my cat eats cardboard boxes

[garethbdavis]

Help, my unique seven toed cat eats and/or tears up cardboard boxes. The cat room is located with the storage room and it looks like a giant rat has invaded it. Has anyone else had this problem? Are there any suggestions on what to do about it. My sister also told me cardboard boxes have worms inside. Does anyone know if this is true?

[Traci]

Cats consider cardboard boxes play toys, they like to play in them and hide in them. They'll also chew on them.

Solution? Keep your kitty away from the area where the boxes are. Give him a scratching post or safe/sturdy cat tree and cat toys, and spend quality time with him/her in playtime.

[Cleo]

I don't know about worms but someone once told me corrugated/cardboard boxes can attact roaches. Either way, yuck! One of my cats will chew and rip a card board box top if there is one around. I got a few small chew toys to help with this problem.

[valeriieee]

Did anything ever work for you? My cat has the same problem (which I posted a new topic about before I saw this one), and it really is a PAIN! If mine drew the line at cardboard boxes, it'd be fine. I'd do what is suggested here and just keep her away from anything cardboard. But she chews on so many other things, too! I can't possibly keep EVERYTHING she chews on away from her, or the majority of my stuff would be on stilts. And then she'd chew on the stilts!!

I've tried the cat chew toys. I've tried DOG chew toys. I literally shower her with attention. She is otherwise very well-behaved. It's just this chewing on/eating stuff that I can't seem to break her habits of doing! She's 2, and I thought she'd have outgrown this chewing thing by now.

She has a scratching post. She has no front claws, though, and so rarely uses the post. And actually, back to the toys, those aren't much help, since she tends to eat those too! It's annoying, but I'm mostly concerned about her health! I've found out that she's chewed electrical cords before - while they were PLUGGED IN!! I just don't know what to do about her.

[Cleo]

Nope, nothing really worked except making sure there isn't any cardboard around. I buy bottled water by the bulk and it comes in a bottom tray of cardboard. Two of mine start chewing on it before I get the chance to unload the bottles and toss the box. One of the two has a bad habit of gnawing on my fingers. I've tried chew toys, squirt bottles, firm NO'S!! but he still does it. I literally have to toss him off of me or out of my bed or room in the middle of the night because of this behavior. He's one of the two youngest of my crew here, came in with his brother and he's a royal pain in the a$$. But I made the commitment and do what I can to deter the habit. Meanwhile we have a 60 pound furball chow mix that I can stick my whole arm down her throat and not have a problem!

Good luck with yours. I read your post and Traci (as usual) summed it all up with good advice.

[valeriieee]

Thanks. Yeah, for the duration of our moving process, I guess all I can do is try to keep a closer eye on her. There's really no way to keep her away from ALL of our boxes, ya know? We'd have to lock her in the bathroom 24/7 or something.

I hear you with the bottled water!! And the pain in the a$$ part, too. She's adorable and I love her like crazy, but she just makes me so MAD sometimes! I always know when she's been into something new, because I'll hear a loud, "I HATE YOUR CAT!" from my fiance when he finds whatever her new "chew toy" has become!

If it were just the cardboard, I could deal with that (under normal circumstances) fairly easily. But she likes to branch out from time to time and chew on things that it wouldn't even occur to me she might chew on. I mean, she really has gotten better about not eating these things. Now it's just that she seems to enjoy chewing in general - and I just can't keep her chewing on the things she SHOULD chew on and leaving the things alone that she SHOULDN'T chew on.

I'm not sure I even got across how many things she actually will chew on, and how literally impossible it would be to keep everything she'll chew on out of her reach. For example, I've seen her chew on the edges of my computer desk. Not often. Only once. And she didn't do it for long, so there wasn't any damage. But still...it's things like....well, EVERYTHING. If she can get her mouth around it, she'll have a little gnaw at it.

Anyway, thanks for your response. Good luck with yours! If I ever get anything to work for us, I'll let ya know!