Hi,

I am new to this site and wondering if you can help?

We have two Bengal cats, siblings from the same litter who are 14 months old. Our female Izzy is placid but playful and we've had her since she was 13 weeks. We got Brody when his owners couldn't keep him due to having another baby when he was 11 months old. He is extremely playful and energetic, a typical Bengal I would say.

The problem I have is that he wants to chew/bite/suck every material/fabric in sight! He recently had two round of tummy and intestinal surgery to remove a ball and was seriously ill. He's now on the mend from that however he's started this chewing behaviour again and I don't know what we can do.

I've read it could be stress/boredom but because he eats things we've had to remove all their small toys through fear of him swallowing something. Both are indoor cats and always have been, and I don't plan on letting them out due to a main road and fear of them being stolen. They are gorgeous. Both have been spayed/neutered at 11 weeks by the breeder.

Due to his recent visits to the vets medically there doesn't seem anything wrong.

Any advice would be most greatly appreciated as I am running out of ideas about how to stop this.

Thanks,

Jemma

I guess you're baby_bengal? (recognized the names - this is my girlfriend's account but i am d.tek on instagram)

Anyways, Digit tends to chew everything, and I think it's just because he's bored. The other two don't really like to roll around and fight, and he just needs a way to exert that energy.

I know it's tough to stay on top of him, but every time he goes to chew on something, maybe try to distract him with a laser pointer, or a wand toy, or a throw a ball or something to distract him. Also, winding him out might work. I tend to throw balls back and forth for Digit because he'll chase a ball no matter what he's doing - it helps wear him down.

I have heard of a condition called pica, this is where they eat things that are totally unsuitable, as in paper, material, anything that is basically non food, I saw a programme about it, apparently there is no cure but it can be treated.

_________________
Clare
Magic (brown spotted boy born 31 March 2012)
Pearl (seal Lynx Point girl born 1 October 2015)
Bristol, UK

Thank you both for your responses!

@cailinmarie yes, it is my insta @baby_bengal! :) That's all good stuff, thanks. I'm worried about when we are out at work but guess we will just have to remove stuff, such as the blankets. My two do tussle etc and I wonder now if this is because they are bored but again they have always done it and in the absence of toys I don't know what else to do! Our lounge already looks like something out of a cat sanctuary!

@Clare&magic, I'm pretty sure it's pica too. I just don't know so much about it. I am hoping (but not optimistically) that he will grow out of it.

In the meantime I have just bought some chew deterrents online so hoping these might help a little.

Thanks again

You may want to research Pica on the internet and see how other people are dealing with this. I know another bengal just had to have the black things at the end of the wand toys removed from his stomach yesterday because he had eaten TWO of them! You just have to be diligent and keep things that intrigue the cat away and out of sight. You may also have to spend an enormous amount of time distracting your kitty! I believe it's a chemical imbalance with the cat -- and I don't know if there are any medications that can help with that. It's almost like OCD in humans. Mine loves to lick plastic bags. He does not eat them ... he just licks them. But I can only imagine having a cat who eats all this stuff they are not supposed to and end up having surgery to remove it. Not fun for the cat and certainly not fun for the owner! I wouldn't even give the kitty a fabric toy -- sounds like he would devour it.