Chewing and chewing zippers

[CyberTiger]

After taking in a stray kitten, she showed herself to be a chewer. Any toy was ripped open within a few days of giving it to her. Even a rubber cactus toy that was said to be for cat chewing had a piece bit out of it.

The vet said she seems to be 6 months old and has all of her adult teeth. I also got some toy advice. The best option so far has been a plush stuffingless dog chew toy, which she quickly tore a hole in, but there's no stuffing and it's been doing fine over these past couple of weeks. She loves it, being happy she can just chew and chew on it and throw it around.

Also, I nearly always wear zip-up hoodies. The kitty likes to go after the hood strings, which I try to tuck away and that seems to work. But she also tries to chew on the zipper area (not the tag you hold, the metal line up the middle whether zipped or unzipped). I don't want her to damage her teeth on metal or really think it's fine to chew on me. I usually try to shove a toy between me and her when that happens, but if she's laying in my lap she'll sometimes sneakily go back to chewing on the zipper area. If I try to cover it over with my sleeve to block her, she'll start chewing on the sleeve (maybe a backfire of me shoving a toy in her face to stop her?).

Her stuffingless chew toy has helped a lot and she's not destroying other toys and squishy things now. I'm open to other suggestions though.

But I'm not sure how I should best handle the zipper area chewing. Is there something I can put on my hoodies to help teach her not to chew that?

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi
What about something like bitter apple spray?

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Well, this one is a first for me! I'll think on it for a bit, and see if inspiration hits. But try the bitter apple! That probably would have been one of my suggestions. Just be thankful it is hoodie zippers! It could have been jeans!

 

[FeebysOwner]

I know it might seem drastic to you, but have you ever considered transitioning to pull over hoodies - the ones with no zippers? After a while it might even break the habit if she doesn't go after any other type of metal - and, then you can resurrect those hoodies from the back of your closet. Some of the hoodies actually have material that covers the zipper - so, that might be another thing to try. There are even ones with plastic zippers, which might be worth testing to see if the metal is really the issue.

When Feeby was younger, she wanted to bite on metal - her favorite was rings that attach shoulder/hand straps to a purse. She also like the buckles on belts. All we could do was keep those kinds of things out of her reach.

 

[susanm9006]

I would keep them in a closed drawer or closet and if she comes up to chew on one while you are wearing it a stern ”no” and setting her down every time should eventually discourage her,.

 

[CyberTiger]

Alright, so after trying some days hoodie-less and with a pullover/no-zipper hoodie...the kitty has shown me it's edges she likes to bite onto.

She's gone after the edges of the pullover hoodie's pocket. If a little bit of a shirt or pullover hoodie is puffed out bit, she may go after that.

I do notice it's nowhere near as bad as with the zipper hoodie. She doesn't attempt it as much and more easily stops. I'm thinking it's because a spot or two would puff out along the zipper line and the zipper is just a very visible edge to target.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

And the thot plickens! Yeah, lots of cats like to bite the edges of things. SO many funny pictures of cats looking like vampires as they happily chomp on the edge of various items!