Cat licking fireplace

Question
My 7 year old male neutered cat has started to lick the bricks of my fireplace. I read that this could be because of anaemia but would like more advice.
He eats kit-e-kat complete dry food only, as he is too picky to eat anything else!!
Thanks.

Answer
While your cat is not getting a very good diet, there are many causes of pica, which is what this is called. It is the ingestion or eating of non-food items.

Most of the time this needs to be ruled-out by a veterinarian as the causes are usually some sort of imbalance. He needs to have some blood work done to see what might be going on with his system.

Here are some things you can read about pica.
Click on the links to the articles:

http://www.vmth.ucdavis.edu/home/beh/feline_behavior/pica.html

Here is a long list of answers to the same question:

http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview/id/603334.html

All in all, the cats needs a thorough exam and to be put on a better, more balanced diet such as Science Diet Adult or Senior. This will help stop any dietary deficiencies the cat might be having also.

I hope you find a way to stop this before he causes some real problems for himself and for you.

Let me know what you find out.