What's With A Cat Eating Plastic?

I havent heard about that one although cats often will eat streamers or ribbon or something that appeals to them like that. my sister's cat ended up having an operation because he ate so much ribbon. It was really touch and o for awhile.

I've never heard of this before. I did a search, though, because I couldn't remember the word*pica*, which is eating things that aren't food and apparently this one is known for cats along with wool and wood. Here is the link where I found it:

http://www.animalbehaviorassociates.com/dogs_feces.html

I think pica is sometimes related to diet, so if your kitty isn't too finicky, you could try giving her other kinds of foods, I guess. Or maybe even grow her some kitty grass in a pot inside. Course, if she's all about the plastic, she might ignore the grass. But you could try, if you haven't tried that one.

I have a rather large fat black 15yr old tom cat Sooty, who I'm glad to say has never eaten plastic!! He will however eat anything left over from butter, mayo, tuna & sweetcorm sandwich filler to Branston Pickle!! I love him heaps but he is such a guts sometimes!

My cat is obsessed with plastic stuff. She is also a tabby, indoor cat. We had to do a test run with some different brands of cat food because she kept having this awful hairballs. I got so sick of hearing her hack and having to clean up the mess that we decided to switch her food. It's a more expensive brand, Purina One Hairball Formula. She has minimal hairballs now, even though she still chews on PLASTIC!

Like someone else said, it can cause serious digestive problems for them! I always worry that she has eaten some plastic or something when she gets those hairballs. She loves to lay on plastic grocery bags, garbage bags, and will even get inside boxes that have plastic attached over the top of them. If she chews on any of it, she's scalded(verbally) and the stuff is thrown out. I want to look into getting her some cat grass, so she will have something to chew on that isn't harmful to her! It's also known to aid in digestion, which would help reduce hairballs!

And here i thought i was the only one with crazy cats. We have a cat that would also love to chew on plastic. All it has to be a lollipop wrapper and the cat is after it. When i catch her, i try to get the plastic away from her and throw it away. I wonder what cats think plastic is anyway!

My indoor kitties don't eat plastic but they like to lick plastic. Don't know what it is. So I don't know why they do it. But growing some grass for your indoor kitty is always a good idea. They do need to purge the hairballs they sometimes get.

Cats do lots of strange things, why wouldn't they eat plastic they sure like to chew on electrical cords from my experience.

I have had many cats do this...there can be a number of reasons. Some cats like the feel of certain plastics. For example, one of my mom's cats will eat thin plastic bags, and ONLY thin plastic bags. She doesn't like hard plastic, thicker plastic bags, etc.

Also, some plastics are produced using animal fats as a bind. Some cats may be able to sense this and chew the plastic because of the animal fat's presence. Some plastics that use animal fats as a binder often are bread bags and other plastics that encase foods.

There may be other reasons...those are the only two I know. I discourage plastic eating for the kits in my household...but, like you, plastic is rare as I also use the reusable bags. My eldest boy still happens to find the bread of the counter and chews on the end of it...

This is very strange because my always does this. Every time I go grocery shopping and buy bottled water, he likes to chew on the plastic. I think its because it feels good when they bite on it, it so is weird but funny at the same time haha.

My cat is a plastic fanatic. If she hears plastic crinkle she comes running. She doesn't usually eat it, I think she just likes to chew on it - it must feel good on her teeth or gums.