chew chewy chew chew chew

(i had this posted in health and nutrition, think it's better in behavior forum)

Jassie's chewing habits, are they unique?? It began with chewing off the tails of mice. Now, she severs any of those bouncy toys on elastic. Not to get the toys down, just to sever it, then she is finished with it. Loves wooden rulers, and magnets too! Destroys mice, until they are flat. Don't leave those around unsupervised anymore! She never chews on wires! phew! I've tried giving her chewy teething sticks for cats (even though she is not teething anymore), frozen treats, hard crunchy treats, it's not the same.
It really seems like she enjoys severing objects. ALthough, as I type this she is attempting to get a grip on the metal part of a clip board!! That wasn't very successful!
Any advice, is this normal? I wish I could give her rawhide like dogs chew on, she'd love it!!

First off I would say that wooden rulers, magnets, and strings are dangerous, she could get splinters, metal poisoning, or intestinal blockage. It sounds like her obsessive behavior, which could become OCD, is really to get attention. I would give her more play time and physical activity daily to help drain pent up energy. As well as hide, put away all objects of temptation every night to avoid attraction. You have to do both though for this to work, she needs daily physical exercise and sometimes we have to encourage this to avoid unwanted behaviors.

thanks for your response.
Just so you know I don't let her chew on any of those dangerous things mentioned. As soon as she would go for them I put them away. When it became more frequent they were put out of sight for good.
thanx again

How old is your kitty? Is she teething? (anywhere from 3 months to 7-8 months old).

The best thing for a teething kitty is bendy straws. Buy at least one box of them and scatter them everywhere. The plastic is strong enough she can't chew right through them. As soon as they get a little chewed up, throw them away so she can't swallow little plastic bits that come off.

Even if she's not teething, I'd recommend trying this. Having appropriate stuff to chew on will help.

Laurie

Originally Posted by LDG

How old is your kitty? Is she teething? (anywhere from 3 months to 7-8 months old).

The best thing for a teething kitty is bendy straws. Buy at least one box of them and scatter them everywhere. The plastic is strong enough she can't chew right through them. As soon as they get a little chewed up, throw them away so she can't swallow little plastic bits that come off.

Even if she's not teething, I'd recommend trying this. Having appropriate stuff to chew on will help.

Laurie

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I would have to disagree with this suggestion. Its way to dangerous to encourage a kitty to chew on plastic for many reasons. Choking, intestinal blockage, poisoning from ingestion, and most important the association of chewing on other similar plastics.

That's why the bendy straws in the first place. They are made of a strong/flexible enough plastic that they can't easily be chewed apart, and it's easy to see when they're getting chewed enough that they need to be thrown away. This was recommended to me by someone with long-time experience in rescuing cats and working with kittens, and it's gotten many, many, many cats successfully through teething and helped redirect many cats from inappropriate chewing and biting.

It seems to me that for a cat that likes to bite through things, the plastic straws would be something satisfying to the cat - but not easy to get through before they could be safely tossed. Certainly safer than something that splinters, magnets, elastic or string. None of our six cats ever injested any part of the plastic.

But I'm always open to new suggestions. What would you suggest as an alternative?

Thanks,

Laurie

Hi I am new to posting i have been reading the behavior forum for awhile but just finally registered.

I have 2 cats that are about 3 and they both like to chew on plastic things -- what i found that they really like and it seems to cause them no harm because they dont chew to eat they just chew like they are teething -- is that study plastic wrap that is around a carton of ice cream ( the one that is like the safety seal )-- they have had it now for almost 1 1/2 yrs and it is still intact no pieces missing -- just alot more squished then it use to be... and they chew on it at least once or twice daily .

hope that helps ---

Mother of 2 - Pickles and Mosey

I have a cat that was 1 year in Nov. He chews on shoe strings or similar items. He has chewed thru two of my shoe strings so now I have to hide my shoes. He will also chew on the strings of fringe.
I found a rubber band on the floor the other day chewed into. Found a piece of it (luckily) when I cleaned the litter box. I thought it was out of the way but guess not.

Haven't been able to keep him off of anything as he ignores the carpet runner spikes like they weren't there. Pays very little attention to sticky tape. He knows better cause he jumps down when I come into the room or when I yell at him to get off.

I have just resigned myself to living with the cat from Hell.