My cat eats my hair...

[kittenmittens84]

And it’s driving me insane. Not only does it hurt me, but recently it’s also caused a much grosser issue where twice I’ve had to chase him around the apartment with a piece of poop hanging out of his butt, because it was attached to another piece by some hairs and he couldn’t get it off in the litter box.

He’s 7 months old so I know it’s likely just because my hair looks like a fun string toy to play with, but I don’t know the best way to go about addressing this because obviously my hair is always on my head. Sometimes I can tell it’s because he wants to play and I’ve started putting my hair in a ponytail or taking it down, but other times I’ll just be sitting on the couch and he’ll calmly come up and start eating/attacking it. I never let him do it for long, but apparently it only takes a few hairs to cause the gross poop issue and I’d really rather not deal with that again. Is there anything I can do about this besides redirecting him toward a toy? Anyone else have experience?

 

[maggie101]

Bring out a wand toy when he comes after your hair. He could be saying I'm bored! Or I need a chew toy.

 

[kittenmittens84]

Bring out a wand toy when he comes after your hair. He could be saying I'm bored! Or I need a chew toy.

I do, but like I said he often does it even when he’s not in the mood to play!

 

[sivyaleah]

I empathize. Our 7 month old kitten does this to me when I'm sleeping sometimes. Her favorite night spot is on the pillows piled behind my head (only me, not my husband - I suppose I should be honored LOL). Sometimes during the night she'll start grooming me, usually my hand and arm but that will lead off to my head and hair. Its weird for sure. I just rearrange myself and redirect her back to my hand and then slowly slip it away from her; usually she'll then start grooming herself and fall back to sleep.

I have a feeling that for her, it's related to a self-soothing behavior. Doesn't sound like this is the issue with your kitten. It does sound like more of a boredom problem or that it's become a negative reinforcement situation now.

Perhaps, for the short term you might think about wearing a hat to cover yourself up for a while. Only to break the habit of him doing it. Perhaps if he finds that his favorite "toy" isn't there for him to fixate on, he'll move off to something more appropriate. I'd also immediately offer some other item for him to chew on as soon as he starts to head for your...head (no pun intended!). Anything to get his focus away from you as quick as possible. I really think it's become a game to him at this point and pulling the breaks on it is what needs to be done, perhaps drastically since it's causing you anguish and disgust with the outcome of the behavior.

 

[maggie101]

Another kitten to keep him busy,lazer light, one of my cars loves it when I through a small object and she lands in shipping trash. Clicker train him. When I make noise with my tablet with kittens,singing,etc they get interested. There are DVDs for cats that have animals on them. Something to distract him

 

[ArtNJ]

What about maybe experimenting with some of the "cat repellents" that the internet claims are effective like lavender or peppermint? No idea if those are actually cat repellents (although I did see a web site that claims as much) but if true, I'm sure you could live with your hair smelling a bit pepperminty for a few weeks (to break the habit). Not sure of the logistics of how you would get that into shampoo . . . or what it would do to your hair, but its an idea.

 

[sivyaleah]

What about maybe experimenting with some of the "cat repellents" that the internet claims are effective like lavender or peppermint? No idea if those are actually cat repellents (although I did see a web site that claims as much) but if true, I'm sure you could live with your hair smelling a bit pepperminty for a few weeks (to break the habit). Not sure of the logistics of how you would get that into shampoo . . . or what it would do to your hair, but its an idea.

I think orange works too from what I hear