Chewing and eating foreign objects

[tuxedokitties]

I've had cats all my life but have never had trouble with any of them chewing or eating foreign objects until our current two came along.

Our female chews and destroys cords, cables, and Crocs, but doesn't swallow them. I'm ordering cable covers, because bitter pet deterrent doesn't work for her. She makes a face and drools, but keeps coming back to them.

Our male chews plastic. We have some EVA tiles on the floor in one room, and I he's bitten off and swallowed some pieces of it, vomiting them up afterward.
I guess I'll need to remove that flooring.

We keep things that are typically hazardous to cats put away, but it's impossible to keep everything away from them.

They're young healthy cats, 1 and 2 years old, indoor only. They have some toys we keep out, they have a good scratching post, they have each other to play with, and with the pandemic we're home all the time.

Is there anything else I can do to stop this behavior?

 

[Graceful-Lily]

I've been told that it could be curiosity or even pica. Some say that it is a sign of something being missing in their diet. Not sure if you have checked for these things. I had a cat that was like this to an extent but it wasn't terribly severe.

 

[ArtNJ]

Boredom and hunger are sometimes reasons as well. I had one cat that would always hunt for plastic if the food was meaningfully late, and boredom seems a pretty common reason. The cat where it was hunger linked, we had to make sure he never got that hungry. Fortunately, he never got that chunky, but even if he had, sometimes its the lesser evil.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. Short of what you are doing with the cords, etc. there isn't much else you can do other than use distraction techniques. Feeby has a passion for chewing (not eating) plastic bags and gnawing on small metal items (think rings on a purse handle, or a belt buckle, for examples). The only thing that has worked is to keep them out of her reach. Every now and again someone comes along with such items, and she is right there - even after all these years (she 16+ yo). Gracie (RIP) used to go after rubber bands, so obviously those were put away as well.

As far as the tiles, if that is the only thing your male goes after, then it would be best to remove them. Or, you could place a large area rug over them if you want to keep them. If the tiles are what I think they are it could be the glue that holds them down that is attracting him, or if any of them are slightly loose that could be the attraction. Depending on the tile material, you could try cleaning the flooring with enzyme cleaners to see if that would reduce the smell of the glue, but if he has gotten into the habit, it might not break him from doing it anyway.

As far as I know there is no cure for PICA, so removing the temptation is about it. Boredom can play into it as well, as mentioned above also - that is when distraction (play time) might help, or the addition of some automated toys they could play with. You could ask your vet about the possibility of chemical/nutritional imbalances related to what they are eating, just to see what they say.