Sometimes it is an impulse control thing; they see something that looks really tempting to chew but they know they shouldn't, so they cope by just kinda chewing next to it. Keep an eye out for potential dental problems like another commenter mentioned, but it could be nice to give him something he can chew safely like some cat grass.
That could be my cat, Paddi Wolf, in there….same tail with those ridiculously long side hairs….she also really enjoys bags, any kind of bag…she wants to be in it.
Every cat licks plastic, I don’t know what it is about plastic that they love so much. The taste, smell, texture or do they just like the noice at 3 o’clock in the morning!
This man seeks it out. Plastic bags I keep in the cabinet for garbage liners poking out just a bit? Completely dragged out. Husband brought a grocery bag in the bedroom and forgot to throw it away? My cat will find it no matter where it is (and I’ll be pissed af, that wakes me up out of a dead sleep).
Hey maybe they’re on to something and we’re missing out. Ever tried plastic? I’m sure I got enough microplastics in me… time to turn it into macro plastic
Not every cat does it. Careful with blanket statements like that. I have two cats from tge same litter. One licks plastic like it's her religion and her brother has never done it. He strongly prefers feathers for his licking.
We have to be very careful not to drop any of those think clear plastic things used to attach tags to clothing because our cat will try to eat them. I had to throw out cat toys that had plastic mesh ribbons on them for the same reason.
Then when you're close to reaching them they bolt last second trying to bring the object with them (always fucking ziplock bags and plastic wrappers from the pantry over here). Then they're bolting, possibly scaring themselves even more from the bag making noise, looking like a cockroach scurrying away from light.
Mine does the same thing with my fuckin blinds of all things 😭😭 i thought it was a desire for them to go outside so I made them a catio... Nope she just wants to eat my blinds
I have a cat that does the fake chewing when he looks at my hair, he has been scolded multiple times for chewing on it, so this tracks. His little air chomps are pretty cute
My Siamese does it when she’s sitting on the pillow above my head too! I have never scolded her for anything in her life because she is perfect and has never made a mistake, but seemingly she invented this fake chomping thing on her own as well.
My kitties immediately loved the plot of gat grass I made for the patio. They'd chew on it but 90% of the time I'd just find them Sunbathing or napping in it....
Totally worth it. They were all happy kitties napping in their grass and sometimes I'd catch them just crewing on some while laying down.
From my experience as a VET Cats have a Jacobson’s organ on the roof of their mouth. When something smells super interesting fake plants, plastic, new furniture, your laundry they’ll open their mouth slightly and do that fake chew/chatter. It’s basically their way of “tasting the air” to get more scent info. Fake plants often have that dusty/plastic smell they’re obsessed with.
Amazing to know this! Our tuxedo girl does this consistently with real plants but never actually chews them, and she likes to come into the bathroom after we shower and do it 🤷
Thanks for this information
I’m wondering if horses have something similar because they do that weird thing where they raise their upper lips? This might be a bit off topic for r/cats so I apologize in advance-hopefully the mods won’t kick me off for asking but I’m curious.
Have you scolded him for eating the plant before, or is it possible he had a previous owner who did? Or is it possible he bit something before and it tasted REAL BAD? I'd guess it's that he really really wants to, but knows there will be some consequence he doesn't like. This is him trying to manage his intrusive thoughts, I think.
I had a song I would sing as I threw and smacked around my soul cat.
“Any attention is good attention!
ANY ATTENTION IS GOOD ATTENTION”
He would bbbbbrrrt and jog back to me and weave around my legs and do that tail shake and dancey feet. He loved the butt bongos and being tossed around.
My best friends cat would do that when you woke her up from a deep sleep and we always referred to it as her powering on, since she sounded exactly like an old cell phone turning on lol
Hahahhh, this is both my boys! They’ll do something little and look at whoever is in the room, if it’s me I’ll shout “*insert baby name* quit being STINKY!” and my SO in the other room joins in and shouts “just being BAD!” and then they come up and shove their face into me to see if I’m still mad they were stinky.
Spoiler alert: they’re hardly ever actually bad, and I’m never actually mad at them for being stinky.
When they do, in fact, do something rude, I pick them up and say “you’re a good boy, and good boys don’t (insert whatever they just did). That makes mommy sad, please don’t do that.” Then they get a forehead kiss and I put them back down. I hardly ever see them repeat the same rude behavior. lol. I’m lucky to have the best boys in the universe.
My cat will wake up at the crack of dawn and scream bloody murder until I get mad and chase him around. I tried spraying him with water and he loved it and then I felt bad so I snuggled him up in a towel and called him a pwecious widdle baby.
My cats’ favourite thing is me chasing them around yelling, “You’re bad cats doing bad things! You’re bad cats doing bad things!” I’m pretty sure the neighbours are concerned, but at least the little assholes are happy!
This is it. He wants attention. My cat does this too but with anything plastic. He has pica, but I guess he's scared enough of getting in trouble for it. Now, he'll just go pretend to chew smth I would disapprove of to get my attention.
He's teasing you OP. It's a complement for sure. My cats preferred my ex and would always tease her, undoing the bows on her shoes, taking small items and messing with her phone cables, but never mine.
My cat looks for mischief when I'm not paying attention and doing what he wants. He will pretend to eat things just so I get up and then will try to lead me somewhere.
Its crazy I know. Its not something that happens a lot but I remember one time I was really sick with covid and didnt stick with her as much. She goes evil mode and shits in the desk or wherever I spend a lot of time.
I never scolded her for that because she is as clean as every other cat and its just a call for me to spend time with her. And if I forget to clean her litterbox she doesnt do it ouside or in my desk, she mew bombs me until I get whats wrong. Crazy cat, she is 14 and even more attached than ever
This is my cats in the water dish, making a HUGE mess. It takes a monumental amount of restraint on my part not to react or do anything. To just ignore them. Because I know if I react it's just going to be worse next time.
I think this is just a real time struggle between the instinct to eat the plant and the learn behavior of not chewing stuff in front of you. It us equally likely they are boundary testing lol
I don’t know man. My guy used to use his litter box and then spend as long as 20 min trying to cover it up while doing nothing except scratching the side of the box and snapping it against the wall when he caught the very top. I’d have to go in and scoop litter over it for him. It was like he’d seen somebody do that, but didn’t quite get the objective. Team work makes the dream work. lol
I agree. I think his brain is sending impulses to chew, and another part of the brain says "don't do it". I think it's called displacement behaviour or something like that. Like for instance, when you're annoying your cat. The cat is clearly getting a bit aggitated, but doesn't want to move and also doesnt want to attack you. As such, This can result in random grooming instead. At least, thats my understanding of it
Oh my god. My cat is a good boy, and he almost always listens to me after I scold him about something. But I had this avocado tree, I was so proud of it because I grew it from a pit, and for some reason my cat would not leave it alone. He would eat the leaves. So one day, I bought this bitter spray from the pet store. I put it all over the leaves. My cat proceeds to go over, while I’m watching, and starts chewing on a leaf. His face immediately sours, but he just continues chewing like he just HAS to. Long story short, the tree died and he’s never bothered any of my other plants lol.
Jeez, everyone on the internet talking about how kids these days don't use their imagination, and here we have OP's cute kid using his imagination and everyone is calling him out for it! 😤
My cat insists on eating plants. (I believe it's part of his anxiety disorder.) When I got rid of all my plants, he then started chewing on plastic ones. So I made him an anxiety garden, with all plants that are OK to eat.
this is hilarious and adorable. I wish either of my boys would battle their intrusive thoughts like this. they just go for it. no amount of scolding, spritzing them with water, or terrible tastes in their mouth have stopped them. my orange cat quite literally prefers to bite cactus over other (safe) plants.
My cat does this as well. I’m so excited to see people’s explanations of the behavior. I always wondered. My daughter and I always call it “yumming”. Lol! “CeCe is yumming on my hoodie!”
This *can* be a good indicator that they have some dental issues going on. It can also just be a weird quark they have. Definitely have your vet checkout their teeth next time you go, and maybe start giving them dental treats if you don’t already!
My first cat did this often (my two cats after her have not) and eventually in her old age around 14 she wasn't able to eat any food, it would take her like fifteen minutes to eat wet food and she still barely took any in. Took her to two different vets, (one iirc did dental x rays) they checked her teeth and took blood work but neither could find anything wrong. It had to have been a mouth issue tho. It broke my heart because she loved food. She quickly lost weight and energy, I put her down about a week after the first vet visit.
Yup. Could potentially be a dental thing. I have one cat who is 6 years old and has been doing this with some regularity for a couple of years (I’ve had cats all my life and I’ve never had another one do this).
At her most recent vet appointment I found out she has something called Tooth Resorption, which can be common in cats. Basically her body’s immune system has started to attack some of her teeth, starting at the root. It’s apparently quite painful (reminder that cats don’t always show pain the way we might expect them to). And unfortunately the only treatment is to remove the affected teeth.
Can’t say for sure that’s why your cat is doing this but I would bring it up at the next vet appointment.
He's teasing you!
He is pretending to ruin your plant just so you'll look at him and give him attention. And then when you realise he is just tricking you, he is proving to you that he really is a good boy.
Best to take your cat to the vet. My cat was doing the same thing constantly! She was chewing air all day. Vets said it’s either oral issue (could be an ulcer or toothache) or nausea. My cat turned out to be nauseous as did end up vomiting and they gave anti - nausea meds and she’s stopped chewing air all day!
Yeah. I have a cat who does this to get my attention when I’m busy. I’ve yelled at him for eating my plants before so he knows it will elicit a response.
He’s not allowed to eat that and wants you to come see, for attention. Mine wants fresh food when he does this as we free feed. He will lick for fresh water as the dog drank it and made it dirty. For litter he sits on me. I need to get him buttons as he’s vocal as well… 😂 I call it orange cat 🐈 behavior such a character.
I had a cat who would fake chew my plants for attention. She even made a little NOM NOM NOM sound as she did it, to make sure I noticed. She never ate them, just faked me out so I would direct my energy her way.
I legitimately did not know that pica was an actual affliction …. until I had an Orange cat. Be grateful that your cat at least seems to have impulse control.
Cats are experts at finding out what annoys their humans, they've been documented at finding the exact meow pitch to annoy their owners. Maybe that's what's going on here.
Check down his/her throat maybe there's something stuck in there and he/she thinks chewing will make it easier to swallow, i know its weird but I've had that exact situation happen
Mine will only chew on plastic wrappers (very loudly) when he wants my wife's attention. It drives her crazy and she always chases him down, which allows him to lead her to his food dish
Mine learned very early on that I did not appreciate him chewing on cables. So now when he decides that I'm not giving him enough attention, he finds the closest cable to me and loudly fake chews on it because he knows it gets a reaction.
My cat did this a lot and he had really bad breath. We suspected he may have a tooth/gum issue and brought him for a vet check up and we were right. He had tooth decay and had to remove some teeth and did some scaling.
cats like to chew grass when they are sick or want to cough up a hairball, that’s a fake ass plant and he’s doing a fake ass chew… if you go to the pet store they have edible grass sprouts for cats, poor gato
The Josuah answer is “because cat”
Who knows? He is a cat . Cats are wierd.
Cat send all sorts of messages that we are unable to decypher
My tortie girl does this
At 6 am she jumps onto my chest in bed , shoves her nose into my face, “mieow” and then does the “eating “ thing.
Which means “get your fat ass out of bed and get my breakfast “
( of which she eats two mouthfuls and then f*ks off outside for a walk )
I like to imagine that your cat is taunting you lol. I bet when you are about to scold the kitty for chewing leaves, and you found out it's fake chewing — ought to make you pause for a bit, lol.
The first thing that came to my mind was that his tummy hurts and that he is traying to tell you that he wants to eat grass so that his tummy stops hurting.
The second thing that came to mind was that he's trying to tell you that he wants something to eat.
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