My female cat licks plastic bags. A lot. Trash bags, grocery bags, bags in which I brought home my new shoes, any plastic bag. For hours. She also lies on bags when she can. My male cat pays them no particular mind. Any ideas as to why she would do this while he wouldn’t?
My male cat does the same thing.
My latest theory is that he’s sees bags as a source of food. He used to be a stray, so perhaps that was one way he’d find a snack. I made the connection that whenever he’s hungry, he’d lick any plastic bad until I lost my patience and fed him. Now I just make sure that I hide all plastic bags.
That’s odd. It’s as odd as my female kitty who is OBSESSED with my blush brush. She pulls it out of my make-up bin brings it into the living room, and cries over it like it’s a dead kitten. Utterly pathetic. She does it almost every day. Some mornings I have to do a massive sweep to find the thing.
Another plastic-bag-licking female cat owner checking in, and eagerly awaiting some info.
BTW, my cat also seems to be enraged by glossy paper. She pays virtually no attention to newprint or typing paper. But put a glossy newspaper insert down in front of her, and she’ll scratch and tear at it with her teeth til it’s in shreds. She won’t eat it, just tear it up and scatter the shreds.
Heheehehe! I love kitties! Anyway, my cat used to do the same thing. Lick bags for hours. She also had a thing for my mom’s makeup brush, too. How funny!
I’m not sure if I agree with the stray-in-need-of-food theory, though, because my cat was never a stray. Hmmmmm plastic bags don’t really get caught up in a cat’s tongue like hair does, I imagine… Maybe they just like the sensation? Like catnip?
Plastic bags of all types are sprayed with a very light coating of a substance derived from animal fat during the manufacturing process in order to keep them from sticking together.
One theory is that there is something in the plastic that cats are attracted to, some cats also like to lick photographs.
I have to keep plastic bags out of reach because my cat chews them. If I ever need to find the cat all I need to do is open a plastic bag and hold it near the floor. The cat comes running and jumps into the bag. I have no idea why.
Plastics are treated with stearates, a product derived from tallow, to make them softer. It is theorized a cat’s sensitive olfactory nerves can pick this out. Virutally all food-packaging plastics are processed with stearates.
And since it was asked last time this question came up and I answered thusly: yes, it is a concern to those who try to keep kosher:
Glad thats solved. Now can you tell me why my cat licks books? Whenever I am reading, he has to walk over, lick the page for about thirty seconds, and then is satisfied and leaves.
Great explanation for why cats lick plastic bags … that makes a lot of sense. None of mine settle for licking, they like chewing too. But they only do it to annoy me off the couch so I’ll give them snacks when it’s not snack time!
As for strange things they lick, one of mine licks our feet - only in the summer, as that’s the only time our feet are exposed! I figured she just needed more salt in her diet. (-:
This might be on the right path to explain why your cat licks books, even sven. Maybe the natural oils/salts from your fingers is what he’s after.
I’m afraid I can’t answer why only females would do this … all my cats are female!
Ha ha! My cat does this too. She prefers used books and library books, I guess because they have so many wonderful smells to them.
Right now I am reading La Batarde by Violette Leduc. My cat loves this book. She’ll jump up on my lap and lick the binding until I push her away, which I sometimes have to do several times before she’ll stop licking the book. I bought the book second hand, at a store that, in addition to used books and records, also sells hard core pornography. I am somewhat… disturbed… by how interested my cat is in my French sex book I got at the porn store. 
:eek:
Oh terrific. I ask an innocent question about my cat and come to find out I’ve been getting dosed with slaughterhouse products. Paper at the grocery for me from now on!
Now if anyone can explain why only one of two cats, litter mates, would be interested in the bags…
I dunno, but my two cats are half-sisters. One goes absolutely bonkers for catnip, the other couldn’t care less. To each her own.
My cat loves to chew on cardboard boxes… any idea what that’s about?
My massive cat Tybalt loooooooves plastic. Anything plastic, he will chow down on. He knows he’s not supposed to do it, since he looks guilty and slinks away when we catch him, but as soon as we turn around he’s back chomping away. One theory besides the whole tallow thing is that some cats like the feel of chewing on plastic.
Of course, sometimes he’ll get obsessed with some random spot on the floor and keep licking that. Go figure.
A related lesson I recently learned from Echo: A plastic milk bag is BETTER to chew than a regular bag. Guard your milk from your kitties, or you’ll have a bunch of holes in the bag when you go to pour it and make a mess.
"Of course, sometimes he’ll get obsessed with some random spot on the floor and keep licking that. Go figure.
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LOL 
gotta love cats… so weird and funny…
hey my male cats loves plastic bags, too! I thought he was just weird. We came home from the grocery today and he was very exicited and chewed on all of the bags! I now have the Answer!
Thanks to you guys!