Cloth Eating To The Extreme

[DeepSpaceCats]

I have never had a cat who has done this.

I have a 9 month old kitten. About 2-3 months ago, she started chewing on cloth. When I say 'chewing', I more mean she's chewing off big chunks of cloth and eating it. It started with a pair of sweat pants and escalated to just about every kind of cloth she could get a hold of. To discourage the behavior, my husband and I make sure to put every piece of clothing, blanket and towel away, (we can't even have a hand rag in the kitchen now!) and the pieces that can't be put away (my area rug, mostly) I sprayed with Bitter Apple to deter her from chewing. I figured she would grow out of it eventually, so long as we kept all cloth away from her and discouraged the behavior. In the very rare moments we've caught her in the act we've immediately stopped her and moved the item out of her reach, but we don't catch her doing it very often.

Yesterday, she started eating the comforter on our bed! That's something I can't just put away! We're going to have to replace it, since now there's two huge holes in it, but I have no idea how to prevent her from eating the next one. What do I do, guys?? I've never dealt with this before, it's like having an untrainable puppy!

(For the record, we've made sure to watch her like a hawk each time she's ingested pieces of cloth, and she's always passed everything just fine. And I might also add that she's on Primal freeze-dried raw food, so I don't think she's doing this because she's lacking something in her diet, which is kinda troubling, since everything I've read about this behavior suggests a lacking diet is usually the main culprit.)

 

[1CatOverTheLine]

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DeepSpaceCats - This may be of interest since your kitty is showing signs of PICA.

Pica in Cats: Tips for Managing This Eating Disorder | Catster


And some threads here on TCS discussing the subject:

Cat with Pica??

Issues With Pica

Pica In Cats

Here's wishing you the very best of luck!
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[DeepSpaceCats]

Thank you so much for those links! That sounds exactly like my baby. She eats fluff off the floor, the other animal's fur, and she used to chew on cords although thankfully she's given up on that.

I need to take her in to the vet for an exam anyway, so I'll be sure to mention her behavior so they can check her out. I don't think she's ill, she has a ton of energy, loves to play and looks and acts normal. (When she's not eating everything in the house, that is.) It's all just so maddening!

 

[Columbine]

I agree with 1CatOverTheLine - it sounds like classic pica to me. I hope your vetcan help you find some effective strategies to stop this behaviour

You'll need to be very careful about any cat toys that are left out for her, too. The best thing is to either have toys that are bite proof (maybe very solid plastic or rubber ones, and inspect them frequently for damage) or safely edible. I've never had a cat with pica, but I've always thought that compressed catnip toys would work well, as they shouldn't do any harm if they are ingested. Do check with your vet first though, just to be sure

You could try different types/brands of anti chew sprays too. One might be more effective than another. Just make sure they're all harmless to cats if they are ingested (not a foregone conclusion, as most are made with dogs or horses in mind ).

As for the bedroom, you might have to ban her from there, at least for the time being, as its the hardest room to remove fabrics from. I know it's not ideal, but it's the only sure way to avoid a recurrence.

 

[susanm9006]

Have you tried leaving kibble out for her all day? There is always the possibility at her age that she is eating odd things because she is hungry. It certainly couldn’t hurt to try some to see if it changes her behavior.

 

[DeepSpaceCats]

Have you tried leaving kibble out for her all day? There is always the possibility at her age that she is eating odd things because she is hungry. It certainly couldn’t hurt to try some to see if it changes her behavior.

Since she's on a raw food diet, I've heard it isn't good for her digestion to eat kibble too. But I could start offering her a can of wet food per day in addition to her food to see if she's still hungry!

 

[Columbine]

Another kibble alternative would be freeze dried raw food. I know it's ideally supposed to be re-hydrated before feeding, but many raw feeders here offer it dry as an easy, still raw option.

 

[susanm9006]

Since she's on a raw food diet, I've heard it isn't good for her digestion to eat kibble too. But I could start offering her a can of wet food per day in addition to her food to see if she's still hungry!

I think her digestion could handle kibble just fine (easier on it than cloth) but perhaps check with your vet. The other thing about kibble vs more wet food is that you want something out your cat can nibble on whenever they get the urge rather than turning to cloth.

 

[auntie]

I have read that Siamese cats are prone to this behavior...is she Siamese?

 

[DeepSpaceCats]

Another kibble alternative would be freeze dried raw food. I know it's ideally supposed to be re-hydrated before feeding, but many raw feeders here offer it dry as an easy, still raw option.

That's a great idea! I feed her freeze dried raw to begin with, so I could leave some out for her as well, without adding water or goats milk.

I think her digestion could handle kibble just fine (easier on it than cloth) but perhaps check with your vet. The other thing about kibble vs more wet food is that you want something out your cat can nibble on whenever they get the urge rather than turning to cloth.

I think the issue with feeding kibble with raw is that the two foods digest very differently, and if fed together can cause digestion problems or an upset tum. But someone just pointed out that I can offer her freeze-dried raw without putting moisture in it, so I might try that! (As well as some wet canned food, since I bought some of that for her today lol)

I have read that Siamese cats are prone to this behavior...is she Siamese?

No, she's the kitty in my icon

 

[aprillee]

Hi there, just wondering if you have any updates for us on your kitty who was eating cloth. When we first got our girl (pic in icon) back in November 2017, she began eating socks and anything knit she could lay her paws on. She also started to expand to eating other fabrics, like some of my husband's t-shirts he left laying around in her reach and same as you -- our comforter. It seemed random with other materials, but leave a sock out, and guaranteed it will have a big ol' hole left in it.

The extremeness of it all has worn off, but it still happens from time to time. Like for example last week she ate a hole in a pillow case (sigh). I recently switched her diet to a new food for other reasons (overlicking the belly, which I am thinking could be linked to food allergies). But IDK, maybe she is just OCD? I'd like to experiment with one of those pheromone plug-in things you can get to make cats feel more comfortable.... but they're expensive.

Let me know if you guys ever had luck with anything! Thanks!

 

[DeepSpaceCats]

Hi there, just wondering if you have any updates for us on your kitty who was eating cloth. When we first got our girl (pic in icon) back in November 2017, she began eating socks and anything knit she could lay her paws on. She also started to expand to eating other fabrics, like some of my husband's t-shirts he left laying around in her reach and same as you -- our comforter. It seemed random with other materials, but leave a sock out, and guaranteed it will have a big ol' hole left in it.

The extremeness of it all has worn off, but it still happens from time to time. Like for example last week she ate a hole in a pillow case (sigh). I recently switched her diet to a new food for other reasons (overlicking the belly, which I am thinking could be linked to food allergies). But IDK, maybe she is just OCD? I'd like to experiment with one of those pheromone plug-in things you can get to make cats feel more comfortable.... but they're expensive.

Let me know if you guys ever had luck with anything! Thanks!

Hey there, sorry for not updating! (I'm bad at that.) My kitty is almost 100% on dry kibble now, she won't eat anything else all of a sudden, and she's free-fed now instead of on timed feedings like before. Since she's had access to food whenever she wants it, she's massively cut down on eating other things! Recently she ate a hole in our *new* comforter, (grrrr) but other than that I've seen no evidence that she's eating anything. We can leave a box of kleenex out now without finding shredded kleenex every day! I'm hoping the hole she ate in the comforter was a fluke.