The put up Alex and His Strange Obsession: Nighttime Kitty Antics by Dr. Karyn Kanowski, BVSc MRCVS (Vet) appeared first on Catster. Copying over total articles infringes on copyright legal guidelines. You might not be conscious of it, however all of those articles had been assigned, contracted and paid for, so they are not thought of public area. However, we recognize that you just just like the article and would like it should you continued sharing simply the primary paragraph of an article, then linking out to the remainder of the piece on Catster.com.
Have you ever woken up in the course of the evening and thought, “what the heck is that noise?” What am I saying, in fact you’ve gotten; you’ve gotten cats. I’m certain you’re all conversant in the sound of your favourite feline about to violently eject their dinner onto your bedspread, which, if they might do at 7am as a substitute of 2am, would truly be useful. But as I lay awake one evening, listening to this new, unfamiliar sound, I knew it wasn’t the audio accompaniment to an impending upchuck; it was one thing totally different.
The hassle with attempting to work out the place within the darkness an alien sound is coming from is that as quickly as you begin trying, the noise invariably stops, so it took me a number of nights to find the wrongdoer. My four-year-old ginger cat, Alex, vigorously licking a plastic bag.
Why?
This is a wonderful query, and one which I nonetheless don’t really feel like I’ve answered to my satisfaction. Initially, I assumed that it was simply that individual plastic bag; it will need to have contained one thing scrumptious, or had one thing spilled or sprayed on it. But no, it seems that Alex’s style in plastic is way from discerning.
If there’s any plastic bag left inside his attain, he shall be there, licking away. He doesn’t do it through the day, and he doesn’t lick different plastic receptacles. Shopping luggage, bin luggage, and particularly put up luggage have grow to be Alex’s nocturnal obsession.
Despite having been a vet for properly over a decade, this was not a habits I had encountered earlier than, however because it seems, Alex is just not alone. In reality, there are a number of theories to elucidate this explicit feline fetish, none of which might be definitively confirmed.
Business Alex has some theories too…
Is it the…
- Texture? Is it the feeling of tough tongue in opposition to this clean floor that appeals? But it should be one thing about the best way that the bag strikes, as different plastic objects simply don’t reduce it.
- Flavor? I admit, this isn’t one thing I’ve examined myself, but it surely’s arduous to think about {that a} plastic bag can be significantly mouthwatering. Plus, now we have round 20 instances extra style buds than cats; absolutely they aren’t detecting one thing we aren’t.
- Smell? This is the place cats have us beat. 200 million olfactory receptors vs. our paltry 5 million, and this sense additionally contributes to how issues style.
- Chemicals? We know that plastic luggage are horrible for the surroundings, and so they’re not too nice for us both. Chemicals like phenols and phthalates have been discovered to have some properties that mimic or block human hormones like estrogens. Perhaps that is what attracts a cat.
- Sound? The rustling sound the plastic makes whereas being licked might be an element, though one would count on that this may encourage them to play with the bag reasonably than deal with it like a popsicle.
There is one other chance that I can’t ignore, and that’s that Alex could be a sandwich wanting a picnic. But in his protection, other than a number of little eccentricities akin to his “somersault of happiness”, the best way he at all times crosses his entrance legs once they’re not splayed out in unusual angles, and his weekly behavior of sitting on the kitchen counter ready for his teaspoon of milk, he typically appears to be of fairly sound thoughts!
Patiently ready for his milk
Am I Worried?
Look, there’s at all times the danger that Alex might swallow, inhale, or choke throughout his late-night licking, however I’ve by no means noticed, or seen proof of, him biting or chewing the plastic. Just the tender, considerably obsessive, licking.
The actuality is, he’s most likely at far larger danger of being buffeted within the head by the cushion I ship flying in the direction of him at 3am. I’ve realized to carry out a nightly reconnaissance to ensure that any luggage have been fastidiously stashed away or disposed of; maybe Alex has simply been attempting to get me to tidy up a bit extra!
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We ought to all be utilizing much less plastic, and if one of many unintended advantages of seeing a discount in its use is that I’m much less more likely to be woken by the lick, lick, lick of Alex’s unusual preoccupation, then that’s simply another reason to get on board. Of course, with 5 cats and 5 canines, certainly one of them’s sure to do one thing to maintain me awake!
The put up Alex and His Strange Obsession: Nighttime Kitty Antics by Dr. Karyn Kanowski, BVSc MRCVS (Vet) appeared first on Catster. Copying over total articles infringes on copyright legal guidelines. You might not be conscious of it, however all of those articles had been assigned, contracted and paid for, so they are not thought of public area. However, we recognize that you just just like the article and would like it should you continued sharing simply the primary paragraph of an article, then linking out to the remainder of the piece on Catster.com.
