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so what is it with cats and toilet paper?

post #1 of 20
12/4/09 at 6:52am
Thread Starter 
I sent the husband this lolcat yesterday - http://icanhascheezburger.com/2009/1...y-for-a-while/ - and he emailed back saying he doesn't understand why cats like to shred toilet paper.

Then we come home from work, and guess what? Squeaky has attacked our toilet paper, leaving a nice shredded mess in the bathroom and fang holes in what remains on the roll

So, what is it with cats and toilet paper?
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post #2 of 20
12/4/09 at 8:13am
Lol, I don't know. Thankfully mine leave it alone on the roll but if I give them a square (probably dumb on my part!) or a sheet of tissue paper they like to shred it. Actually, now that I think about it Seti shreds all paper that he can get his claws into. It must be like how some people enjoy popping bubble wrap. Just one of those satisfying things that some can't get enough of.
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post #3 of 20
12/4/09 at 8:24am
Mine leave toilet paper alone as long as I don't try to get civilised and put the roll on the hanger. If I do that, all bets are off and they will grab the end and unroll the paper all around the basement
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post #4 of 20
12/4/09 at 8:36am
Some years ago I came home from work to find that one of my cats at the time had teepeed the whole downstairs of my house! He grabbed the sheet in his mouth and ran around the funiture unrolling the entire roll. It was the funniest thing I've ever seen!
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post #5 of 20
12/4/09 at 8:47am
Why toliet paper?

Because it is great exercise that "wipes" them out!



I'm here all week, folks! Don't forget to tip your wait staff and drive carefully.

Dave
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post #6 of 20
12/4/09 at 8:48am


I have one that isn't interested in shredding it, he just wants to sit there and unroll it all. He only does this once or maybe twice a week when he's in an odd mood. We just roll it back up.

He used to be bad about going after the paper towel (holder mounted on the bottom of a cabinet), but because it didn't roll smoothly he would end up shredding that. I stopped using that holder.


I've thought about making a toy sort of like a toilet paper roll holder, but figured that if I went through the trouble he probably wouldn't like it.
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post #7 of 20
12/4/09 at 9:28am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave T View Post
Why toliet paper?

Because it is great exercise that "wipes" them out!



I'm here all week, folks! Don't forget to tip your wait staff and drive carefully.

Dave
And they say we Hoosiers have no sense of humor.

At the moment I only have problems with Topaz biting the roll while it is in the package.
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post #8 of 20
12/4/09 at 9:45am
Haha,funny thread.

Surprisingly my girls leave toilet paper alone...they go after everything else though,so it is only a matter of time before they realize how fun toilet paper can be!

I did wake up today to a mess of shredded paper though! I have bags of shredded paper for my rodents and well the cats found one (I try and keep them hidden from the cats for this very reason) and I woke up to piles and little shreds of this paper all over the house!!!


They are lucky they are cute and lovable!
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post #9 of 20
12/4/09 at 12:42pm
lol Dave,

With mine it's paper towel rolls..she can't stay away frome them! If she didn't look so cute all hugged up around the role doing her "ferocious predator" thing, I would take them away, but everytime I see her do it I laugh..she tried so hard to subdue her "prey" I just don't have the heart to take it away from her!
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post #10 of 20
12/4/09 at 3:53pm
Jack loves toilet paper, mostly only if its on the holder. Unless he's feeling sassy and wants to piss me off.

He knows my morning routine is get up, go potty, then feed the kitties (that has changed in the past 2 months so this hasn't happened recently). So Jack would watch mommy get up and then run to the bathroom and grab the toilet paper roll and run. It took me a few times to realize he was trying to speed up the morning process by eliminating mommy from going potty, thus he got fed sooner. He would even take the toilet paper while mommy was pottying. Now that he has figured out mommy doesn't get up, go potty and then feed kitties, he doesn't take my TP. Way to smart for his own good. He will shred paper towels if given the chance as well.

Harley and the kitten could care less about TP.

Leslie
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post #11 of 20
12/4/09 at 4:15pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by zephyer78 View Post
lol Dave,

With mine it's paper towel rolls..she can't stay away frome them! If she didn't look so cute all hugged up around the role doing her "ferocious predator" thing, I would take them away, but everytime I see her do it I laugh..she tried so hard to subdue her "prey" I just don't have the heart to take it away from her!
Isn't that the truth. Paper towels, toilet paper or anything on a roll will turn my kittens into angry beasts. That and my Christmas tree.
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post #12 of 20
12/4/09 at 6:38pm
Batman discovered toilet paper a couple months ago (at 6 months of age?). He would like to grab it, then run off to another room - taking the whole roll with him, then gnawing it apart..... He did that a few times (we hoped he'd get tired of it) before we put the toilet paper permanently in the cabinet. Then he discovered the tissue box.... So he'd pull out the top tissue(s) and shred them..... So now the tissues get shoved down (so the top one doesn't pop out)

I'm hoping he grows out of it

I always have my camera around... had to get evidence...

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post #13 of 20
12/4/09 at 7:24pm
Ha! I am so glad I read this post so I can give you no answer what so ever...but share some pics of Maia basking in the "Love of toilet paper"!


When she started cleaning up after herself....

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post #14 of 20
12/4/09 at 7:34pm
One thing I've learned is if you put the toilet paper feeding from the underside instead of from the top, it will reduce the destruction. Just not as fun to spin and spin the roll and not have a pile at the bottom to play with. I've just given up and started sticking it in the vanity (within easy reach of course) but even if it gets left on top of the sink the cats don't bother it if it isn't on the roll and an easy feed.

Also, this is another phase I think most go through (age 5-6 months to 1 1/2-2 years). Some never grow out of it but I've found most do.

The best I ever came home to was the entire roll (full roll when I left) laying in a pile on the floor, and the culpret actually peed ON THE PAPER! I guess he/she realized what it was for. We have 3 teenage kittens so can't really narrow it down. But that is when we stopped hanging it and putting it in the vanity!
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post #15 of 20
12/4/09 at 8:06pm
I remember the time that I didn't latch the vanity door where I stored the extra rolls of toilet paper. Spooky got a roll out during the night. When I got up in the morning, it looked like it had snowed inside the house. As far as I could tell, she must have grabbed onto the roll with her front paws and proceeded to kick the snot out of the toilet paper roll, shredding it into tiny little bits. Oh my goodness...what a mess!!! How I wish that I had a camera!
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post #16 of 20
12/4/09 at 8:42pm
None of my 4 cats have never shown any interest in toilet paper - this includes Lil' Jag who was a kitten when we adopted her.

The only thing they have destroyed is: several scratching posts, carpet and a sofa...........
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post #17 of 20
12/4/09 at 9:50pm
None of mine bother with toilet paper, paper towel however....


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post #18 of 20
12/4/09 at 9:54pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by missymotus View Post
None of mine bother with toilet paper, paper towel however....
They prefer more coverage!
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post #19 of 20
12/9/09 at 12:40pm
Thread Starter 
Ack! Although the initial post was made in jest, she's now shredded the toilet paper 3 times since! She went months with only doing it every once in a long while, and now it's like 5 times in a week!

She even did it when I was home sick from work yesterday, and paid a lot of attention to her, so I'm thinking it's not that she's lonely.

I don't want to have to keep the bathroom door closed while we're gone, cuz it needs to ventelate, but at this rate we're going broke on toilet paper
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post #20 of 20
12/9/09 at 1:22pm
All three of mine discovered the joy of TP early on and I quickly learned to stash it in a cabinet or a drawer.

One of the two boys (DooDad) is working on opening the cabinet door. He's been successful twice but still hasn't got it down just yet. May have to velcro the door shut...

I did find something to distract them though -- a foot long section of leather shoelace. Absolutely drives them CRAZY (must be the smell of the leather)!
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