Eating kitty litter?

My newest kitty, Luna, is eating the kitty litter - I've never had a cat do this before. She also licked the metal flue pipe of our (thankfully off) woodburner - is she lacking something?

The kitty litter is made from NZ Zeolite - a mineral based litter - looks like little white stones.

Luna is fresh from 2 weeks in the local Animal Control shelter - I have no background info on her. I just got her 10 hours ago!

Pica can be a sign of mineral deficiency among other things. Cats with pica should be examined by a vet (as should any new cat in your household anyway) to rule out a medical cause. Is the cat litter you are using clumping? If so, remove it immediately--use newspaper or something until you can find a suitable replacement. Because clumping litters form solid chunks, they are can result in blockages in your kitty's intestines. Dogs who sneak into cat boxes have sometimes required surgery to remove the pieces of litter blocking their digestive tract.

Here are some links that describe pica:
http://www.vmth.ucdavis.edu/home/beh...vior/pica.html
http://www.cat-world.com.au/PicaInCats.htm

And congratulations on your new addition!

On the Feline-CRF-Support group site, they caution people to realize that eating litter (and also cement licking) can be a sign of anemia. My parents' 19 year old CRF cat was eating litter. They took him to the vet and found out that his hemoglobin level was critical at 3.5 (norm 9.0 - 15.1). A level of 3.5 is nearly incompatible with life. He needed to be put on Epogen shots to rebuild his blood levels. Please have your cat thoroughly checked out by the vet. Low hemoglobin levels can be caused by many things besides CRF, such as flea induced anemia or Hemobartonella infection. It could just be simple pica, but you certainly don't want to take the chance that it is caused by anemia.

Good luck!

Pookie & the girls

Originally Posted by dlmckay

My newest kitty, Luna, is eating the kitty litter - I've never had a cat do this before. She also licked the metal flue pipe of our (thankfully off) woodburner - is she lacking something?

The kitty litter is made from NZ Zeolite - a mineral based litter - looks like little white stones.

Luna is fresh from 2 weeks in the local Animal Control shelter - I have no background info on her. I just got her 10 hours ago!

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You've gotten some good advice already...I'm just curious, how old is Luna?

If it was just the litter (minus the flue pipe) I would guess that this cat is very young...little kittens tend to eat litter. But with you noticing the flue pipe...well yes she could be lacking something, as the others said.

Please take her to the vet asap to get checked out. Before Alley died, anemia was one of the problems with the disease she had, and she did lick the fireplace poker and other similar objects. Check her mouth, do her gums look pale at all? Please don't take any chances with her health and get her to the vet right away. Also, if any of the litter she ate is the clumping kind it can cause a blockage in her stomach and intestines which is VERY dangerous.

Originally Posted by dlmckay

My newest kitty, Luna, is eating the kitty litter - I've never had a cat do this before. She also licked the metal flue pipe of our (thankfully off) woodburner - is she lacking something?

The kitty litter is made from NZ Zeolite - a mineral based litter - looks like little white stones.

Luna is fresh from 2 weeks in the local Animal Control shelter - I have no background info on her.

I just got her 10 hours ago

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!

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I believe this is your answer. If you have only had her ten hours then she wants to sample everything that is new. Persi did exactly the same thing when I brought him home from his mother and he found a new litter.

Thanks for the advice guys... I haven't noticed anymore wierd eating and she's now used the litter for its original purpose.

A trip to the vets is scheduled for next weekend as we need to spay her and have a swollen paw looked at - there's a swollen spot appeared over her eye too, but that could be introductions with Willow

I've looked at her gums and they're a nice healthy pink, not pale at all.