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Unusual licking

14:58:17

Question
I adopted a 12 month old female cat two months ago.  She likes to lick me a lot, which is not the problem.  She has always liked to lick plastic bags, packing tape, and any glue substance, but does not ingest them.  I was gone for four days last week and she was alone.  Since then she seems to lick everything.  If I pick up a book, she licks the edge.  She is licking the window sill, the computer, my shoes, things that she has never shown interest in before.  She eats high quality wet and dry food, and acts fine, so I don't believe her new behavior is caused by needing something in her diet.  I have assumed the excessive licking was brought about by being alone, but need to know if it is something that I should worry about. I'm concerned that she will ingest something unhealthy, such as residue from household cleaners, etc.  I would appreciate your thoughts on the subject.  Thanks you, Linda  

Answer
Linda,

I wish I had a good answer for you.  However, your concern is warranted as there can be many substances around the house that can be harmful to your kitty.  A good resource for information about substances toxic to cats is:


http://www.peteducation.com/category.cfm?c=1+1418


What you need to do is to keep any and all such substances somewhere the cat cannot get to them.

As to the licking business, I cannot fathom why the cat is manifesting that behavior. Without knowing the background of the cat, it is impossible to know what may be going on.  Has she been to the vet to see if there is something medical going on?

Licking plastic bags and the like is not unusual, but she sounds almost obsessive/compulsive about licking!?!?!?!?!

Best regards... Norm.