One of my 2cats, a siamese, really likes to lick anything thats made of wool. He also loves shoelaces, they look like crap when he's finished with them. Anyone know why he does that? & what can I do to stop him?
2006-09-01 11:42:07 · 7 answers · asked by Iris 1 in Pets ➔ Cats
Hi Iris...this is very common with the Siamese breed known also known as PICA.
The majority of cats that display this behaviour are Siamese and this fact gives a strong indication that it can be inherited. It is not, however, related to any nutritional deficiencies, external stresses or to the sex or reproductive stage of the animal. One hypothesis is that this may be a behaviour that is "left over" from the prolonged six-month suckling period that is common in feral (stray or wild) cats. Since domestic kittens are usually weaned at six weeks, this may result in suckling deprivation that is expressed by the sucking of man-made objects such as wool. Unfortunately, this idea has not been tested experimentally. It has also been thought that cats may wool suck because the odour of lanolin in wool is similar to the odour of the fur around the nipples of the kitten's mother.
I've included a couple websites below that talks about wool sucking cats. If you have a moment to read them you might find them quite interesting.
2006-09-01 15:08:19 · answer #1 · answered by ♪ Seattle ♫ 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I had a cat and she used to love to lick your clothes when she was having a cuddle on your lap!
She'd lick and lick until there was a wet patch on your jumper or t-shirt or whatever you were wearing!! She's also knead with her paws.
The Vet said she was remembering being a kitten and feeding from her mum! So when she was cuddled up on a nice warm lap she'd go into kitten mode and start trying to suckle! It was sort of cute although a bit of a pain to have wet soggy patches on your clothes afer you'd had a cuddle with her!
Cats have all sorts of strange little habits like this. I had one who used to love to chew the covers of books! You'd leave a book on the floor or somewhere she could get to it, and next time you found it the cover would be full of little puncture holes!!
She also used to suck/lick and bite my hair (which is long) and drink out of any cup of tea that was left on the floor so we just had to be really careful not to leave anything lying about!
2006-09-02 23:46:14 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Mine has thing about my hair, she licks it and licks it and pads it with her paws, nuzzles into it, I didnt used to like it, but I cant stop her doing it as she does it when im in bed and asleep. I often wake up with a wet bit of tangled hair in the morning. Yuk!
2006-09-01 11:52:49 · answer #3 · answered by lozzielaws 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The texture of them resembles furr. So it is only instinct for him to lick/clean them.
2006-09-01 11:58:47 · answer #4 · answered by hott_n_furious 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
cats are weird, I had one that liked to suck the armpits of dirty shirts
2006-09-01 15:44:00 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
they think its their fur and theyre trying to clean it coz their texture
2006-09-01 11:47:27 · answer #6 · answered by winnie m 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
winnie is right, but let me ask my cat's approval here, ill be back....
2006-09-01 11:52:13 · answer #7 · answered by DJ Alex 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋