My kitten eats window caulk. How to stop this dangerous behavior?

Scratching is a natural behavior for cats. Here is a link which may be helpful: https://www.petcoach.co/article/5-ways-to-deal-with-your-cat-s-scratching/ Eating foreign objects can pose a significant health risk. This can be very bad as strings and other foreign objects can cause blockages, lacerations or perforations within the intestines which can be life threatening. This may be a difficult situation to correct. Some cats may respond to environmental enrichment and finding energy outlets. Toys can come in many forms and some are even interactive. https://www.petcoach.co/article/common-home-items-that-make-great-cat-toys/ Also, providing other environmental enrichment can help. Here is a great article about cat's instinctual needs: https://www.petcoach.co/article/why-every-cat-needs-a-place-to-climb/ Using a Feliway diffuser and setting aside 30 minutes a day for vigorous play for your cat can also help. Lastly, you may need to safety confine Maisy so she cannot eat things she should. Make her a room that has been cat proofed where you put Maisy any time you cannot directly supervise her so that she is safe. I hope this helps.

If she eats a lot of hair (and if you have long hair) there is a potential she could get a linear foreign body. You may try distraction techniques. Try enriching the environment. Here is a great article about cat's instinctual needs: https://www.petcoach.co/article/why-every-cat-needs-a-place-to-climb/ Use a Feliway diffuser and set aside 30 minutes a day for vigorous play (really get her moving). Try feeding her out of a food puzzle. Hide food for her to find. Provide a stand or resting place by a window so she can look outside. You may also try clicker training her for positive behavior. Here is a link about training cats: https://www.petcoach.co/article/can-i-train-my-cat/ Most cats response best to combination therapy. I hope this helps and please feel free to post any additional questions.

Hi there! It’s not recommend to try and “discipline” cats in this way (scruffiness, yelling, squirt bottles, etc) because it generally isn’t effective and can make your cats stressed and afraid of you. Instead, focus on providing her with other things to scratch and claw that are more effective than your rug. This is a normal behavior for cats, so she needs appropriate options to meet her needs. Try a tall, sturdy cat tree or scratching post, or a horizontal scratching tray if she prefers this. You may also need to take up the rug temporarily until she is reliably scratching more appropriate things.

This is likely behavioral. I would recommend providing her with plenty of toys that will keep her occupied. You can also consider using a bitter spray to apply to the things she chews on most to try and deter her from continuing this behavior. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further.

You can try putting double-sided sticky tape on the walls where she tends to scratch - most cats don't like the feel of this on their paws, so it helps to discourage scratching in unwanted places like this. It's also important to make sure that Tabby has lots of other things she can scratch and climb, such as cat trees, cat condos, and tall, sturdy scratching posts - these things will help to provide an appropriate outlet for this behavior.

If she actually ingesting the non food items, this condition is indeed called feline pica. If she is sucking or nursing on them, this is an entirely different behavior. Ideally, she should be physically examined by your veterinarian to diagnose any underlying medical causes. Once those have been ruled out you can focus on behavioral causes. Many times, stress or boredom can cause aberrant behavior. Consider a pheromone product such as Feliway Spray or plug in diffuser to decrease any stress or anxiety. Keep Maui engaged and distracted using a variety of toys and exercise. Restrict access to those items she eats or sucks on, stopping and correcting the behavior when observed. Be consistent and be patient.

In all likelihood, Fern's fondness for paper is likely a normal play and exploration behavior. Young kittens are still learning about their surroundings and sometimes get into trouble in the process. Obviously, try to avoid letting her eat paper when possible, but a bit here and there is unlikely to cause any significant problems. If she is eating a commercially available balanced kitten food, a nutritional deficiency is highly unlikely as a possible cause. Try to confine her when you leave the house to avoid unsupervised access to paper products, but I would expect her to grow out of this behavior. If you haven't already done so, take a stool sample to her vet to assure that intestinal parasites are not present, as this can occasionally cause animals to eat abnormal things. I hope that all goes well!