Odd Snacking ;)

Ok so now that i've established the reasons for why my "dancing cat" "dances" I want to find out if he's alone in what he chooses to snack on. I've noticed that he *loves* to eat rubber bands!!! (and hair bands for that matter as he will purposely knock down my wooden hair band box off my dresser to get at its contents!!!) I've also noticed that he loves gift wrapping string, as well as string and yarn in general!!! The newest trend in his odd snacking behavior was just found out recently.

Yesterday he found a cassette tape and started pulling out its contents,when I walked into the room where he was partaking in his little undercover binge, I found him smelling it and about to take a little taste of the tape's contents!! Naturally I yelled NO! startled, he stepped aside, and I placed it somewhere completely out of his reach. All well and good...or so I thought!!!!

This morning when he came into my room to say "good morning," like usual I noticed something sticking out of his...well his lower end It looked brown and thin and so i automatically diagnosed him as having tapeworms!!! So I picked him up and ran over to my mother's room where I shared my diagnosis. It turns out that I would be a VERY bad veternarian, as the thin, flat, brown thing that was protruding from his lower end was in fact part of a tape!!!!!!! I was so angered at him, but at the same time found it funny as it was as if he was saying "Ha! I got to my snack after all! With or without your approval!" What can I say? He's got personality...enough to drive me crazy!!

Of course I couldn't leave him like that so I stuck on a pair of latex gloves (I have them accessible and ready as I am an ex-medical/current dental student ) and, with a little trouble, pulled it out and sure enough it was tape!!!!

I feel that somehow my cat is a garbage collector!!!! He eats anything and everything...even cockroaches and moths (which he meows for me to spot for him and if the cockroach/moth happens to crawl/fly up a wall, I am expected to carry him up to it and follow it for hours carrying him until he catches and eats it!!!). So my question to all of you cat owners and lovers this time is...is my cat wacko or is his choice of snack normal for catkind?

Please keep in mind that I try to keep all these things out of his reach, but somehow his curiousity gets the better of him and he finds a way to get to them...hopefully curiousity won't kill him like the age-old adage "curiousity killed the cat!!!"

Our little girl Sassy, is relatively normal so far in the types of things she likes to wrap her teeth around...shoelaces, plant parts, fingers and toes...she hasn't swallowed anything though...

Striker, on the other hand, is notoriously attracted to "acquiring" cotton swabs from our waste baskets and tearing the cotton off the ends. He's also fascinated by used clothes dryer sheets, although he's never tried to eat any!

Moths, ladybugs, etc., both are VERY interested in these as prey. To the best of my knowledge, its just hunting instinct and we've generally been able to intercept and "capture and consume" of these items.

It sounds like you've got a great companion and so does your cat!

Enjoy!

Bill

Eating rubberbands, yarn, string, tape, etc can kill a cat!!!! Now that you know of your cat's wacky obsession with long skinny things, please make sure he has no more access to these things. I can't emphasize enough how dangerous this can be!

Thanks so much lotsocats for your post...the reality of it all has hit me hard. I can't bear to lose my kitty, he's just way too big a part of me, for me to lose him over his dangerous habits! I definetely will try and keep all these things away from him, but I know that it's not going to be very easy as he is extremely smart and extremely curious Maybe it's true then...curiosity killed the cat (((( i just hope that it's not mine!

My cats love bugs (we don't have any roaches right now, though they are quite common in TX) and Blackie has even attacked a mascara mark on the mirror thinking it's a fly! As long as it's not a poisonous bug, I bet it's fine. Though you're going to have to stop carrying that animal around to hunt. It's cute with a kitten but it's just silly for an adult cat!

I heard that one of the big problems with long skinny strings and elastics is that if kitty swallows them, they can get tangled in the intestines and that causes all kinds of problems. I have also heard of people putting elastics over animals heads as a joke, so be very careful. I once had a cat who liked to play fetch with elastics, but that was supervised and he didn't chew them or eat them, just carry them around.

You might try getting some toys for him, perhaps if he has something interesting to play with he won't be getting into other stuff. Does he like the challenge of getting something out of a container? Does he like the way the other end moves? Those would be clues about what kind of toy he'd like.

My cats also love rubber bands and any long, skinny things. Rubber bands and any strings are immediately put in a drawer or up high when they are not being used.

They are also great hunters of insects. I'm pretty squeamish about bugs, so I'm glad I have the cats to take care of them. I put my cats in front of any bug I see, and the cats usually eat them. This summer when I let them out on the deck they would catch dragonflies and eat them too. I figure most bugs are okay, but I will chase the cats away from any wasps, bees, etc.

So I think your cat is pretty normal. Keep him away from strings, but let him use his hunting instincts on the bugs.

I also want to stress that string, etc can kill a cat. I have read many horror stories on one item that wasn't mentioned so I will mention it.

Dental Floss!

Please be careful when discarding your dental floss. Flush it. I have read many articles relating to the dental floss and it being the culprit to many feline deaths.

As a way of ensuring your cat's safety you might try keeping all rubber bands, strings, elastics, etc... in RubberMaid or Tupperware containers.

I have been keeping my rubber bands in a plastic ziplock bag in a heavy drawer that is not easy to open. We also flush the dental floss.

I have a friend that had a cat that liked to swallow lace!! Beware of that, and tinsel on a christmas tree, as well as any small loose parts on cat toys that can come off easily, and at the holidays.

Thanks for the reminder about the tinsel etc.

I try to explain to friends when they bring over cute little toys they think the kitten will like why I'm sitting there w/scissors snipping the parts off.

They are children. We have to look out for their best interests.

Dorina

Please be careful and watch you cat's litter box to be sure there is no blockage of the cat's intestines. I had a Siamese who ate string from a pot roast (oh, yummy!) and had to have surgery and was in the hospital for 2 weeks.

I now have a Siamese who is pica--she eats the paws off my teddy bears, socks, yes, rubber bands are great and when I left her overnight, she ate par of my bathing suit. I have read that it is sometimes boredom, or can be nervousness. She was 3 years old when I got her and had been with her mother from birth. I've just learned that her sister cat also ate strange stuff. Take care, and good luck with your litle darling.

ahbrah

We really have to be careful what we leave out for them to hunt and play.

Wow your bathing suit?! Sounds like boredom. She misses you and wants some attention by doing these things.

Maybe try rotating her toys so they are different (every few days). Mine likes the ball that when it rolls a certain way a treat comes out. Also likes the paper from toilet paper rolls or tissue paper rolled in to a ball -- she plays with it then shreds it to smitereens!

You could always get another kitty!! (For a playmate)

I have two and am seriously considering a third.