Sometimes, your shopping bags will retain the taste or odor of the food you were carrying in them, which may make the bags attractive to the cat. Cats are obligate carnivores, meaning they get all their dietary requirements from eating meat, so cat food that contains high proportions of other ingredients is not advisable. When you think of delicious smells and tastes, plastic grocery bags probably don’t spring immediately to mind. However, the smell and taste may be partly what attracts cats to some plastics. How big was the piece of plastic? This might determine whether or not you think they’ll throw it up or poop it out.

Animal Fat. Many types of plastic bags are made with “slip agents” which are used to reduce friction in the product. These agents are frequently made from beef fat, and some cats enjoy the subtle flavors in the product. You know cats love to play! Plastic shopping bags, plastic toys, and other items can all be attractive to our mischievous feline pets. If your cat doesn’t have much access to toys or other forms of stimulation, boredom may lead to them playing with non-traditional toys. 2. Taste If your cat is a particular fan of a certain kind of plastic, like beads or hair bands, always keep them well out of reach. Make sure trash cans are well secured so your cat can’t access them, and always clean up any wrappers rather than leaving them lying around the house.

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Again, I feel a cat who’s chewing on plastic, but doesn’t necessarily want to eat it probably doesn’t have pica. But please let me know in the comments below if you agree or disagree with me about this. It doesn’t matter how meticulously clean you keep your home; cats have a way of finding the weirdest things on the ground to try and play with or eat, including plastic. As soon as you hear your cat starting to chew on plastic, try to get it away from them as soon as possible. Ultimately, exploratory surgery may be needed to thoroughly examine your cat’s digestive tract and remove any obstructions that are found. Abdominal surgery also has the benefit of allowing the veterinarian to examine the organs for damage and obstruction directly and remove any plastic. Cats enjoying playing with toys. It keeps them interested and can also help stimulate and assuage their natural predatory instincts to hunt.

When this happens, chewing on plastic could be a manifestation of these kinds of psychological problems. 5. Like the sound and feel This is why you should call your veterinarian for advice as soon as possible. If treated promptly, most cats do very well. It is also worth noting that the plastic itself is not likely to be toxic, but if it contains something poisonous to cats, it could be problematic.

Suggestions for stimulating your cat

If your vet wants you to bring your cat into the clinic for an examination, please do so as soon as possible, as treatment is more likely to be successful if carried out early enough. How Do I Know if My Cat Ate Plastic? Items made of new materials can be very intriguing to our curious cats. Plastic is crinkly, smooth, pliable, and very light. It can be batted around, scrunched up, and investigated by claws, mouth, and nose. It’s possible to buy special sprays to use on items you don’t want your cats to chew. The spray is harmless but gives items an unpleasant bitter taste, discouraging kitty from biting into it. If all else fails, you can call in a cat behavioral specialist. These guys might not be cheap, but they’ll probably be able to solve the problem – so it’s something to consider as a last resort. How do you know if your cat has swallowed plastic? While there aren’t that many pet toys made specifically for cats to chew on, there are some. Toys like the Petstages Dental Health Chew Toy, Petstages Catnip Chew Mice and the KONG Cat Hugga Wubba Cat Toy.

When it comes to cats chewing on plastic, I’ll be frank, I did quite a bit of digging and feel like most sources get the reason behind the “why” wrong. You’ll see a lot of articles simply jump to the connection between cats chewing plastic and cats with pica, and while I admit there’s a big correlation there, I think most cats love chewing plastic – with or without pica in the picture. In today’s article, I’ll be breaking down how to semi-rule out pica from the menu of reasons your cat could be chewing on plastic, I’ll showcase the best answer I’ve managed to find on the explanation behind this cat obsession, and I’ll give my own example and explanation for why I personally think cats typically like to chew on plastic. Obviously (as I’m sure you’ve read the title), I’ll also be discussing whether or not this behaviour is dangerous. Spoiler, but – as with most things – this behaviour can sometimes be dangerous and sometimes not; I’ll go over when it is and isn’t dangerous in this post as well. I’ve also added some tips in case chewing plastic is a habit you’re hoping to help your cat break out of for one reason or another. Let’s begin!

About Dr. Lizzie Youens BSc (Hons) BVSc MRCVS

Some of these are also drivers for why cats commonly turn to munching on plastic, but there are also some unique reasons for this behavior, so let’s think about the most common ones now. Why plastic? Medical, dietary and psychological reasons Pica is common in cats as well as dogs, and it can occur for a range of different reasons. However, unlike something like grass-eating, plastic-eating should always be discouraged since it can cause serious health issues for your pets. If a cat is suffering from nutritional deficiencies, perhaps due to a poor diet, it may turn to other food sources to supplement its diet.

However, just giving a cat one or two boring toys to chew on is not going to do it – you need to find toys that will challenge your cat and that your cat enjoys playing with. Separating cats and plastic bags is achieved by stealth diversion tactics. If removing the alluring object from their reach isn't an option, offer them something more desirable. Stimulate their senses with toys like food puzzles or ball mazes. Because their hunting instinct runs deep, they will appreciate soft cat toys that they can chase around the house. Many cats also appreciate dog toys, particularly the sturdy, durable stuffed animals. The best option from my point of view (besides removing the object from your cat’s reach in the first place if that’s something you can physically do), is to get replacement, cat safe chew things for your feline to take his or her urge to gnaw out on. Then make those chew-friendly things more desirable (i.e. spray them with catnip!).Using fun cat games that really get them thinking, will help get their attention away from the plastic. This could be a hunting game or a chasing game, which we know they love! And hey – if you’ve ever chewed on the butt of a pencil or pen and kinda wanted to continue to chomp, even though you knew it was probably not the best idea for the long term health of your teeth – my guess is you already sort of get on a personal level why plastic is enjoyable for cats to chew on.