# Why does my cat lick everything? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 13, 2010, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-my-cat-lick-everything/543022 "2010-06-13T15:58:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Faelyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c77e96/32.png) [@Faelyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Faelyn)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2010, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-my-cat-lick-everything/543022/1 "2010-06-13T15:58:00Z")
Radar, my two year old “ragdoll” cat licks everything in his reach. He licks your skin when you hold him, and when you put him down everything is fair game without prejudice. He goes after the comforter, the sheets, the mattress, pillows, shoes, anything he can get to. Why does he do this? I’ve never had a cat do anything close to this. Of course I have a picture: [![](https://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n283/home_gurly25_2006/100_2848.jpg) ](https://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n283/home_gurly25_2006/100_2848.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2010, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-my-cat-lick-everything/543022/2 "2010-06-13T16:15:03Z")
He has Cat OCD 🙂 Google OLD for obsessive licking disorder and you’ll find you are not alone. Not by a long shot ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2010, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-my-cat-lick-everything/543022/3 "2010-06-13T17:39:07Z")
Ragdolls (gorgeous cat, by the way) have Siamese heritage in them. Siamese are notorious for licking and eating things that are really not food. In particular, they like to eat wool. Not all meezers will do this, but it’s a known trait of the breed. Meezers have a lot of weird behaviors. So, in answer to your question, Radar does this because he’s a cat, and cats is weird. Besides, you named him after a character with weird traits, right? What did you expect? And does he have a little teddy bear to sleep with? ---
**Author:** ![KlondikeGeoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3e96dc/32.png) [@KlondikeGeoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KlondikeGeoff)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2010, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-my-cat-lick-everything/543022/4 "2010-06-13T21:06:24Z")
One of our Bengal cats loves to lick anything metal. We have a stainless steel refrigerator, and when he licks that, it leaves weird spots all over. We tried sticking plastic wrap over the lower part, but was just as ugly as the lick spots. It could be cleaned off, but we worried about him lapping it and ingesting the cleaning stuff. So, I finally got a spray can of Bitter Apple and sprayed the lower part of the refrig. Sure enough, he stopped that. Only have to reapply every few months. Now he still laps the pipes, the door trim, the toilet bowls (fortunately only outside) and so forth, but that does not matter. Of course, he will lap most of the skin off my hands if I let him continue it. He is obsessed with this behavior, so yes indeed, cats IS weird. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2010, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-my-cat-lick-everything/543022/5 "2010-06-13T21:52:20Z")
Perhaps he is of the Roamin’ Catlick persuasion. Sorry. Stolen from Fark. ---
**Author:** ![Faelyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c77e96/32.png) [@Faelyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Faelyn)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2010, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-my-cat-lick-everything/543022/6 "2010-06-13T23:22:30Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > Ragdolls (gorgeous cat, by the way) have Siamese heritage in them … And does he have a little teddy bear to sleep with? Thank you, he is one beautiful little monster, and mean too! He doesn’t really sleep in one place, more like just wherever he happens to plop down so theres no real way of giving him a toy just to sleep with. It usually takes about five minutes before he completely destroys his toys. ---
**Author:** ![KlondikeGeoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3e96dc/32.png) [@KlondikeGeoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KlondikeGeoff)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-my-cat-lick-everything/543022/7 "2010-06-14T01:07:27Z")
> [@Beware\_of\_Doug](#): > > Perhaps he is of the Roamin’ Catlick persuasion. Oh–My–God!!! That really is funny, no matter from whom you borrowedi it. Thanks for the laugh. ---
**Author:** ![KlondikeGeoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3e96dc/32.png) [@KlondikeGeoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KlondikeGeoff)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-my-cat-lick-everything/543022/8 "2010-06-14T01:31:20Z")
> [@Beware\_of\_Doug](#): > > Perhaps he is of the Roamin’ Catlick persuasion. P.S. It just dawned on me, that the problem with Radar is that he has not been studying his cat·e·chism.