Inappropriate chewing

[Tina B and crew]

This is not a new problem, but has recently become MUCH worse! Chunk's inappropriately chewing on things he should not be chewing on. Like wicker baskets, corners of wooden furniture, the corners of electronic devices such as the stereo or DVD player, toys that the grandchildren play with, plastic bins. There is NO way I can keep everything away from him. When I move something he just finds something else. I can't remove all of our furniture! I had the vet check his teeth and gums the other day (because he had done some major damage to a wooden toy and I was afraid he might have broken a tooth or hurt his gums) and she didn't find anything out of the ordinary. I am wondering if this is due to the fact that I had taken him off of kibble and he is eating only wet food with the diet change. He won't eat the K/D kibble very well so I started giving him just a few morsels of the IAMS as well as a few Temptations treats during the day. But even with that he is still chewing. Other reasons I could think of are boredom? Stress? If it is boredom I don't know what else to do. I play with them often, every day. He has toys out during the day that he plays with as well. Stress? We've done our best to keep that at a minimum. The levels rise a bit when Doc gets to come out of his confinement because he acts out and gets a bit aggressive, but otherwise they tolerate each other fairly well. Of course I'm still bringing the scent of the stray in on me after I feed and spend time with him.

Is there something I can put on or around things to make it unpleasant for him? What is available out there that I can give him to chew on? Any treats that are recommended? Greenies?

[Traci]

I would suspect boredom or stress.

But, didn't you say once that Chunk had a chewing problem some time ago?

I wouldn't trust greenies, unless you're there to supervise him with them, and if your vet feels they are ok to use. In dogs, they have been known to cause choking, but to my knowledge, nothing reported in cats.

Maybe a different form of toy, different texture. I wouldn't suggest getting rubber toys etc but maybe just something different (or unless you can find a Nylabone cat-specific toy, I have a hard time finding them for cats - do NOT get the dog Nylabone toys).

A new Kong kickeroo, for example, or there are plastic kitten toy balls with weird edges for them to chew on, the balls are the same size as most play balls for cats. The skineeze mouse toys I got for my kitten, the adults really love, chew on it and slobber all over them, so that might be an option too. Just remember, very few places sell the skineeze toys specifically for cats and there are two sizes, one is TINY, that you wouldn't even want to give a kitten for fear of eating/choking, so get the Skineeze "Jumbo" size for cats. Mine is 6 inches long, and it's tail is an additional 5 or 6 inches long. I get most of my toys at petmountain.com since you can usually always get them much cheaper than petsmart etc. (a KONG kickeroo for example, around 3.89 as opposed to Petsmart's 7.00 or more!), plus they have lots of sales throughout the year.

Other ideas, like a cat-track, a kitty tunnel or crinkle tunnel if it's safe, a hidey cubby, a small stuffed animal to tote around, etc.

Try a slight variety of new toys, see what he prefers, what toy currently does he like to chew?

[Tina B and crew]

I'm leaning toward stress since he is actually getting more playtime now than he did previously. Yes, we've had problems with him chewing before, when he was a kitten. I thought he grew out of it, but apparently not. I have one toy I bought for him back then that was make for chewing and he shows no interest in it, naturally. About the only part of a toy he will chew on is tails/ears of mice toys, or anything that is stringlike or easy to grab hold of and those I cut off. I have several kickaroos and he has never played with them, ditto for one of the cat tracks. We have a couple of tunnels and tents. His favorite toy right now is a mouse that is made out fabric. He seems to rotate between a couple of stuffed fabric type mice. I'll look around and see what I can find though. He only seems interested in chewing on hard things right now, which is why I wondered if his lack of crunchy food might be part of the problem. I knew about the issue with greenies for dogs, I've only seen the treats for cats and wondered if maybe they were a bit more substantive for crunching. Right now I'm tossing him a few Temptations throughout the day. I may get a bag of the KD kibble and see if he will eat it again. Being on the prednisone it is apparent he wants to eat more so I have to watch him with that.

[Traci]

Can you remind me, is the KD being used to keep his pH neutral or because of the calcium levels that were off? Can you ask your vet about another veterinary equivalent, in another brand (like Purina Veterinary or Royal Canin)?

You could be correct in that he misses dry crunchy kibbles. Considering an equivalent vet diet in another brand might suffice, please ask your vet.

[Tina B and crew]

The KD is for the calcium. I am pretty sure they don't stock any of the other brands in kibble form but I can surely have them order it. It'd be nice if I could get sample size to see if he would eat it. I may just try the KD again since my vet office will let me return it even if I have opened the bag.

[Tina B and crew]

Since pecking order between cats came up over in Tambrey's post I figured I'd carry mine over here - instead of making a new post (because I've got more than my fair share of threads lately!)

The good news - Chunk's chewing issue seems to have abated. I haven't seen him trying to chew on anything (like the stereo - no kidding) after those few days where he was doing it really badly. I've taken away anything wood that has a corner he can fit in his mouth, except furniture but he seems to be leaving that alone - for now. I've also been giving him crunchy treats daily and a bit of kibble. I am wondering if the prednisone had anything to do with it, because the really excessive/obsessive chewing started shortly after he started on pred. He's down to every other day on the pred now. Oh..alland I got some of the Nylabone cat toys...none of them had any interest in them at all. Go figure...give them something they CAN chew and they don't want to.

The semi-good news - relations between Chunk, Doc, and Lucy are OK with the exception of the fact that both Chunk and Doc seem to be targeting Lucy, jumping her, and mounting her. We've been using the squirt bottle and have noticed that when they are in the room with us they rarely do it and if they even start just picking up the bottle and saying NO! stops them in their tracks (usually). But when we are not in the room with them I find they are more apt to do it. When they are just chasing I tend to not bother with it because what I've seen is that they reverse their positions when doing this. When they corner or jump her, however, I can usually tell because I will hear her yowling. All it takes to stop that, when it is happening in another room, is for them to hear my footsteps and they stop. Doc is a bit more stubborn than Chunk with backing off but once he backs off he usually doesn't turn around and do it again any time soon. Chunk is a bit more stubborn than Doc with persistence - he will back off quickly but will turn right around and go back at it when I turn my back. Lucy, over all, seems to have taken it all in stride. She still gives them pressies, she will sometimes lash out at them just for getting too close to her, and she doesn't seem to be affected by it much at all other than she can't always play as she would like. I'm just wondering if I should let it be or should I continue to intervene when they jump/mount/corner her? It doesn't seem to be working completely - these incidents are still a daily thing. Thankfully they are nothing close to what I use to deal with with Frodo and Gizmo and then Gizmo and Willow. That's was pure fur flying aggression, this is more domination I think.

[Traci]

Chunk and Doc might be having a contest to establish alpha male.

I can't answer the mounting issue's cause because it's difficult to figure out why they do so - except for the alpha male dominant behavior. That said, I've noticed the female victims usually are indifferent to it, and I think they understand the behavior better than we humans ever would. As long as no one is getting intimidated, agitated or hurt. I've noticed this only occurs on rare occasion, and I don't always know why, sometimes it is due to a temporary stress problem, or just out-of-the-blue behavior once and forgotten.

That said, I don't think I would ignore it, since they may at some point take the opportunity to expand the mounting issue into a dominant issue, chasing, agitating Lucy. You can't stop the behavior when you're not there to observe it, but those times you do, just gently remind them with the squirt bottle and a gentle "NO". Remember this is sort of instinctual behavior for any male cat at times, and they will target both genders, so we can't expect to change a behavior to a huge extent that occurs naturally to them.

I failed to remember that Chunk was on pred, so I don't know for certain, as I've never seen the connection directly, but you can certainly ask your vet if any of his patients had chewing issues while on pred. I still think it might have been due to a bit of stress mixed with boredom, and am glad you've offered more kibbles for him. Lastly, at his next checkup, do re-check his oral health just in case.

[Tina B and crew]

The mounting thing doesn't happen as much as chasing and cornering. Lucy does tend to hold her own - I've seen her take Chunk down with one paw even though she is half his size. It does seem to have stepped up a bit since Doc is here, with Chunk I mean. I wonder if a Feliway diffuser or two in the house might help? My vet suggested trying it - as she said, it couldn't hurt.

I swear, if Chunk had is way he'd have me playing with him nearly every waking hour.

[Traci]

I've not had much luck with Feliway, but that doesn't mean I would discourage it's use. Just be careful with any plugins, they seem to accumulate moisture/oil around them and can leave residue around the wall they are plugged in at. You have to watch them carefully.

I think gentle reprimand with the squirt bottle, supervision and an occasional time out if necessary, might be all that's needed, but every situation is different, you have to find what works for you.

As always, I always encourage owners to commit to playtime sessions with all the cats sharing the same space, and consistency is the key. Whenever cats have something consistent that pleases them, they tend to look forward to that, and will adapt to each other better.

[Tina B and crew]

That's what my vet said, Feliway doesn't always work but it can't hurt to try it - I'll just be out the money (they are pretty expensive).

Of course this every three weeks of confining Doc, keeping Chunk out of the bedroom (where he sits meowing because he can't go in) isn't helping I don't think.

The truth is they are really like children. I notice on days when I've got a lot on my plate they tend to act up more. I do my best to be consistent but it isn't always easy. I usually have a play session with them in the early evening. All three of them really enjoy it. Their behavior is usually worse late morning/early afternoon and at night.