Gidget And Her Bad Paper Habit.

rascalshadownj2

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Hi all,
For some reason, Gidget has been ripping, and chewing on paper. It started with newspaper, and now it's just any kind of paper, like typing paper, and newspaper. At first when she was younger we thought may she was teething, but she is still ripping and chewing on all kinds of paper. I play with her, and feed her, but when I'm not playing with her, that's when she goes for the paper. What would make a cat be so attracted to paper? I have all kinds of cat toys that she plays with sometimes, but if she sees newsprint or other kinds of paper, she starts ripping it. We immediately pick it up as we don't want her to swallow it. I'm just curious as to why she does this. My other cats don't do this. :dunno:

Confused in Kentucky! LOL
 

Willowy

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I don't know. I have a paper/cardboard shredder, too, and have gotten used to locking up the important papers and cleaning up chunks of paper and cardboard all the time. Just don't leave any paper out and enjoy your funny cat story :D.
 

Mamanyt1953

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LOL, it's pretty common. I suppose it is actually a form of pica (eating non-food items), but it is a fairly innocuous one. It won't hurt her. Why do they do it, and MANY of them do? Well, as my father used to say, "Who knows from cats?" Just one of the many wonderfully weird things that they do.

I have a sneaking suspicion that part of it stems from the sound that the paper makes when it crinkles. Hekitty becomes hyper alert every time she hears paper being crinkled or ripped.
 

susanm9006

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Paper shredding seems to be amusing and stress reducing to some cats and is a relatively harmless pastime if you control what they get to shred. Most cats with the paper habit don’t eat the paper, they just spit it out. They are a little hard to come by these days but I gave a thick telephone directory to one of my cats and she spent many hours riffling pages or tearing them out. It was messy but a better habit than one of my other cats who was an expert and obsessed wallpaper peeler.
 
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rascalshadownj2

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Hi everyone. Thanks for your Great responses. :) I too have heard about these pets they call pica pets who try to eat strange things. It's common with people too. I don't see her eating the paper, just shredding it. I forgot to mention, sometimes she even tries to shred those plastic bags we get from Walmart or other stores. We try to pick up those bags and keep her from ripping those. We don't want her eating those too. :paranoid: It may be a form of stress relief and the fact that the paper makes those crinkly noises. That could be the attraction. Who knows....But since the other cats never did that, I was curious as to Why she did it. Thanks for your feedback. That explains her odd behavior. :) susanm9006 susanm9006 , that's a good idea giving your cat an old phone book to chew on. Next time we go to our recycle center maybe I can find an old phone book for Gidget. There are bins where people throw out magazines. Might be a phone book in there. ;) That's strange about your other cat ripping wallpaper off the wall. Never heard of that one. :eek: Glad we don't have any wallpaper on our walls. ;) Thanks again everyone for all your help! Glad to know it's a normal behavior. :)

Take Care and Hugs! :grouphug2:
 

Hlee

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I had a paper shredding cat once.
He usually did it when he wanted attention and it was usually magazines that he chewed.
I used to check out a lot of magazines from the library and his little teeth marks would let me know I had already read that one so I didn not have to check it out again!
 
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rascalshadownj2

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Hi Mamany1953. Thanks for posting that funny picture of that cat that shredded that wallpaper. :lol: I feel sorry for the owner who papered that wall. :eek3: YIKES! I have this cat tree that has a few scratching posts on it and luckily she scratches on that and Not the furniture. :) And the fact that we don't have wallpaper on the walls. That helps too. ;) I like the caption too. Guess Gidget shreds paper to get attention. But who knows.....

Hi Hlee, I hope the librarians didn't notice the teeth marks in those magazines when you returned them to the library. Otherwise they might slap a fine on your for damaging library property. But that's funny that your cat only chewed on magazines. Guess she liked the smell and taste. Silly cat! :lol:

With all these paper shredding cats, maybe shredding companies should hire these cats to help shred paper, and that way the cats could make money for the owners. Give the owners a percentage for having cats that shred paper. LOL :lol:

Thanks again for all your cool responses! :thumbsup:

Nancy, Rascal, Shadow and Gidget.
 

danteshuman

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My cat Dante lived tissue paper best! I would loosely crumple up a sheet or two and let him at it. He also lived newspaper fans.

My advice? Video it. :happycat:
 

susanm9006

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57FD098B-AE31-43F6-BE97-A88EE0849E75.jpeg
Willow has a cardboard box, aka her “fort”, a sheet of tissue paper and plastic bag which are almost always out in the living room and comprise her territory on the rug. She chews the boxes corners and pulls pieces off the bag and paper and of course hides toys in them. If I do leave other paper out, though, she will chew the corners off.
 
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