Expert: Ali - 10/9/2008

Question
We adopted two abandoned cats last November - without knowing the history, we are pretty sure they are either brother and sister, or mother and son. The male is approximately 18 months old and chews on or attempts to eat everything. We have to keep string and yarn out of reach, which I understand is common. However, he also chews on the leather organ bench, any wooden shelf he can reach and apparently pieces of plastic. He has had some hair ball/vomiting issues the last couple of weeks. Three incidents that I'm aware of. The latest was earlier this week, and when I was cleaning up the mess i found a small piece of plastic in the mix. I don't know what it was, or where he would have gotten it from. Any advice on why he may be doing this and how to discourage the behaviour? I have noticed that he seems to have 'fangs' that hang over his lower jaw, more so than the female. I'm not sure if that would have anything to do with the chewing, but he does seem to go after hard objects...

Answer
Jennifer,

Has the cat been to see a vet regarding this issue? The reason that I ask is that it sounds as though he may have some sort of a dental issue or be exhibiting signs of pica which is characterized by intentional ingestion of non food items. Pica can be the physical manifestation of a cat trying to correct nutritional deficiencies. Either condition could potentially be quite serious so having a vet do a complete work up and take a medical history would be a good first step. It may be worthwhile to consider trying to feed your cat a holistic food made from human grade ingredients to see if his appetite for non food items diminishes. I would suggest that you take some time to do research so that you can be informed about what kinds of things actually make it into lower quality pet foods. Higher quality pet foods may have a higher initial price tag, however in the long run the cats need to eat less to fulfill their nutritional requirements which means that the food ends up being cheaper on a per serving basis. Cats who are fed cheaper foods are often more likely to develop nutritional deficiencies and serious health problems related to inappropriate nutrition. Think of it this way - if you only ate Kraft Dinner and hot dogs all day every day you would be missing key elements in your diet that could cause you to become sick, however if you eat a balanced diet rich in fruits, veggies, grains, fish, poultry and meat in addition to the occasional batch of Kraft Dinner and hot dogs your health would probably be somewhat better than someone who was only eating the hot dogs and KD. Cats are obligate carnivores so they must have a fair amount of high quality protein derived from meat, fish or poultry along with whole foods that include some fruit, veggies and grains. I feel that a cat's nutrition will to a fair degree determine their future health - garbage in, garbage out, good stuff in, healthy, happy kitty on the outside. It may be beneficial for you to seek the assistance of a holistic veterinarian - these doctors are trained in conventional medicine as well as one or more alternative therapies such as acupuncture, homeopathy or massage. The reason that I feel that it would be a good idea for you to consult a holistic vet is because the focus in holistic medicine is less about treating symptoms and more about looking at the whole cat. Sometimes treatments like homeopathy have an effect similar to peeling an onion - properly used homeopathy cures an issue, the down side is that sometimes there are one or more issues underneath the initial one that will require separate treatment, but once you've gotten through the layers the issue shouldn't come back. Since you have found foreign bodies in this cat's vomit I am somewhat concerned about the potential for him to have ingested things that haven't yet worked their way through his digestive tract that could possibly cause harm to the stomach lining or intestines. If a foreign object perforates the stomach or intestines the odds are against successful treatment due to the massive infection which could result from such an scenario...I'm not entirely convinced that the slight overbite you mention is the root cause of this issue so I would suggest that you have your vet do some blood work and take x-rays to see if there is anything suspicious inside of his digestive tract. Not all objects show up on x-ray however if your vet is able to do an x-ray with contrast he/she will be more able to determine whether or not this little fellows digestive tract is intact and whether or not there is anything causing a blockage. To the best of my knowledge these x-rays are often done in series at specified time intervals so that the vet can see the contrast material moving through the cat's system and get a good overall picture of what's happening internally. The x-rays aren't foolproof, but they may show that this kitty has eaten foreign bodies that you haven't been aware of. Hopefully there won't be anything serious going on, but in cases like this it's better to be safe than sorry.