Chewing Cardboard Boxes?

my friend has a male cat that seems to be eating boxes....... he will just chew card board boxes down to little peices .... is this normal?? my friend asked me to look up info on this but i cant fine anyhting on it

It might be a little case of something called Pica. Or it might be that he needs to have a dental cleaning. I am going to split this thread off onto it's own in the Behavior Forum ...

ok thanxs

Tico, my garage-workshop cat will shred a cardboard box in nothing flat.

She makes them look like Jaws has been at them, and I'm not talking about the cheap "import" cardboard, either, its the real stuff, the multi-ply cardboard with 250 to 400 pound strength.

I had no idea cats had that much jaw strength.

I sure wouldn't want her to try to take a bite out of me.

Leonard

That's just what my Wallace does!!! He loves to chew cardboard boxes and paper. I don't worry about it....unless he's chewing furniture which he's been known to do. It doesn't bother me about the boxes though. I always thought pica was when strange things were actually eaten. I never thought of his chewing as a problem, just a funny quirk as he's done it ever since he was a kitten ( so I don't think for him it is a dental issue) and he doesn't actually eat it. He just chews and spits it out....quite funny actually. He chews with great gusto. Maybe it is a problem and should do something about it?

my boys do it too...

what a cute picture! cj likes to shred paper, its cute. I dont think its a problem, the vet says he has good teeth. I think its just a normal thing.

Cardboard is the toy of choice around here...we have had many cats who love to tear apart and eat cardboard. lol

Cedar is ADORABLE! I love that picture of him! It was my vote in the contest!

OMG, what a cute picture. "Must shred box, then sleep in it..."... I can just see his determination on that one!

My cats don't destroy or chew the boxes. Snickers keeps them intact because he uses them as a fort, as a hiding place, so as to attack Hammie or Dusty as they walk by. I have a box in each room now for him, but it certainly doesn't get destroyed!

Plastic bags are another story however. Hammie just loves plastic and I have to be very careful with him about that. And Zorro licks curtains. He bites them on occasion and leaves little teethmarks, but mostly, licks them!

These stories are so funny! We discovered our cats like boxes when we were moving. We decided to make a fort for them (3 boxes high) and they loved it, until they ate it. We give them toilet paper rolls or papertowel rolls and they chew them to shreds and bat them around, they love it rolls.

Max will eat anything though so we have to watch him. He eats newspaper, mail, book reports, plastic bags, hemp...you name it.

That picture of Cedar is SOOO cute! And I thought my Wallace chewed!!! Wow!!!!

My cat shred cardboard too which is a pain to clean up but they just have so much fun doing it so I always try and have a couple of boxes around. It hasn't seem to affect them at all so I'm not too worried about it.

paper is also good

My kitten has not yet found any card bord yet KOCK ON WOOD. But she dose chew any thing she can get her hands on. So I have to keep my room baby prof. She loves chewing on ponny tail holders.

Pum Pum loves to chew on boxes and shred them with her claws. I am not sure what she likes more using her teeth or claws. I always have to make sure there is nothing in the boxes I want. She did get ahold of a full diaper box one time and started clawing up some diapers. She also loves paper. She also loves paper bags they are her fav. place to hide and pounce onto Speedy from.

Awww 5countsndcountin, that's a cute pic!

I would think it was normal. My cats both did this when they were kittens and they don't seem to anymore.