirit]

Our local pet supply store sells a "bitter apple spray" that is sure to do the trick. It won't harm them, but they soon learn that what ever you spray it on is off limits. =)

I will try that.

Bitter apple is much safer that pepper. you can buy it at big pet stores and most feed stores. 8 oz will last you the rest of your life.

Thanks for telling me where to look for it!

I dont put tinsel on the tree because cats love the eat that stuff. It can become wrapped up in their intestines. I had the gross duty of chasing the cats around the relieve them of their *tinsel trail*.

We never use the tinsel either - I can't figure out why the cats love it so - but they do.

I did not know that about margarine, i only eat butter.

I would love to eat butter, but I'm lactose intolerant, and butter just "kills" me!

[Gramma Kathy]

Does anyone know what will cure him of the habit? Someone suggested putting hot pepper sauce on a bag, but I don't want to do that to him.

I had a cat that licked plastic bags. She never ate them though and she was actually kind of picky about which ones she licked. She liked new ones best. The only thing I could ever to do stop her was keep the bags where she couldn't lick them.

Kathy

[Gramma Kathy]

I did not know that about margarine, i only eat butter. As for photos yes if i leave them out, they get licked too. LOL I found some metal tinsel that is twisted but my cats bent that too trying to eat it. They are not able to injest it though so i would feel safe with it out, now for my kids no way. lol

Older photos are made with gelatin. I have a cat now that will lick them if he can get to them.

Kathy

[beccas1963]

Chase does the plastic and well Ruby licks tape, she dont eat it but she sure licks it gets this far off look on her face when she does it lol.

Bec

[cjack]

Yes, cats do indeed eat the strangest things. We have 4 Scottish Folds and all 4 of them have their own little "issues". Pauly, my avatar, likes to eat brooms and ceramics. When we bring the fireplace tools down from the attic, I have a ziploc bag covering the broom tool because he likes it so much. And all my cats love boxes. Not to play in them as much as eat them. They can shred a box in 13 seconds flat. My favorite toy for them is about once a month I will put about 15 pieces of tissue paper (you know, the kind you wrap presents with) all over the floor in the den. They love to dive thru it and I give them about 24 hours of that kind of fun. They get lots of exercise that way. The den is a mess but we all enjoy it! Don't you just love them? B)

[rosiebear]

My cats love to lick plastic bags as well; however, no one actually eats it. One thing that annoys me is that they also love to chew on my bonsai and orchids but not on my cheap plants. I suppose the good news is that at least they are not poisenous.

The grosest story that I ever heard was my co-workers daschund whom ate a used tampon. It was actually sticking out of his anus and they had to pull it out . . .

Katharina

[Shy Spirit]

Katharina .... I'm speechless.

[Deb]

I had a cat that licked plastic bags. She never ate them though and she was actually kind of picky about which ones she licked. She liked new ones best. The only thing I could ever to do stop her was keep the bags where she couldn't lick them.

Kathy

Napoleon never used to lick plastic bags until one day he heard Kathy telling me about Sarah's plastic bag fixation. His little eyes lit up and he had that look on his face of "Oh, I may have to give that a try". He did. He's been obsessed with licking plastic bags ever since. He seems to like the colored ones best but he'll lick any plastic bag he can get this tongue on. The only exception is the trash bag in the garbage can. For some reason, he never tries to lick those. He'll lick them until they go into the can and after that, he turns his nose up at them.

Deb