Cat with a predilection for eating inedible stuff off the floor...

Thread view:

Enable EMail Alerts

Start New Thread

Thread rating:

Brian Link - 13 May 2005 05:18 GMT

Louis the Bengal will attempt to eat anything that remotely resembles
food. So far, this hasn't been an issue. Our own theory is that he
fancies himself still wild, and scavenging, just to be contrary.

The other night, I found him chewing on a capsule of 5-HTP that had
fallen out of the bottle inadvertantly. He only got a single fang in
it, and I spent the next two hours on Google and PubMed trying to find
out if this could be toxic to cats.

Turns out some vets actually give it to help with depression in
animals. So he's in the clear for now.

How capable are cats of expelling indigestible objects from their
stomachs? What are the warning signs to watch for if there's something
stuck in there (besides the obvious straining at the litterbox)?

Our beloved Howard, a stray rescued from near-death, took about 10
seconds while my wife's back was turned to hork down a net around a
pork roast. That earned him a pretty intense surgery.

That was a pretty obvious situation - Back turned, cat jumps, cat
gulping, net gone. With Louis I'm afraid of him snarfing something
surreptitiously.

I'm curious to hear feedback from anyone who's had to deal with
similar situations. Though our house is pretty clean; since I'm
constantly assembling and dissembling computers there are occasionally
small pieces of plastic or screws which wind up under a desk
somewhere.

Thanks for any info.

BLink

Reply to this Message

sriddles@aol.com - 13 May 2005 05:30 GMT

> Louis the Bengal will attempt to eat anything that remotely resembles
> food. So far, this hasn't been an issue. Our own theory is that he
[quoted text clipped - 29 lines]
>
> BLink

That's as bad as having a 2-year-old. Only Bootsie here will try to eat
objects; we just are extremely careful. Rubber bands go straight in the
trash. Pincushions are *never* left out. (She has tried to eat pins
before). Before she was a year old, she tried to eat a treble fish
hook. Early one Sunday morning, of course--requiring calling the vet in
for emergency surgery. I know what you mean--it's doubtful you can ever
totally and completely catproof a house.

Sherry

Reply to this Message

Monique Y. Mudama - 13 May 2005 06:31 GMT

> I'm curious to hear feedback from anyone who's had to deal with
> similar situations. Though our house is pretty clean; since I'm
> constantly assembling and dissembling computers there are
> occasionally small pieces of plastic or screws which wind up under a
> desk somewhere.

Oscar will go to great lengths to eat string. The audio cable for a
computer CD drive apparently looks like string to her, too, but so far
she's only nibbled, not eaten. She also loves to chew on rubber bands
and paper clips, but I don't know that she's ever eaten them. She
likes to chew on all sorts of small plastic things, like the ends of
those plastic thingies they put through sock packages.

As far as actual damage, she's killed blinds (by chewing away the
strings that hold them together), a leash, and a fishing-rod style cat
toy. I've found some bite marks in an old monitor's cables, but never
caught her chewing on them.

I just try to keep the stuff she likes to chew on out of harm's way.
There's a small plastic "file folder" holder that I have, and she's
decided she likes to chew on the edge of that. I thought of
discouraging her, but if she wants to chew on plastic, it seems safer
than some alternatives.

Telling her not to chew on such things has zero effect, anyway.

I recommend continuing to keep the house as clean as you can, although
I'm sure you'll occasionally miss something. Oscar also gets pretty
curious when I open up any of my machines, but I use thumb screws for
the outside, and I make sure to keep track of the others. At least she
doesn't try to jump *into* the case like she did when she was younger!

Signature

monique, who spoils Oscar unmercifully

pictures: http://www.bounceswoosh.org/rpca

Reply to this Message

chrisoakey@msn.com - 13 May 2005 08:43 GMT

I always say that to keep a cat safe and into old age you have to
become totally neurotic, I know I have. My husband often says, you are
obsessed with that cat, and it is true. I moan at my daughter for
leaving a pin on the floor, glitter, anything that could possible
endanger the cat. If I drop a pill in the kitchen, I search
relentlessly until I find it, as cats can die from just an asprin.
Outside in the garden, we never use weedkiller, because the slugs eat
it then the birds eat the slugs and the cat eats the birds. The list
goes on and on. I think you just have to be aware all the time, of
anything that could harm them. I knew of someones whos cat died from
eating a piece of cling film wrap they left in the kitchen. My cat is
particularly mischievious and into everything, but that is part of his
charm.

Reply to this Message