The cause of pica is unknown, but experts speculate that it could be due to a number of causes such as being weaned too young, dietary deficiencies, genetics, boredom, compulsive disorder, or stress. Young cats are more likely to suffer from pica syndrome. In cats, these items most often include fabrics, elastics such as hair binders, cardboard, paper, and plastic. If you catch him chewing the carpet, grab a toy and try to entice him to put that effort into it instead.Pica is the behavioral urge to eat nonedible materials.
When a dog chews something bad, you say, "no" and then provide something suitable to chew.
Whatever you decide, I think it's a good idea to provide a substitute, just like with a dog. You could drill a hole in the top and use a string to drag it along and entice him. I say a tennis ball, but for all it matters, you could take a square of wood, sand the corners and edges over and just put straight strips of Velcro on it to attach the strips to. He could rip these off and they'd be too tough for him to chew up and too large to swallow.
#Cat wont stop chewing on plastic Patch
Possibly a tennis ball that you've attached Velcro to and 1" x 4" (30 x 120 cm) canvas strips with a small patch of Velcro. I imagine that the cat toys that have feathers on them are safe-ish, since the manufacturer has to know they'll come off. You'll have to look around and maybe find something that he can do this with. Just like you provide him something to scratch on, he may need this kind of stimulation as well.Ĭonsidering he may swallow a small portion of what he's tearing up, not many things are safe. It kind of sounds like that's what you're cat is doing. When a cat kills a bird, for instance, he hunts it down, kills it, then begins to lick at the feathers and pull them off with his teeth. I think the cat is just trying to exhibit natural behaviors. I've also had success with the toys that have balls in tracks that the cat can bat around. I'd suggest starting with toys that he can destroy without problems. If he spends a lot of time alone (which happens when the cat's human works) you could consider getting another cat - I've personally found that it's easier to add a kitten to a household than an adult cat, and that a new cat of the opposite sex will be better tolerated than one of the same sex, particularly if the current cat is used to being the only cat. The fact that your cat is biting and pulling the carpet with his teeth suggests that he's bored and looking for something to play with: (reference) Providing him with more toys, especially chewable or destroyable toys will probably help here, as will you playing with him. Either way, your cat is likely to find a different place to destroy and you'll be playing a never-ending catch-up game.Īnother option is the rug/carpet item that the cat is allowed to destroy - it should look, feel, and smell different than your regular carpet. I've seen them in the "sticky" variety (like double-sided sticky tape) and the smooth variety. There are products that you can stick on a surface (including carpet) to prevent scratching there. It also might be a boredom thing, or an attention seeking behaviour, and he might just want more active playtime, and there are a large variety of toys and things you can get to help with this.Īlso, I found some cats responds better to a noise deterrent than being sprayed with water - for one cat I had, I used a can/jar with rocks in it and shook it right near him when he was doing stuff I didn't like, and it worked well. There are commercial sprays you can use, that claim to keep cats from scratching at things, but I can't speak to how well they work.
You could also get a small rug and try to train him to only pull at that one, but I have never really gotten it to work (although other people apparently have.) Also lemon juice or vinegar also work, although make sure they won't damage your carpet. I do this to keep my cat out of plants and other places, and it works pretty well. If it isn't a scratching need, then you might want to try putting pepper (cayenne or black pepper, I have used both) in the area you want to keep him out of, like along the seams. You can get scratchers that are just corrugated cardboard stuck together in flatter box shapes that you set on the floor - I had a cat who was determined to yank up all my carpets, and then I gave him something like this, and he stopped trying to pull my carpet up, and chewed and scratched on the cardboard thing instead.
Some cats are horizontal scratchers instead of vertical ones, they like pulling and yanking at carpet and stuff rather than, say, a couch or something, if they don't have something appropriate.
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