Please HELP! PICA kitty??!!

Hello everyone! Just wanted to get some opinions on my strange little kitty and any advice you guys may have to avoiding future vet visits. Our Java seems to have an OBSESSION (strong word yes, but completely warranted in this situation) with not only chewing on certain items, but also consuming them. We have taken her to the vet when she ate decorative beads out of a vase and had to have her tummy pumped... We have since removed the beads but she has moved on to other items.

Her favorite toys are large stuffed animals which she rolls around with, shakes, etc. but lately she has been actually chewing pieces off of them (ears, legs, tails) and swallowing them. She does not just chew lazily either. It is a very intense gnawing, much like a dog chewing on a bone. So, we took all of her stuffed animals away (very sad, as she digs through the dog's toy box looking for them) but she has since moved on to eating our shagged rug and this morning I found her gnawing at our bed skirt and the pieces were no where to be found, so I am assuming she consumed them.

We have spoken with the vet about this and he says that there is nothing that we can really do about it. I have read online about something called PICA and get pretty much the same conclusion.

We do know that she was weaned too early, because we got her from a lady giving them away outside of Walmart and when we took her to the vet, they said she was only 4 weeks old . Another possible cause that I have read about was nutritional deficiencies, but I highly doubt this was the case as we feed her a high quality, varied diet and her blood tests did not reveal and abnormalities.

Anyone have any experiences with this??

I have an 11 month old solid blue DSH named Oksana who loves to eat wierd stuff. Usually small pieces of plastic. she's chewed off the tips of teeth flossers on numerous occasions. So often that, I have to hide my flossers as she will break into the bag to get one. I can't be careless and leave a used one on the coffee table for even a minute, otherwise she's got it.

She also eats paper, tissues, and napkins any chance I accidentally leave one in her reach. There is more but I can't remember right now.

My cat Issac loves to eat paper.  I've never thought much about it because he throws it back up eventually and leaves little paper mache mounds on the floor.  But eating cloth can be dangerous if your cat manages to swallow a long thread.  One of cats at work likes plastic and last year we had to bring her to the vet because she ate a long piece of what we think was either packing tape or plastic wrap.  Luckily the vet got it out cleanly and it wasn't wrapped around her intestines, but that is a risk if your cat eats things she shouldn't.  It's impossible to keep everything away from, I know.  I wonder if there's something safe you can give her that would be okay for her to chew & eat.  Maybe even some kind of large dog treat? 
 

She is funny in the way that if Bruiser (her older doggie brother) is chewing on something, she thinks it is cool too. So, she sometimes gnaws on his deer antlers, nylabones (which she loves because she can sink her teeth into and which I love because they are too big for her to break pieces off). Unfortunately, she craves cloth for some reason. Blankets, pillows, our carpet, stuffed toys, towels, etc. The list goes on and on. I'm just wondering if there are any safe alternatives that are sort of cloth like that I can leave laying around.. Anyone familiar with the Kong Wubba dog toys? They are cloth but, very firm, thick cloth.

I'm sooo worried about coming home to a injured or even dead kitty. Do you think she might grow out of it? She is 9 months now.

"Obsession" is not putting it too strongly.   I'm just glad mine has not eaten beads.  but he has eaten a huge piece of a bath towel.   

I do let my fabric-eating cat have the Petstages dental chews with catnip stalks inside.  It takes him a lot longer to actually eat the thing and it seems he only eats small bits of it at a time, and he loves to chew on them.  so  i keep these around to try to distract him from chewing / ingesting  other things.  

   I got some kind of dog chew toy and it was not something he could really sink his teeth into the way he likes to , so he wasnt' interested.  He is really focused on fabric. 

The only benefit is he sure has clean, strong teeth. 

In some cases  i have heard that Prozac has helped cats with pica, but i haven't tried drugging him yet!  

How do you keep all of the fabric away from him? If we picked up everything, we would have no carpet, rugs, pillows, curtains, etc. And when he consumes something, do you rush him to the vet every time? I did at first, but my vet has gotten to the point that he tells me to keep an eye out and only bring her in if she starts becoming lethargic or acting unusual in any way.

It is just so frustrating .

I don't think I am comfortable with medication though, so that would definitely be last resort! Are the pet stages edible?

A cat that I look after often (catsitting), Fella, has a really strange obsession with chewing plastic, so his owners have to keep absolutely all kinds of plastic up on shelves. Kitties can be weird. :lol3:

I'm looking to compare notes, prevention and all things pertaining to abnormal eating habits.

My 10 month old kitten eats nylon cords and only ever vomited twice.  Far more has gone in than has, to my knowledge, come out but he has just had an untrasound and there is nothing abnormal there so show for the metres of stuff he has ingested.

My vet sent me some articles regarding prevention but they slant towards feeding nothing but frozen rats and mice to assuage their hunting instincts.  Yuk!

Frappe,  I'm sorry I didn't answer earlier.    I need to remember where i have posted.  

 It sounds like your kitty might have a worse case.  Mine  has certain things he mostly likes like stuffed animals,  fuzzy fabric,  terrycloth,  velveteen sort of things.   and  we keep those things away .  He does not actually eat the couch or the carpet though.  (knock on wood)   I do know someone who had a cat like that in the 1970s who had a very severe case, and  I think she had to keep her in a part of the house with no fabric she could get at.   These days in a case that bad they might try medication. 

 I admit I am like  you,  I stopped going  to the vet every time he ingests something small like part of a furry toy. but if he did that and then stopped eating or became lethargic, then i would.

The Petstages Dental Chews with the catnip stalks inside are not really meant to be edible.  he does end up eating some of it, but it takes him longer to chew  them up. so he gets in a lot of satisfying chewing on them. and when I notice one is getting torn up so that he is eating it,  I replace it.   (They do have little fabric strips on the corners and I cut those off, or he would eat those off first)  I don't know why it takes him  longer,   and I can't guarantee yours wouldn't gobble it up quicker.. 

So far he just has not been interested in non-fabric chew toys. except for real fur toys.  

It seems very much related to stress.  like he did it the worst when I first got him and was keeping him in one room, doing a gradual introduction to my older cat.  i was going in and spending time with him but he was  still alone for hours every day with no humans or animal friends and that is when he ate the huge amount of a towel up on a shelf and ate the inside and stuffing of a cat tunnel/ bed.    

Another time it got bad was after my old kitty died  ( they had become close friends). . 

This little pica culprit of mine,  Sammy,  has a strong need for attention and interaction.  and I did find that playing with him more,  using up more of his energy, seems to help.  He has a game he likes that is a combination of  fetch and chasing a  furry toy on a long leather strip attached to a stick.  I'm supposed to move the toy around like prey, then he starts chasing it round and round.  finally catches it, struts around doing a victory lap, then brings it back to my right hand.  and I give him lots of praise for being such a good "bringer".   I think he really feels he is doing something of vital importance.  

   BTW Sam is taking part in a  study by by Dr  Nicholas Dodman at Tufts , on fabric sucking/ chewing/ ingesting in Siamese and Birmans,   .  We sent in a DNA sample and detailed survey and pedigree  

  They had found a possible genetic connection to similar behaviour in Dobermanns.   and now they are studying it in these cat breeds.  

I've been really busy the last few days, but I really appreciate all the responses/support. PICA seems to be a lot more common than I thought so hopefully more and more studies will start leading to some possible coping mechanisms, because this darn thing can get so frustrating. I will have you guys know, that I ended up ordering the Kong Wubba toy off of Amazon (Yay Prime Shipping!) and gave it to my little stinker but three days ago. She has been gnawing on it for three solid days and she has not made ANY progress in getting a piece of it off. It is a very firm/thick Nylon toy (I ordered the small dog toy, as the cat Wubba is more of a furry toy and she would have eaten it) and I have high hopes for it. Additionally, the many "Legs" it has make for great fun and allow her to hunt/disembowel it.

For $6.99 it is a godsend and I plan on ordering a few more. Maybe it is something that will help your kitties?

I too have a PICA cat he two years old and eats all sorts of things - string, anything made of silicone, plastic, litter, hair, and about a bazillion other things I can't think of right now. He needs lots of extra attention and will even climb onto my chest and put his arms around my neck and try to nurse my hair! He LOVES long haired girls - which is why we named him Rico Suave:-D
He was a lost little kitten when we found him chasing fireflies in the yard and he has been a joy despite his thieving hijinks. I have had to"Rico-proof" the whole house which means baby locks on all cabinets and doors and the removal of all objects small enough to fit into his mouth. Also I provide tons of interactive toys like the tunnel that sounds like plastic bags when they run through, a huge three story cat condo, and his favorite toy made by Kong is a round plastic thing with a ball inside and he can stick his paws in to bat at it (I put dry kibble inside and he spends HOURS raking out food and crunching it down).

He still hunts for plastic and eats threads out of the carpet when bored or stressed but the toys really help - along with the"Rico proofing"

kittylover23 said:

A cat that I look after often (catsitting), Fella, has a really strange obsession with chewing plastic, so his owners have to keep absolutely all kinds of plastic up on shelves. Kitties can be weird.

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Swanie likes to chew on plastic, so I can't leave anything plastic laying around.  He also licks the couch and various blankets (like microfiber blankets).  Cindy got pica when she got the cancer and I guess she was anemic, she liked to scratch on the cardboard scratchers and then eat the pieces.  One kitty we had here for a week pulled a feather off a little toy and ate it before I could get it away from her. I freaked out a bit, but she was okay.  I thought dogs were bad for eating things they shouldn't, but I guess cats do it too.

Granted I'm no cat behaviorist, but I've learned that often times, "pica"-like behavior is a sign that kitty is not getting enough playtime. Terra, my cat, used to have bad pica, chewing on paper, cardboard, and even plastic. I'm also a gamer, and am often doing game-related stuff in my free time, but Terra eventually made it clear that she needs playtime late at night, usually right before bedtime. Now, whenever Terra requests it, usually at her accustomed time, I will take 20-30min to play with her until she tells me that playtime is over. Been doing this for a week, and I haven't recently seen her chewing anything at all.

Take note as to how much playtime kitty gets, and kitty's general energy level throughout the day, Your cat will often show signs that it's playtime, some subtle, others obvious. Terra will meow or act cute to get my attention, then lead me to the closet where her toys are kept, sit, look me in the eye, and meow. She is a rather expressive cat. =P

In either event, if you're at your wit's end, couldn't hurt to try. Keep me posted!