Kitty Eating/Pulling Up Carpet

FosterFurEver

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I've been fostering a kitty for socialization/shelter break, and when I first got her, she almost demolished the carpet by the door of my room. She also got a piece of carpet stuck in her mouth which she eventually swallowed, and I know it's not good for her to eat and it freaked me out. No biggie for the carpet for me, personally, since this is my fish/kitty room and the carpets are clean, but kinda beat up. We have a huge barricade so she can't get to that carpet.

She was not fixed, so I thought that might be the reason she did that. Then I noticed she was doing it to the floor in general, and about the same time found out that she had a tooth issue, which I hadn't noticed, and the shelter didn't tell me til I had her for about a month. When she does it, I give her something to play with (which is me, because she doesn't play well alone), and I make sure she has plenty of time with me. She eats fine, poops fine, all that.

Fastforward to today, was hoping that them taking care of her tooth might help. But, though I can smell infection in her mouth, they say the tooth is fine. So I'm back to square one with the carpet pulling ideas. She's in the tiled bathroom to heal from being spayed, but I'm at a loss about what to do about this behavior.

And it's teeny kitten season, and this one is probably about 9 months old or so, so she's already going to be hard to adopt out in these circumstances, but I can't imagine anyone would adopt her unless they have no carpet at all. Of course, she might not do it if she has the whole house to roam and isn't stuck in one room, but I dunno, and would like to be able to fix this so she is more adoptable. BTW, my cat/fish room is pretty big, probably the size of a studio apt.

Help?
 

Mamanyt1953

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I'm concerned that the vet dismissed dental issues with her mouth smelling of infection. Is this a mandated vet? Can you see another? If so, consider it. Given how babies gnaw on any and everything while teething in an attempt to sooth their gums, it would make sense that a cat might also do that.
 
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FosterFurEver

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Yeah, I'm disappointed. Has to be their vet. This shelter really isn't big on support or even details. I know they're all overworked, but this isn't the first time I've had to deal with similar. The only way I could take her to another vet would be to take her to my vet and pay for it, which dental issues can be pretty expensive. Don't get me wrong, these are people who are doing such good work, but the org is dysfunctional due to not enough people being there to coordinate things.

Anyway, do you think she'd still be teething at this age? I do rub that side of her mouth, sometimes kinda firm to see if it hurts, and she doesn't seem to mind. I have noticed that when she plays, she hasn't been playing much with her mouth, mostly her paws.
 

Mamanyt1953

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At nine months, she should be through teething. I was more thinking about reacting to general gum discomfort. If the odor of infection doesn't subside, TAKE HER BACK, and get insistent about addressing it. I wish I had some better ideas for you, but it is early days yet. I'm hoping more people will spot this thread soon.
 
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FosterFurEver

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I appreciate you brainstorming with me and helping me. I will def keep an eye (nose) on her breath and, you are right, I need to advocate harder. New at fostering, and I'm a worrier.

I kinda wondered if she had pica for a lil bit, because she chews cardboard, too, and will eat parts of it, but I think cardboard is pretty normal, and she doesn't seem to eat anything else. She does pull on towels, though, so I keep some of my old ones around. I haven't seen her eat any strands from that so far, but I'm sure she does eat some of it. But that seems more like a behavioral problem. Just thinkin outloud about what my thought process has been so far.
 

Mamanyt1953

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Pica crossed my mind, as well, but when you mentioned the bad breath, that kinda stuck with me.
 

neely

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Do you think you could convince them to take x-rays of the tooth? This would help give you a more definitive answer to the problem.
In the interim if the shelter's vet won't agree to this you may want to check this Article about brushing your cat's teeth:
How To Brush Your Cat’s Teeth
Of course, Mamanyt1953 Mamanyt1953 and you might be right about Pica. I hope you can figure out the cause of her eating and pulling up the carpet as well as her bad breath so that she can find her forever home. Best of luck! :goodluck:
 
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FosterFurEver

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Yeah, the breath thing is what worries me. The smell of infection is pretty recognizable.

I'm not sure if they x-rayed the tooth or not, Neely, but that's definitely going to be a question I have tomorrow. I brush my companion cat's teeth, but this one has had issues with hands/fingers near her face. We've gotten her to the point where we can pet and skritch the face on the sides, but only if we come from the sides/back. So maybe after she's had a lil more socializing and has healed up, I will try that.

Thanks!
 
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FosterFurEver

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Maybe she will get on my lap in a little bit and I can see how her breath is.

I think that if I don't see any change after she heals from spaying, I'll put my meanie butt kitty outside for a day and see if there's any more of this behavior if she isn't 'trapped' in one room. Assuming they x-rayed her tooth or it's gotten better somehow.
 

Mamanyt1953

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Keep us posted. You're facing a tough situation during a tough situation, and all you can do is all you can do!
 
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FosterFurEver

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Will do. She's still stoned and is being really sweet about staying in the bathroom. She did escape once last night and went to the basement, like, who knew a drunk kitty could be so slippery and fast lol. She had a good go at the bottom of the doors last night, though, but I had put double-sided tape on there for just that reason lol. I haven't been able to smell her breath because I don't want to be picking her up atm, and I can't really stay that low to the ground for long enough. She's eating and drinking a LOT of water, so she seems to be doing fine.

At least we'll have no more heat cycles. Went through 4!! Her incisions look perfect like they're not even there, and, knock wood, she hasn't been messing with them so far, and doesn't even have a cone o' shame.
 

Mamanyt1953

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GOOD GRIEF! Four heat cycles? Poor BOTH of you! Glad that bit's over with. For both of you.
 
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FosterFurEver

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Yeah. My husband is super high risk, so we are having almost 0 contact w/ people, so I just kept her through them. After the third, I made an appointment but the appointment was going to be on the day she was probably going to go back into heat, so it got postponed and here we are. Lucky for me, my bff is also a foster parent and took her down to have her surgery. Poor thing, I felt so bad for her when she was in heat. I did get extra cuddles tho :)
 

Mamanyt1953

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Man, this virus is making life SO hard for so many, and for so many reasons! My town has only had 4 confirmed cases, but I'm high risk, and don't go ANYWHERE at all except to shop monthly, and that with FULL precautions, including immediate shower after the groceries are wiped down and put away!
 
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FosterFurEver

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We've only been to the drive-thru pharmacy for a couple meds that they won't deliver. It really freaks me out and I will stay back here by myself for a couple days. He got that bad flu a couple years ago and it damaged his lungs + he's 70. We get groceries about every 2-3 weeks, and that's a major thing of gloves/masks/tossing bags/labeling stuff/hand washing/clothes washing. lol. I know people probably think we're being paranoid, but, hey, we're retired and have a lot of time on our hands anyway. :)

I stayed back here kinda self-quarantining after my bff took the kitty to be fixed, just in case. I haven't heard of the virus being transmitted by pet fur, though, and I know the shelter workers have been fine.

She's ready to be adopted. Having a meet n greet on the 27th, and two others are in line after that (wow!). She'll have time to run around the house for a couple of days and I can see if she still pulls on the carpet.

I haven't been able to smell her breath yet. She got on my lap for a bit, but she didn't yawn or anything. She's still eating fine. Who knew I'd be waiting around for a stinky yawn in my face? Joy :)
 

Mamanyt1953

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Gotcha. I do NOT understand why people are taking this virus so lightly! I do wish they would stop. I'm also retired. I do keep my bags, but they go into a "quarantine" area for several days before going to the storage area. Those bags get a lot of use, between waste baskets in the office, and scooped kitty litter!

Thus far, Hekitty has remained healthy during the outbreak, thankfully. Although I have a wonderful vet, I'd be very edgy if I had to drop her in the parking lot and wait outside!

Best of luck with her meet n greet! She needs a good forever home.

Oh, around here, stinky yawns are pretty routine. Remember, you're dealing with a group of people who send up wild cheers about normal poop, and who spend hours staring intently at closeup photos of kitten fannies, trying to determine sex! We're a strange group, in all the best ways!
 
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FosterFurEver

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haha I hear that. I have a discord channel with just a few friends who I wanted to take with me when I left facebook and my bff also fosters and I think everyone has cats, and I rename the main channel all the time, and there have been several with "cat poop" in the name. My bff and I sometimes just ask each other "what's your hobby?" answer: "digging through litter box to make sure the cat pooped." I know, we're weird. :)
 

Mamanyt1953

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SIGH...I loathe Facebook, but it is the only way to connect with some people that I don't want to lose track of. I have them on my "close friends" list, so I get notifications when they post, and a link. I can't think of the last time I've actually read the feed.
 
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FosterFurEver

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I won't use it. It was a big support system for me, and I was in some groups I loved, but it's just too much...stuff for me to allow my name/face to be sold to ad buyers and such. Besides that, because of all the politics and stuff, I only had like 9 friends lol.

It's one of my big pet peeves about the shelter I vol for. They have a strong presence on there and in fb messenger, but email is mostly neglected. I keep being tempted to go back because there is such a huge group of fosters/adopters locally, but I'm doing great on nextdoor. I've adopted out 2 from there so far before this one, and both of those people/couples will jump on my threads to say how much they love their kitties and give me kudos etc. :) I just reeeally hope this carpet pulling stuff will stop once she can explore the whole house. Fingers crossed. If she doesn't stop, hopefully at least 1 of the 3 who are interested in her will have a no-carpet house, or be able to deal with it safely for her and their house.
 

Mamanyt1953

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IF you use the Firefox browser, there are setting that can protect your privacy on FB. I JUST found out about this, and don't yet know the details. I'm almost tempted to install Firefox even if I don't use it for anything BUT Facebook.
 
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