Conference misery::feline_v1

    
    Experience with a chewer?  Oh yes, I've had plenty.  My Shawsheen did
    that quite a bit for about 4 or 5 months.  He was not quite a year
    old when he started, and he stopped for no known reason.  He seemed
    to like the same things your kitty does.  Once he ate the tie on
    my bathrobe.  It was a very long one - perhaps 10 inches or so.
    Yes, He did in fact eat it, but everything came out ok in the end
    (if you follow me).  He also liked slip straps and head phone cords.
    He seemed to go in phases.  For the first six months of his life,
    all I seemed to ever say to him was "what have you got in your mouth
    now!".  He would eat anything.  Then, he went thru this chewing
    thing.  Then he got over both.  He now is very normal about what
    he eats and he never chews anything.  Hang in there - it sounds
    like a kitten thing to me.
    

    Well, I've borrowed some rawhide chews from the dog I'm babysitting
    and Bailey thinks they're great to bat and carry around but as for
    chewing...the other stuff is still better.
    
    I've noticed some little red things in the litter box lately and
    have determined she's now chewing the red sock cat nip toy.  At
    least we're getting into her own belongings and away from mine...hope
    this trend continues.
    
    Thanks for letting me know I'm not alone with this problem.  Hopefully
    Bailey will decide to stop chewing like your kitty did.
    

        MMMM, my coon kitten loves to eat plastic,shoelaces and string.
    So far things come out ok in the "end", but I was really worried
    after I found him just about finished with a quite large piece of
    plastic wrap, the cellophane kind. I never thought that would pass
    through, but it did, just like all the others. I have found that
    shoes must be hidden if they have laces, and anything plasticy,crunchy,
    has to be carefully disposed of. Meat wrappers are also a favorite,
    especially if it held steaks. The vet said it could very possibly
    be because of his being taken away from his mom much too early,
    (6 weeks) - should be 3-4 months for coons. 
        But it is a bit aggravating to be rushing off to work, slipping
    on a shoe and finding the laces chewed right down to the little
    holes!  I think by eliminating all sources of things like this to
    munch on, he's beginning to forget about it, and hopefully will
    stop doing it. He's 1 1/2 now.
    
                                         Denise
    

    Good luck on the forgetting...
    
    My 4-5 year oldsd sure haven't
    
    Crunch will eat leather laces off your shoes while you are wearing
    them.
    
    Dave

	...Josh and  Becky  seem  to  ease up on their chewing forbidden
    things  (plants,  phone  cords,  q-tips, rubber bands, etc.) if they
    have  some  dry  food to crunch on once a day. This is against their
    doctor's  wishes,  but  he  agrees  that  if  it  keeps  potentially
    dangerous things out of their insides, it's preferable to surgery!!

    Hi Jan,
    
    Boy does your story sound familar.  Our first cat ate shoelaces,
    my bathing suit straps (from my favorite suit too!), bra straps
    and the inner ties to several bathrobes.  He also had this thing
    for velcro - we have diving watches and prefer the velcro straps.
    Well, every time we forgot to hide the watches at night, we'd have
    a frantic hunt in the morning all around the house to see where
    they "walked" to.  Usually the staps were non-functional once we
    found them.
    
    Our only thought was that he liked the salt that was probably on
    the clothes and watch straps.  We tried hanging things up, he'd
    go on search and destroy missions in the closets and bathrooms.
    I remember literally pulling things out of his throat if we caught
    him in time.
    
    We never did break the habit, but he never got sick either.
                    
    
    Good luck!
    
    Lynne

    I agree with the dry food to 'crunch' on.  When mine had to lay
    off dry food for a while (vets advice to straighten out hair ball
    problems) they chewed on lots of things - which the hadn't before
    and quit doing once the dry food was available again.
    
    The vet on PBS's Cats and Dogs said the other night that wet food
    versus dry food wasn't a major concern in preventing FUS.  (May
    very well be a useful choice after a cat acquires FUS - but she
    didn't say.)
    
    Sally

    Thanks for the advice about dry food.  Only problem is that she
    has dry food to crunch on all the time.  She's a self-feeder.  I
    give her Science Diet Feline Growth.  She loves it.  I give her
    wet food occasionally.
    
    Last night I got a little careless and left my new Isotoner gloves
    within reach (the ones I bought to replace the first pair she chewed)
    so now I have an air conditioned thumb in one glove.  I could have
    sworn I put them away.  I don't know what made me angrier, her chewing
    them or me being so careless.

    I used to have a "chewer", and what I did was take some material
    scraps and cut them into strips, then tied knots down the strips
    to create "material toys".  This seemed to be a great substitute
    and the cat would play with these for hours.  She also couldn't
    swallow it because of the knots.  
    
    Might even be a good idea to create these out of something she's
    already destroyed!!
    
    Hope this helps.
    cin
    

    Thanks for the advice Cin, I think I'll give this a try.
    
    Actually she hasn't chewed anything lately, partly because I've
    been trying to remember to keep everything put away.  I'm taking
    her to the vet on Saturday.  Her personality has suddenly changed.
    I'm worried something she swallowed may be giving her trouble. 
    All she wants to do is lay around and sleep.  She doesn't talk to
    me or lick my face.  Usually she naps on the sofa arm and keeps
    her distance when the tv is on but lately I'll start to lean back
    and their will be Bailey curled up behind me.  She's still eating
    her food but not as much, I can tell because there's alot of food
    left when I come home in the evening and usually its almost gone.
                                                                     
    I'm really worried about her.  She half-heartedly played with her
    favorite toy last night.  This is the one that she usually goes
    nuts over.
    
    She's still taking care of her major duties like meeting me at the
    door and sitting on the sink making sure I get my makeup on right 
    and brush my teeth properly.  She just doesn't have the energy for 
    her lesser obligations like playing with Amelia
    
    Jan
    
    
    

    
    Jan,
    
    I know it is useless to say this, but "don't worry".  Not yet at
    least.  I had a kitty once that would get that way every few years.
     I would take him to the vet, and he would be very cranky, so the
    vet and I had a hard time telling if he was hurting somewhere, or
    just being a pain in the you know what.  It would be determined,
    however, that he was running a fever.  A few pills later, he would
    be as good as new.  We never figured out if it was a pending abcess,
    urinary problems discovered early, or what. The bottom line is that
    this one cat would start laying low, I would bring him in for a
    check up, he would get antibiotics and then be good as new.  So
    - save your worrying.  It might not be needed this time.

    Well, its June now and my chewing problems have not gone away. 
    We've moved on to bigger and better things.  I still get careless
    every now and then and Bailey discovers a new treat to munch.  I've
    lost several T-shirts, my rugby style night shirt has gotten the
    worst of it (I think its going to become one of the suggested material
    toys), a bathing suit, and my powder blue Firenza sweater now has
    air conditioning in one sleeve.  I've tried to remember to throw
    my clothes in the closet instead of around my room but Amelia opens
    closet doors and Bailey probably sits nearby encouraging her to do it.
    
    I bought some "Bitter Apple" and have sprayed it on shoe laces and
    other favorite things and this works until the Bitter Apple evaporates
    out of whatever its on.  I have to spray the Afghan my grandmother
    made on a regular basis.  Its either that or store it in a closet
    instead of on the couch.
    
    Jo Ann keeps telling me I ought to break her of this.  I've tried
    and tried.  Does anyone know of a good animal psychologist in the
    San Jose, CA  area.  Maybe she has deep-seated feelings about her
    mother.  I don't know...I'm grasping at straws.  Anyone have any
    better ideas??
    
    [Just to recap, leaving dry food for her doesn't help.  She gobbles
     it all down then goes to work on the clothes.]
                                                   
    Jan
    
    P.S.  I forgot, she also has this amazing love for chewing the feet
    out of panty hose and workout tights.