Kittly licks wall/paper

valentine · Oct 11, 2001

I sure hope somebody understand this quirky behavior. We have two 2-year old cats from the same litter. Furby (female) and Gizmo (male). Gizmo is driving us nutty. He licks paper: newspaper, files, mail, kleenex, etc. He'll lick the ink off, or holes right through. He loves to chew the Kleenex from the dispenser. In the last 6-8 months, he has started licking the walls. There are grooves all over the house. Is this a behavior issue, or is Gizzie missing something in his diet?????

tracy_kirch · Oct 11, 2001

I have no answer - although I'd love to know if someone has one - one of my cats (Pepper) licks photographs....and sometimes magazine pages if she can.

elinor · Oct 11, 2001

I think it is called pica. It is a craving for eating things other than food. You might want to ask your vet about it as maybe Gizmo is lacking something in his system that he needs. Hope this helps.

sandie · Oct 11, 2001

The nutrition deficiency is called Pica. It sounds like he may have it. I agree that maybe some bloodwork is in order for this one.

nightsowindy · Oct 11, 2001

if there is a barnes and noble near you, they can order a book for you about this. I don't remember the name of it, but they're really good at finding exactly what you need. It has a list of all the things that cats and dogs eat in order to make sure they have enough of something. I found out from this book that my dog, Julian, was eating dirt because he needed calcium - then took him to the vet. Sure enough! That's what it was. If you don't have a barnes and noble by you, I'm sure any book store would be able to find a book like this, or you could go to the barnes and noble site, amazon would probably have it, too. But yeah, I definitly think going to the vet is a very wise decision.

Kittly licks wall/paper

valentine

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tracy_kirch

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elinor

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sandie

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nightsowindy

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