# Cat eats everything!



## extraflamey (Oct 3, 2005)

My 5 year old cat Tara eats everything, including a ton of stuff she shouldn't. 

yarn, string, easter basket grass, she chewed off pieces of an easter basket and i'm assuming she ate those as they aren't laying anywhere, several tampon strings and my hair from my hairbrush also disappeared. I tried to fix this by just eliminating the stuff or hiding it. She moved on!

Now she eats paper! She will sit and rip off little chunks and eat it. Not to mention every single toy I've given her has been demolished and eaten. I had cat teasers, she broke off the string and tried to eat it. I took them away. She ate the feathers off a jingly ball. I took it away. I decided no more toys with string/feathers. So I gave her crinkly mice and she ate the fuzzy eyes and ears and then started chewing on the mouse. 

If I leave her with no toys, she yowls and destroys things. But I don't want to risk her choking on one of her toys. 

What can I do to stop this, short of leaving her in a bare room? She gets plenty of food, and when she was in for her shots/checkup awhile back the vet just said that cats eat stringy stuff and to keep it away. Any ideas for safe toys that cannot be eaten?


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## Guest (Oct 28, 2005)

One of my babies also eats anything that's not tied down. She chewed the strings off my pajama pants the other night and then left them in a pile of vomit by the potty. :roll: 

I hide everything from her. As far as toys go, there's one called a turbo scratcher that's got a ball in a track that can be batted around without coming loose. You can get one at wal-mart. Petsmart has one similar, except it's a mouse. They LOVE that one.

Good luck with your baby. I hope this helps. I'm sure that others will come along with some suggestions as well.


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## nanook (Jun 12, 2005)

My cat also eats everything! I've cat proofed like crazy but he keeps changing what he eats. And I've had many sleepless nights watching to make sure he wasn't blocked up. 8O Sigh! Luckily, at a year old, he seems to be growing out of it a bit.
The toys I leave out now are rubber balls, a plasic ball with a bell inside and I have a couple that are like stuffed socks (no chewable parts!) So fr they're all still in one piece!  
Good luck with your little chomper!


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## Jockette (Feb 2, 2005)

ya, Fry eats everything too... he likes to chew off the tails of the toy mice I give him. Sounds like you've got the right idea though, cat-proof the house, even if it means stuffing paper in the closet


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## Willow771 (Jun 20, 2005)

mine just has a thing for anything that feels like a plastic bag. she will lick them forever till her tongue is raw


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## Jockette (Feb 2, 2005)

What about those shiny soft balls?
At first, two of my cats would LICK IT! I was worried about the little plastic tinsel pieces coming off and they would swallow. Now they don't do that and just play with it. It was just their first initial reaction.

Or those cat nip toys that are soft and pillow like? I usually see them shaped like a fish, no strings or anything hanging off of them


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## allissa (Sep 25, 2005)

Sounds like your cat has a condition called "pica". It's obviously not good, because she can get an obstraction from eating something.
Read about it in this link.
http://www.vmth.ucdavis.edu/home/beh/fe ... /pica.html


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## Mickey's Mom (May 5, 2005)

Most of mine eat pieces of lint on the floor. One of the four LOVES the strings on dangly toys. Doesn't eat the string, just likes to chew it in half, then just walks away. So NO ONE gets to play with dangly toys because Kip feels it's his lot in life to disconnect the elastic/string or whatever it's dangling from. I bought the cutest little wind chime that hangs on a window with a suction cup. four little metal chimes dangle from a cut little suncatcher. He got up on the table next to the window and chewed all four little strings. No more cute little wind chime. Arghh! Two others will eat all my indoor (non-poisonous) plants, so I can't have those. One eats and chews scatter rugs (the edges). You'd think they were rodents who needed to hone their teeth. All four of them chew whatever strings and threads happen to be hanging from anything. Kip is a "licker". Licks everything. Licks my hands and arms until they are red. He has a very raspy tongue and licks HARD. They are so funny, arent' they? God I love them!!


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## Kelae (Sep 4, 2004)

Another toy that might work for you is ping pong balls. My girls like the normal ones well enough but they love the ones with little beans inside that rattle around when they attack the ball. You can get them at Petsmart. I assume that unless your cat tried to swallow the ball whole, there's nothing to hurt him. When mine try to bite the balls, they end up shooting them across the floor and chasing them down like the crazy loons they are 

Kel


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