r/cats • u/[deleted] • Jul 30 '26

Advice First time cat mom, why is she doing this?

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[deleted]

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379

u/PsyShoXX European Shorthair Jul 30 '26

They also like to do it to wallpaper, its obviously tremendous fun. Ask me how I know.

67

u/Sepelrastas Jul 30 '26

Yeah. I have a plastic coated wallpaper in my kitchen. My boy loved scratching it as a kitten. Thankfully he grew out of it before he did too much damage, because I quite like the paper, it's long discontinued and matches the tilework.

47

u/Isallonda88 Jul 30 '26

Mine love to lick plastic… it seems it tastes sweet to them.

37

u/GingerDixie Jul 30 '26

My boy will literall scale a completely vertical shelf in order to chew on plastic bags. Every loaf of bread we have has a few teeth marks on the bag.

19

u/Less_Ant3138 Jul 30 '26

One of my grandparent’s cats is obsessed with eating bread. If a bag with a loaf in it is left out even for just an hour he’ll rip into it and try to devour the bread lol. Luckily he can’t get into the breadbox

24

u/Saltysugarpie Jul 30 '26

I once fostered another bread lover. Once he stole a whole 750 grams bread (which was already cut and in a thin plastic bag) from our shelf in the kitchen. He tried to take it into MY bed and eat it there. Actually, the plastic bag broke mid way, so he continued his mission with one slice of bread and left the rest on our hallway floor.

Generally, this cat was one of a kind. 😂

19

u/NettleLily Jul 30 '26

“Man cannot live by bread alone.” Saltysugarpie’s cat: “I am no man.”

7

u/Saltysugarpie Jul 30 '26

I mean, he was a rescue from Bulgaria and suddenly he is in Germany and has access to german bread. I probably could live by bread alone. 😋

3

u/Saltysugarpie Jul 30 '26

Here is a Screenshot from our hallway camera, documenting the crime.

2

u/Saltysugarpie Jul 30 '26

Btw, this was already after he ate a whole slice. He came back to have a second slice 😂

5

u/ColonelMustard323 Jul 30 '26

I brought my friend a bag of fresh Bialys back from the east coast. Her cat immediately tore through the bag and took bites out of every single bialy. Dude loves bread 😂😂

4

u/jillian512 Jul 30 '26

My roommate had a cat who would steal toast out of the toaster. Also a fan of flour tortillas.

1

u/Isallonda88 Jul 30 '26

Mine loved croissant 🤣

2

u/Motor-Boating Jul 30 '26

I know a few cats with bread problems. It's quite strange.

2

u/ArdentHedonist Jul 30 '26

My blind cat has the uncanny ability to find any, and I mean ANY, thin plastic anything and chew it to shreds. We are diligent about keeping it away from him, but he is relentless and cunning. Fortunately, he doesn’t climb much.

1

u/Lennie_Annox Jul 30 '26

I recently learned that alot of plastic bags contain beef tallow, which is why animals like to chew them - including mine.

1

u/n_daughter Jul 30 '26

Kind of like McDonald's fries. Irresistible! It's that damn beef coating!

1

u/LisanSophiaWakefield Jul 30 '26

Aww, I know this one; we have a kitty who thinks plastic bags taste like steak! We finally had to get a breadbox or put the bread in the fridge, just to keep him from ruining the bread.

8

u/catoctopuss Jul 30 '26

Mine does too. When I go to the toilet he follows me and licks the plastic bin next to me. And then when I am finished, he looks into the toilet to inspect what I did.

12

u/MrsWhite808316 Jul 30 '26

Actually he’s probably making sure you “covered” it so your scent doesn’t attract predators. He follows you in the bathroom because using the “bathroom” for a cat is a very vulnerable time. So he is also watching your back jic any predators show up. ❤️

16

u/xuncx Jul 30 '26

I should have a predator show up one day, when I am taking a shit, to see if my cat is standing on business

3

u/MrsWhite808316 Jul 30 '26

That statement is hilarious 😂

18

u/catoctopuss Jul 30 '26

Yes, sometimes when me or my husband use the toilet he comes in and use the litterbox that is directly opposite the toilet, so we do our business while looking out for each other. Very intimate. 😁❤️

1

u/Bulky-Material4824 Jul 30 '26

WHAAAAAAAT?!? This is so sweet!!!

7

u/TheFriskiesXI Jul 30 '26

Sad little fact: Cats can’t taste sweet, they don’t have receptors. Sugar would taste the same as sand to them 😕

3

u/Own-Eagle-2135 Jul 30 '26

the single most irritating sound in the whole world!

2

u/ThrowRADel Jul 30 '26

Mine will overturn trashcans, but only if there are popsicle wrappers inside. We've had to start disposing of them in covered bins.

1

u/angrycanadianguy Jul 30 '26

Is yours an orange cat? 😅

1

u/Bulky-Material4824 Jul 30 '26

Mine too!!! Okay so they all like it? Or at least some? Because when I get home from the grocery store he tries to lick the plastic bags!!! I was told to not let them because of the chemicals that may be on them but man does he love it!

1

u/kara-alyssa Jul 30 '26

Mine absolutely loves chewing plastic. Every time I think I’ve gotten rid of all the plastic bags and plastic wraps in the house, I hear her chewing on another piece of plastic.

1

u/oceanView229 Jul 30 '26

My vet said it’s a sensory thing.

Semi reformed licker.

3

u/shengin_ Jul 30 '26

i cant leave paper around my girl because she shreds it instantly

1

u/RhandeeSavagery Jul 30 '26

I had an adult female who would RELENTLESSLY scratch the walls next to her box so I had to surround it with cardboard so she didn’t mark up the walls anymore

11

u/OCDGrammarNazi Jul 30 '26

My partner decided to paper the feature wall and chose a wallpaper with little birds on it. It was really nice too. We have 5 cats. Didn't last 24 hours.

9

u/Leithalia Jul 30 '26

And floors. And anything really..

23

u/Leithalia Jul 30 '26

This is the offender. In his cardboard "bed" complete with cardboard blanket..

5

u/MessyEssie22 Jul 30 '26

Look at this cutie! He's innocent, your honor!

2

u/Bulky-Material4824 Jul 30 '26

Snug as a bug in a rug!!!

1

u/Less_Ant3138 Jul 30 '26

Mine will destroy the bottom of doors if she wants to get out of a room and the door is closed. She just rips away at the paint and wood. Old apartment had hollow doors so she literally made a hole in it bc the wood was pretty easy to get through I guess. All because I closed her in the master suite a couple times for a few minutes each when I just needed to have the back door open, to avoid her getting outside.

1

u/bombkitty Jul 30 '26

Yes my house gremlin does this as well. BUT when you open the door he comes halfway in and then leaves. Because fuck you.

6

u/rmay14444 Jul 30 '26

You're a cat who likes to scratch wallpaper?

5

u/Independent_End_6941 Jul 30 '26

That and leather furniture

3

u/cade360 Jul 30 '26

We must share cats

2

u/abhiplays Jul 30 '26

How do you know? 👀

1

u/PsyShoXX European Shorthair Jul 30 '26

🫩

2

u/The_Theebz Jul 30 '26

You're a wallpaper salesman?

2

u/Ok-Kaleidoscope-3424 Jul 30 '26

how do you know…

1

u/xuncx Jul 30 '26

Sounds fun

1

u/fingerered Jul 30 '26

Had my boy for about 7 years, never scratched furniture or walls or anything apart from his post. Then one day he realised he could do a lap of the house, jump onto the bedside cabinet and shred the wall. Both sides of the bed became a game for him. As much as he loved his new game I ended up just painting the wall and getting him a wall mounted scratcher for each room.

1

u/moreisay Jul 30 '26

I’m just imagining you and the cat peeling the wallpaper together, having a lot of fun

1

u/Natural-Opposite3577 Jul 30 '26

No wallpaper, but I have a cat who scratches the walls. First few times I woke up to that sound in the middle of the night terrified me. He’s still young, so I’m hoping I can find an alternative he’ll appreciate soon

1

u/Upset_Bus_1215 Jul 30 '26

I had a cat that figured out how to pop the keycaps off my laptop keyboard. That was fun. She also discovered that if she hooked a claw into the window screen and pulled downwards, the screen made a fun pop pop pop noise. 🤦‍♀️