Eating cat litter?

Mons, our cat we got from the rescue, is eating kitty litter. I started noticing him licking his litter box and acting as if he was going to eat the contents. Lately, though I've noticed him trying to actually eat the litter. Today he was by Luna's box, trying to eat the litter off the mat. I had to shoo him away from the mat, but it was as if he was trying to eat something delicious. I am worried about him.

Edit: He is small for his age, but also quite underweight. At last weigh in, he was 4.2 pounds.

He could have anemia and pica.
My cat did that and she was very anemic.
Thats why I quit using clay litter years ago.
my crf cat trys to eat litter also.
Can you get blood tests?

Ditto. I would take him in and have him tested for anemia ASAP. Anemia is a very important rule out when a cat is eating non-food items.

thanks. I will make him an appointment this morning.

I would immediately stop using clay litter (if you are) and change to a corn or wheat based such as Swheat Scoop or World's Best Cat Litter.

I would never use a clay litter with little kittens either.

I got him an appointment for Thursday. Both vets I use are full until then and even so, I have to drop him off in the morning or else I'll have to wait even later.

I am currently using clumping. I suppose that would be even worse then?


Edit: He is an older kitten (currently 8 1/2 months), but he is small for his age 4.2 pounds. So maybe the danger is still there. I might have to stop by the store today. Also, I bought him a vitamin paste the other day.

That is even worse.
I use Yesterdays News because Coco has asthma and she has ate litter before.
I would stay away from clay and clumping litters.
I hope heis ok.

The problem with clumping litter when cats eat it is that it is clumping, and it clumps when they eat it. It's kind of like if you ate dry cement. It has dangerous chemicals in it as well, and I think it is the silica in it that can coat their intestines and cause other problems.

We had the same problem with our Tuxedo. He was eating litter. The vet initially said, "oh that doesn't mean anything," but gave us vitamins for him just in case. We didn't do blood work at that time because he'd just recently had his annual work up, which showed no problems. But that was SUCH a mistake. Turns out he had an autoimmune disease bloom that made him very anemic. We fought for four years to save him and almost lost him twice. I don't mean to scare you, so wanted to add if your kitty is active, waiting until Thursday should be just fine. But if he's very listless, I'd find any vet to get him to ASAP.

With him being so underweight, if he's not just a really teeney kitty, it sounds like there's a health issue going on.

Laurie

just bought some yesterday's news. Now Luna's litterbox is in my room. He will try to consume the litter from her mat, but doesn't use her box. However, I don't want to force change upon Luna especially since she already has to contend with a new diet the past couple of weeks for allergies. I'll start with his box for now.