Why do cats like plastic bags?

platinum33

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This is my cat Snuggles, she will take anything and makes it her toy. I've noticed everytime I open a gallon of water she goes crazy for the plastic seal. It's to the point that she will sleep on it after playing with it.
 

margd

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This is my cat Snuggles, she will take anything and makes it her toy. I've noticed everytime I open a gallon of water she goes crazy for the plastic seal. It's to the point that she will sleep on it after playing with it.
Snuggles is adorable.  Such a sweet face. 
  She can't swallow that plastic seal can she?  (I always worry about that kind of thing.)   Anyway, she is really darling. 
 

jami parrish

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i have a nearly 2 year old cat myself had her since she was 9 wees old she will be 2 years the 7th of next month. and i read some thing and that now and i always wonder WY she loved playing with plastic bags. and well she dont chew on them lick them nothing if anything i think she LOVES the sound of them most. i remember when she was like a teenager and i came home from shopping and left a bag on the floor and she just went to TOWN on it. batting at it making that funny nose and everything and when i picked it up it was fully of little claw holes xD from her playing wit it and i knew it wasnt going to be usable again. lol. but to this day she still love playing with them and i think for my cat its the nose it makes and maybe the sent of the bag. but she dont chew on them eat them nothing. tho i was always told that tuxedon cats and super smart maybe TOO smart for there own good at times hahahah. so i think she knows its not food or anything of the like and its just a toy to her.  ^^but heres my bbg cat Phoenix Noel 


the best brat cat i could ever ask for she is my worls and my starts since i lost my 1 year 6 month old. and i could be happier with out my bbg phoenix ^^
 

poofypuff

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My furbaby, Shelly has recently taken a liking to plastic bags. She used to run at the sight or sound lol. I just noticed her licking one today though, so I'm keeping them out of reach now. I will probably get her one of those crinkley cat tunnels instead.
I am very concerned about choking hazards after my friend's furbaby swallowed a twisty tie and the vets were unable to save her.
Also watch out for sewing needles with string attached, aluminum foil balls, corks because they can break down and cause choking if swallow, cellophane and rubber bands.
 

mac n tosh

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My cats just ran away with the plastic cover from my daughters Valentine's floral delivery.  Tosh looked me in the eye, grabbed the plastic with his teeth and ran.  He didn't get very far.  The plastic hooked the table while he was still running.  Later I found Mac just laying on it proudly.  It got stuck to the floor! 

My husband likes to make the plastic shopping bags into little balls the cats kick around.  Tosh likes to hold things in his mouth and they are far too big to be a choking hazard.  They can play with them like that for hours.

Agreed about the sound of the plastic.  Mac especially seems really intrigued by it but also a little scared.  Sometimes I crinkle them and they run but they immediately return to play.  When I come home from the market it's like a temporary playground for them.
 

artiemom

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Artie can find a plastic bag a mile away.. especially when he does not want his food.. when he is fussy, he will seek out plastic anywhere in the house. I have to hide my bread in the microwave.. and the plastic bag from the tomatoes has be immediately be thrown out...

he is that bad..
 

hbunny

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Wurp loves to lay around on plastic bags.  He never chews them or steals them, but if he spies one lying about, he's on top of it.  Never understood it.

My other two pay no attention to them.  One is afraid of any crinkling noise (he's a big scaredy puss over everything) and the other is just indifferent!
 

tiptopper

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Plastic bags are banned from our house. Live and learn!
 

Brian007

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I no longer have any, they're becoming extinct in the UK, thankfully.  I inherited this load when I was living in Scotland, I stuffed them up the chimney that winter to keep out the draft.  Strangely, Brian was terrified of bin bags and would run away when I went to the cupboard to get one.  But he loved carrier bags.  His favourite game was putting one of his fuzzy balls inside a clear vegetable bag then charging around with it in his mouth and pouncing on it.  He actually put his own balls inside bags, I, for one, was impressed!  
 

hbunny

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I wish they were extinct here.  It's all I'm offered to use at the store, unless you bring your own, and if you do you have to check them in and get a sticker put on them as you come in the door so they know you aren't stealing them.  It's stupid.

The plastic bags at walmart always rip with only a few things in them, so I have to double bag nearly every bag, so I end up with double the mess and trouble.  Clogging the landfill more :(

The only ones Wurp gets to lay on are the giant ones from the clothing stores.  Then, he usually pukes on them and they get thrown away.  Shortstack is so terrified of them he walks a wide berth around them!  He is such a scaredy cat in the full literal sense of those words.
 

Brian007

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Then, he usually pukes on them and they get thrown away.  
An interesting approach to their disposal  
 Hurray, an excuse to use the puke icon, cheers for that!

I was brought up using recycled cloth shopping bags, or (even worse for my adolescent street-cred in the 80s) plastic boxes that my mum made us take into the supermarket (NO one else did this in those days, at least not in the places we lived).  So, it's natural for me to always have a spare cloth bag on me somewhere, and I use a wheely trolly, like an old granny, these days too (gave up on my street-cred years ago, it's not a battle I can win!).  I also use a small backpack instead of a handbag, I make a great pack-horse, hehe. 

I never put my fruit and veg in the clear plastic bags either, so would have to kind of steal one for Brian every now and again.  His wee face would light up when he realised I'd brought him a fresh one.  And friends would occasionally bring him one as a gift, knowing how much he loved them!

As a disclaimer, I in no way advocate the use of plastic bags around children or small animals as a general rule, but Brian was far from general. 
 

Kieka

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Just a note on the subject, please cut the handles if you are letting your cat play with a plastic bag.

I had a cat who loved the paper bags with handles. One day he got his head through the handle and went running through the house. The bag got caught on a chair (the other handle caught the lever of a recliner specifically) and he was yanked back by the force of it. Much scrambling and terror happened before we were able to get it off him and I am so glad we were home when it happened. He never even looked at the bags again after that. But we now keep all handled bags out of kitty reach or cut the handles if they are within reach. Don't want to go through that again. 
 

moonstr80

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Seriously, why do our furry feline friends seem to adore plastic shopping bags so much? I know cats who like to play with and get inside them, many like to chew them, and others, like a certain hairball is doing now, sleep on them.

Read something once that said they could like and be reacting to a certain chemical in the plastic itself.
Any others have any plastic chewers/nappers out there? Or have any insight on why they do this?
I personally would not let your cat play with plastic bags! They can suffocate, if he is chewing on the bag pieces of it gets stuck inside his esophagus or trachea he could potentially die!
 

hbunny

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An interesting approach to their disposal  
 Hurray, an excuse to use the puke icon, cheers for that!

I was brought up using recycled cloth shopping bags, or (even worse for my adolescent street-cred in the 80s) plastic boxes that my mum made us take into the supermarket (NO one else did this in those days, at least not in the places we lived).  So, it's natural for me to always have a spare cloth bag on me somewhere, and I use a wheely trolly, like an old granny, these days too (gave up on my street-cred years ago, it's not a battle I can win!).  I also use a small backpack instead of a handbag, I make a great pack-horse, hehe. 

I never put my fruit and veg in the clear plastic bags either, so would have to kind of steal one for Brian every now and again.  His wee face would light up when he realised I'd brought him a fresh one.  And friends would occasionally bring him one as a gift, knowing how much he loved them!

As a disclaimer, I in no way advocate the use of plastic bags around children or small animals as a general rule, but Brian was far from general. 
Love the puke icon thingy!!  Haha!

I usually take a bag to other stores, but our Walmart is a pain about bringing in reusable bags I just use theirs.  Mine at least go to some good use--I save them for my brother in law, who uses them when he scoops his cat's litter box.  I despise those things.

I never carried a plastic box, but we used cardboard boxes for the same purpose.  Was a pain, especially if they started to twist and collapse, but did the job.  I never had street cred to begin with, so it didn't matter much LOL

I miss the old brown paper bags.  They didn't tear and rip!
 
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