Cat just started licking everything!!!

[hexiesfriend]

Once and awhile my cat will start licking an object and I will not be able to get him to stop. It started again last week and he has taken to licking my bedspread. I washed it and it seems that he smells the spot where he just sat and starts licking even after I have washed it. It's is usually a spot where he had been occupying or another one of my cats. This behavior usually only lasts a week or two but it gets annoying in the middle of the night when he does it. I've taken him to the vet and they're no help everything is normal except the fact he is a big boy (18 lbs). Anyone have anything similar with their cat? Any ideas why this happens?

 

[p3 and the king]

My Birman girl, Paige, started doing something similar a couple of years ago, she would repeatedly scratch mirrors and other slick surfaces all night or sometimes during the day.  I would say "Paige, stop it, please" because she would wake me up at night scratching the mirrors on my closet doors.  It would drive me nuts.  I took her to a behavior specialist and she was diagnosed with OCD and acute anxiety disorder.  According to the behavior specialist, the scratching the mirrors was a "tic" and she cannot help it.  It's something her brain has to do when she is feeling anxiety.  She doesn't like doing it.  She can't help it or stop though.  She is on and has been on medication since and it has really done wonders for her.  She doesn't scratch mirrors any longer except when something really big and stressful is happening, like a really bad storm with hail and lots of thunder and lightning. 

Now, I can almost tell when she is going to start having one of her episodes, so I can be proactive and calm her down beforehand. 

Vets are not behavior specialists.  Ask your vet for a recommendation on one.  You may be really surprised. 

 

[aivins]

Mine does this with plastic shopping bags or plastic water bottles and it drives me nuts! In fact she woke me up this morning at 3am licking the bag in my trash can, then it was a small bag she hid behind my dresser.....that was a bear to get to early in the AM. I love her dearly, but this licking sensation needs to GO!

 

[rachelinaz]

Walter does it with paper. [emoji]128562[/emoji] Tell him not to... clap our hands.... nope we have to remove him and the paper. He bites pieces off and spits them on the floor. [emoji]128545[/emoji]

 

[hexiesfriend]

It lasted for a few days and now it is gone. I'm more concerned with dietary issues with this behavior rather than pet behavior. My vet said it wasn't but I know when Dogs eat or chew things they aren't supposes to it can be dietary. This is a cat who humps his favorite blanket so I'm used to behavior issues and I've just adjust to those I just worry it's something he is missing in his diet. I may take him to the cat specialist if it comes back. May just be my quirky cat....

 

[kittycatkate]

Usually things like this are either stress/anxiety related or from something missing in the diet. Just like pregnant women crave dirt or crayons, cats can grave weird objects when they are missing nutrients. 

 

[kittycatkate]

*crave* lol I can't stand these typos! 

 

[posiesmom]

My cat has always licked the plastic blinds on the windows. She is 3 1/2 years old and I adopted her when she was 4 months old.  Every morning when I am feeding her, she runs to the window and licks the blinds.  When I go to get her down from the window, she tries to get on the other side of the blinds against the window and she is still licking!  I have also seen her do it if I am watching TV or on the phone or talking to my husband.  I am wondering if she does it for attention?  Because I always go to get her away from them when I see her do it.  My husband says that he has never seen her do it when I am not there. 

She also chews on paper; I have to hide the paper towels and toilet paper in the cabinet or they will be shredded mounds when I come home from work!  I have mentioned these things to the vet, and he says they are just "quirks" that some cats have. 

 

[quiltingkate]

Mack licks smooth surfaces - the smooth fake hardwood floor, linoleum, the bathub and shower bottom, tiled floors (and I think I saw him licking the mirrored closet door, too)... he's 7 months old and has done this since we got him a 4 months of age... he's very laid back and well adjusted, so I don't think it's anxiety issues.  I wonder if he's missing something in his diet (if he was a horse, I'd give him a salt block, not sure if cat's need extra salt, they don't exactly sweat a lot.)  Maybe he just enjoys it... but it's sure wierd.  Looking at the rest of these posts, I'm thinking lots of them have wierd quirky things they do...

 

[SeventhHeaven]

 
Mack licks smooth surfaces - the smooth fake hardwood floor, linoleum, the bathub and shower bottom, tiled floors (and I think I saw him licking the mirrored closet door, too)... he's 7 months old and has done this since we got him a 4 months of age... he's very laid back and well adjusted, so I don't think it's anxiety issues.  I wonder if he's missing something in his diet (if he was a horse, I'd give him a salt block, not sure if cat's need extra salt, they don't exactly sweat a lot.)  Maybe he just enjoys it... but it's sure wierd.  Looking at the rest of these posts, I'm thinking lots of them have wierd quirky things they do...

   Yup! the mirror kinda wondered about that too! looks strange

 

  self love thing...

bathtub - OK there had been water in it, floor, my jeans, young kitten putting

it down to sampling phase will grow out of it

 

 

[Kibblesnbits148]

Its normal if you've had a cat do this all of their life. What isn't normal is when one day out of the blue your cat starts licking random objects in the house. I had a cat I had had since he was a kitten start licking windows and walls when I could tell he wasn't feeling well, and he died a few weeks later. I never determined what killed him, but I'm certain it had to do with a fire we had a few months prior. The poor guy sat and breathed the fumes all night before it was found. I immediately did everything I could, oxygen, steroids, and TLC, but he was never the same after that.