Anyone have a Cat with Pica?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Yes he is very cute, but our siamese attack cat Loki has Pica. This can be a very serious condition where he will literally eat anything that hits the ground from paper-clips to tinsel. He has a gargantuan appetite but when he groges himself he throws up. Most of the time he is fine, but when he manages to get to one of our plants [we have all of our plants hanging or up high] he will eat until he throws up. I have pulled everything and anything out of his mouth, and as you can see from the pictures he is completely innocent of any crimes…note his whiskers - how they stick out…he is nothing but trouble!

I and my wife have picked up many different things from the floor to make sure the house is safe when we leave, but damned if we leave a drawer open or cabinet cracked he will get in and ravage what ever is in there.

I wonder two things:

Could he be bored even though we have lots of toys laying around?

And should we act as if we have an infant in the house and lock all cabinets and pick up all things to an OCD degree?

Anyone else have a cat with pica?

2

Yes. My cat C.C. She has a preference for eating soft fuzzy things. She has eaten the fringe off of blankets and scarves, cotton balls out of the garbage can, and is currently trying to consume the wall-to-wall carpet in my (rented) duplex. Sometimes, when I hold her, she tries to eat my hair. For the most part, I can keep these items away from her (except the carpet).

Her behavior toward these items can be quite creepy. Recently, I was sitting on the floor with her, removing the dead hair that gets trapped under her top fur. I was creating quite a pile of hair on the rug. Periodically, C.C. would get a voracious gleam in her eye and snap at the pile of fur. I moved it away. She still lunged for it. I noticed a small nail on the floor and (stupidly) added it to the pile, destined for the garbage can. Unfortunately, C.C. thought it was destined for her stomach. She lunged at the massive mound of dead fur, and I didn’t catch her. She snapped most of it up in one bite. I had to hold her down and fish the nail out of her mouth. She didn’t care. She was happy.

She knows the location of every cotton ball in the house. When we first moved in here, I left the box with the bathroom stuff (including cotton balls) stacked on the floor, with a lid but not taped, and another box on top of it. C.C. knew the cotton balls were in that box. When I went out for dinner, she shoved the other box off the top of the stack, opened the box with the cotton balls, and proceeded to chow down.

Fortunately, she has never given herself an intestinal blockage. But, when that day comes, I have determined that I will not pay for expensive surgeries to save her. I love her, but I can’t justify that kind of spending on a cat that will do the same thing again, and again, and again, given the chance. And, as you see, she makes her own chances.

When I investigated this behavior, I learned it is common in cats that are removed from their mothers too early. This was definitely true of C.C. She was living at a shelter without her mother by the time she was 5 weeks old. She is definitely neurotic. Sweet as can be (to me, anyway), but neurotic as hell.

3

Please forgive me for hijacking the hell out of your thread, right out the gate, but I have to ask. What makes your cat an ‘attack’ cat?

I bought a siamese kitten from a crazy cat lady that breeds them. She told me alot about my cat, gave me some great reading material, and seemed to know a lot about siamese cats.

She never mentioned my cat being an ‘attack cat’, and I had never heard of the term, but I do notice that my cat is awfully ‘swipey’. She posts up in a kitchen chair, and swipes at passers-by through the slats. She never hurts anyone, but she is mad swipey. In the three years that I have had her, she has grown increasingly ‘attack’ prone. Can you tell a siamese cat is an ‘attack cat’ by looking at her? I never thought I would kiss all my cool goodbye and do this, but, here’s Tokyo.

4

Yes, by the looks of that pic you have a siamese attack cat as well.

Everything you mention is consistant with “attack” clasification. The swiping, ultra cute leering…I bet she pounces on feet already covered by blankets whilst you are in bed too…or waits behind doors and swats your toes when the opportunity comes. The woman we got our S.A.K’s from has one named Piewacket [pie-wack-ette] and this cat is the epitome of attack cat… very cute, but equally dangerous in short distances. :smiley:

5

Wow. I like that. That seems cool that I have an ‘attack cat’. Can’t wait to tell my daughter.

edited to delete some slang terms.

6

:slight_smile: Most people who have attack cats don’t know it. It’s a growing epidemic :smiley:

7

Yes. Both of mine were foster kittens as wee fuzzballs that I got at 7 weeks old. They eat lint and bits of fur. I have to keep the carpet picked up very well or face even more hairballs than they already get.

There’s a reason I practically own stock in cat stain cleaner. /sigh

8

First of all I have to ask if you’ve had the cat checked out by a vet? Sometimes pica can be a symptom of something else, like anemia or intestinal parasites. If everything checks out okay then it’s probably behavioral. Was the kitty hand-raised or weaned young? Sometimes this causes an oral fixation. Near starvation could cause this too.

I have a cat that loves to chew on plastic and another one that is obsessed with sponges. He has managed to steal make-up sponges out of a closed medicine cabinet and a closed plastic box. I did get both of these guys when they were very young, they were weaned but just barely.

I have no idea if there is anyway to treat this without drugs, if it’s really bad you might need to look into some meds for him. Otherwise I have no idea if you can modify his behavior other than removing as many potential chewing hazards as possible.

I have a couple attack kitties as well. I’ll go look for pics.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that cats are weird.

9

Bitey has a weird oral fixation, as I bottle-raised her. She used to try to “nurse” on my earlobes, and once or twice she has nuzzled into my neck only to come away with a chunk of my hair. She eats rubberbands, paperclips, and has chewed the bristles off of one of my brushes. When I had vinyl blinds, she chewed them, too. She doesn’t seem to care for the bamboo Venetians, fortunately. I have to be very very careful about what I leave out, though. She would drag pieces of plastic (from candies or whatnot) out of the trash, so I keep even the office wastebasket covered. This morning I caught her trying to chew a freakin’ binder clip off of my notes. I have to be really meticulous in keeping things picked up, which I suppose has been good for my organizational skills, but damn it’s tiresome trying to keep up with her.

Le sigh. The things I do to appease my Mistress.

10

I think some vets treat bad Pica in cats with anxiety type medicines, similar to treating OCD with cats as well, IIRC. Have you sought a vet’s advice on what to do? He could very well kill himself if he punctures his gut, or gets a cut and it infects. :frowning:

11

Here’s my Siamese-ish attack kitties. The pictures were taken seconds before they attacked each other.

12

Very cool looking kitties.

Yes, we have taken him to a vet who gave us the advice of baby-proofing our home [read cat proofing] - but we are not as impressed with this vet as we have been with other vets in the past. I’m scared to get an x-ray of the little guy in fear he’s got a laundry list of office supplies in his gullet.

13

My Wally eats plastic bags, the kinds you line your trash cans with. I’ve had to put most trash cans in closets so he doesn’t eat them and possibly get an obstruction. I’m hoping a doper vet will drop by and chime in with an opinion about our freaky kitties. Oh and he’s an attack kitty too, but then again so is his brother.

14

Wren’s only fetish is paper. And I guess I can’t really call it a Pica, because she only does it when she is hungry. No idea of her kitten-hood; she was an adult adoption.

But, Woe betide she who leaves a paycheck or a paperback lying around… Arrrgh.

15

bump vetbridge, have you seen this? Any suggestions as far as what to ask or who to go to for this problem?