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Conference misery::feline_v1

Title:	Meower Power is Valuing Differences
Notice:	FELINE_V1 is moving 1/11/94 5pm PST to MISERY
Moderator:	MISERY::VANZUYLEN_RO

Created:	Sun Feb 09 1986
Last Modified:	Tue Jan 11 1994
Last Successful Update:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:	5089
Total number of notes:	60366

1526.0. "SIAMESE PROBLEMS" by USMRW7::JCORACCIO () Wed Jul 06 1988 17:28

    Hello, fellow feliners! I'm new to the Notesfiles and am using a
    friend's, as I have limited privileges for my account (being a DecTemp
    has its drawbacks)...I'm in DIRE straights as a new feliner, and
    have seen no advice on a problem that is rapidly escalating.
    
    My friend, Patsy, is a seal-point siamese shelter-baby; it's estimated
    that she's about 3 1/2 yrs. old, and I've little info. about her
    except that her owner DUMPED her on a neighbor when he moved abroad.
    She's a lovely kitty, (naturally she's extremely vocal and demanding),
    and has one extremely bad habit so far (I've only had her about
    a month)...
    
    She likes to EAT acrylic/cotton knits; when I mean EAT, I mean LARGE
    chunks of the stuff...when I first got her, she was very stressed
    out and couldn't eat anything (had to be hospitalized, poor thing!),
    so when she came home from her ordeal, I didn't think much when
    she made a beeline for my boyfriend's dirty sock, and promptly started
    shredding it. Imagine my surprise, when I found it had been digested!
    
    It's not only dirty socks, but clean ones too (straight out of the
    dryer, two pairs of tennis socks-mine-)---and no longer in my sight,
    but usually when I'm out. The worst disaster was a double-size
    cotton-acrylic blanket...we came home after work one day to find
    it with large holes chewed away (and no sign of the remnants, except
    for days later in the litter box...)---5-6" wide holes, at least
    a dozen of them. 
    
    She's been banished from our bedroom, when we are away at work,
    as we have no doors on the clothes closets, and has been doing O.K.
    as long as all questionable items remain out of sight...but if she
    gets mad at me for going to the store after I've arrived home (even
    for 5 minutes around the corner), and anything's in sight---it's
    history!
    
    I haven't been able to catch her in the act after the first incident,
    as she runs to the door when I return, but SOME of the evidence
    at the scene of the crime has been FRESH (as in saliva stains)...
    all I've done is thump her NOSE with the evidence, YELL a lot, and
    isolate her briefly in the bathroom with the litterbox..........
    
    I haven't been a parent before, so I need HELP with this-only one
    cat person (at the shelter where I got her ) has had a siamese with
    this problem, and she had no answers; obviously, I can't allow her
    to eat material, even a pet sock, due to possible intestinal blockage,
    and I feel badly because she can't even run around the whole apartment
    when I'm at work. As far as getting her a friend, I have only a
    one-bedroom basement apartment (very limited in its size), and was
    told when I brought her home that she hates other cats, and wants
    to be THE QUEEN of the house!
    
    Thanks in advance!
              m&m
    HAS BEEN FRESH 
    clothes closets

T.R	Title	User	Personal Name	Date	Lines
1526.2		CIRCUS::KOLLING	Karen, Sweetie, & Holly; in Calif.	`Wed Jul 06 1988 18:04`	7
	I think you're lucky you can shut all the "edible" stuff away. It doesn't sound like restricting her to one room while you're at work is a real hardship -- is it a fun room with window perches etc.? There was a discussion of fabric-eating furfaces in some recent note, but I don't recall a solution except keeping things hidden. Now, Sweetie and Holly have a taste for book corners....
1526.3		SSMP20::DALEY		`Wed Jul 06 1988 18:46`	22
	the problem with eating fabric - unlike eating paper - is that the threads can become lodged in the throat or intestines. We had a small dog once who ate a "ped" (i.e., a stocking for the foot only) and couldn't pass it. He had to undergo surgery to remove it. Luckily he survived. Perhaps you could ask you vet if the cat is missing some particular vitamin or mineral in her diet which makes her resort to eating cotton/acrylic items. Or maybe you could divert her attention by giving her a catnip toy (altho that may entertain her for only a short period). But I would ask your vet about it. It wouldn't require a visit as such, but simply a telephone call - and talk directly to the vet - not the assistant. However, being locked in one room while you are at work doesn't sound like a hardship - especially in her case. As Karen suggested - make it a fun place - with a window perch, toys, etc. You can make it quite comfortable and she'll do well.
1526.4		EDUC8::TRACHMAN		`Wed Jul 06 1988 19:57`	10
	My friend Janice has a Siamese that ate sweaters and socks - she learned to be VERY neat! Or else have a very mad husband. Other than picking up after herself, I don't know of any other cures. Katenka is a "corner of a book" chewer also. She will stand on the counter, stare me right in the eye, and chew my cookbooks! She does so few things naughty, that I can't really yell at her. Yeah, I know, she is very spoiled rotten! She can really make a mess of corners even with her two upper canines missing! Friends at the shows are calling her "chicken lips".
1526.5	Notes 469, 624 & 1033 discuss chewing too	SCRUZ::CORDES_JA	By the shards of my dragon's egg	`Fri Jul 08 1988 02:08`	16
	You might want to take a look at notes 469, 624, and 1033. There have been a few discussions about similar problems. I should know, I started one of them. My cat Bailey eats clothes, shoestrings, etc. (Might help a little to know you're not alone with this problem.) We've made quite a bit of progress (see note 624.4, 1033.8) since my original note on chewing (469). She now knows that when her head is poking in the closet and I say NO, or when she's eyeballing my shoelaces and I look at her mom-like and call her name with that question to my voice (like "What are you up to?"), that she'd better make a beeline for the other end of the room. We still slip up and she gets to something I would have liked to have kept uneaten but this is still a major improvement. Jan
1526.6		SCRUZ::CORDES_JA	By the shards of my dragon's egg	`Fri Jul 08 1988 02:17`	16
	One thing I forgot to mention. When Bailey first started her chewing thing I used to get so upset and yell and scream. I noticed after a while that Bailey never wanted to be around me. She associated me with the yelling and screaming I did when she ate something. I started using a new approach of calmly picking her up, disengaging whatever she was chewing from her mouth and putting her in the cat carrier for a cool off period. After a short time (I'm too much of a softy) I'd go open the carrier so she could get out, but still ignore her and go about what I was doing until she came to me. This approach has worked wonders. Bailey and I have the best mom/kitty relationship at this point than we've had since before the chewing thing started. She has become an extremely lovable/affectionate cat where before she was very standoffish. Jan
1526.7	Stress?	CHEFS::GOUGH		`Mon Jul 11 1988 15:09`	10
	Siamese do chew things - my friend's Balinese eats (literally) blankets, if given the chance. However, maybe insecurity has something to do with it. When we first got Hector (non-Siamese stray cat), he used to suck on cushions, bedcovers, clothes, and so on. As he settled down and became a happy cat who knew where his next meal was coming from, he gradually stopped doing it. Helen.