Licking plastic bags

[ninacaliente]

Bastian has some sort of weird obsession with licking plastic shopping bags. It doesn't matter what is in the bag, and he doesn't seem to be attempting to get into the bag or its contents at all. He just wants to sit there licking and licking and licking the bag! Any ideas about why he would be doing this??

 

[strange_wings]

Lots of threads on plastic bags.

http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=221722
http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=220371
http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=212602
http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=93197
http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=209091
http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=205693
http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=205016

The first three are just from this year alone.
Lots of tips and info that doesn't always get recovered in new threads.

...I don't even think I realized quite how many there are!

 

[ninacaliente]

Wow, thanks for the wealth of info! I have to confess that I didn't do a search.

I guess I never imagined this was such a widespread issue! I figured Bastian was just weird.

 

[hissy]

Here's an article

http://www.felinexpress.com/cat-beha...lastic-bag.asp

 

[strange_wings]

Originally Posted by NinaCaliente

Wow, thanks for the wealth of info! I have to confess that I didn't do a search.

I guess I never imagined this was such a widespread issue! I figured Bastian was just weird.

Well, not every cat does it. When you have multiple cats you increase your chances of getting one who does.

I have one in the house that will gnaw on plastic, any plastic, but thankfully that's only to get my attention when he wants something and not because he's actually that interested in the plastic.

Simply keep the grocery bags away from him and if you have to use a different type of bag to line any smaller waste baskets around the house.
If you can do so you might even consider getting some canvas or other type of cloth bag to use when shopping, this way you don't even have to worry about bringing a bunch of them home.

 

[Winchester]

Our Ms. Pepe loves plastic. She'll chomp on plastic bags every chance she gets. But she also licks pictures if we keep them out in the open, to the point where she can ruin the picture. We've learned to be very careful with her.

 

[my4llma]

We have that problem with Lynxx. Ever since he was a kitten, we have to try to hide every plastic bag in the house from him. We've caught him a few times even eating the plastic bag!

 

[punkypurrbottom]

Our dear Punky is a plastic freak too. Her favorite being the plastic around the toilet paper. We have very limited storage space, so the big pkgs I buy sit in the bathroom under the pedestal sink and Punky spends many days sitting in the bathroom, rubbing, sniffing, rubbing and licking the package. She likes to do it best when I'm in there, but will go by herself some times.

She rarely ever does more than sniff and lick so we don't restrict her from that, the TP we buy is in a mostly clear pkg. She's been doing this for 2 years and hasn't had a reaction of any sort so we don't stop her. It's seriously one of the only thing she does that she enjoys. She's a real weirdo, standoffish, non-playing cat.

I guess I'll get a finger waggled at me for allowing it, but until such a time that we think she's devouring the plastic we probably won't stop it.