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Eating Fabric

BizarroStormy

Savannah Teenager
Does anyone have any experience with their Savannah's eating fabric? We are at wits end with Mars, we seriously cannot leave anything out, and it seems like the more we put away she just finds something else she usually wouldn't and eats part of it.

Clothes, shoe laces, sheets, all different fabric types, we cannot leave anything out or she will eat it.

Does anyone by chance have any advice or knowledge on this? We our constantly afraid she is not going to be able to pass something and get blocked up. We try so hard to not keep anything out, we keep a clean house, but she always finds something or goes after something she never usually does
 

WitchyWoman

Admin
Staff member
Some SVs have a tendency to chew odd things eat wool or other types of fabric but it sounds like your girl is a bit over the top. She may have Pica so you should talk to your vet about this soon. How old is she? How much do you feed her? If she's still growing, she may need more food or she may be teething. She may also be bored and need more human interaction and play time. I think the best place to start is with a check up and consult with your vet.
 

BizarroStormy

Savannah Teenager
Some SVs have a tendency to chew odd things eat wool or other types of fabric but it sounds like your girl is a bit over the top. She may have Pica so you should talk to your vet about this soon. How old is she? How much do you feed her? If she's still growing, she may need more food or she may be teething. She may also be bored and need more human interaction and play time. I think the best place to start is with a check up and consult with your vet.

She is a year and a half old, per day we feed her a quarter cup of Orijen Cat and Kitten dry food, and a quarter cup, maybe 2.75 ounces, of Instinct by Nature's Variety, chicken or duck.

We are planning on getting them into the Vet, just wanted to see if we could get any knowledge on the subject beforehand.

We give her a lot of attention, but there are days she does get a little less depending on our work schedules, which it is noticable that she tends to be a little worse on these days. We take her out on hikes when we have days off and the weather is good.
 

WitchyWoman

Admin
Staff member
there are days she does get a little less depending on our work schedules, which it is noticable that she tends to be a little worse on these days
Then also talk to the vet about anxiety. There are some drugs that can help with that. If you haven't already tried, maybe she would enjoy chewing on a raw chicken wing, leg, or thigh or some other raw meaty bone.
One other thing to try if all checks out at the vet is a consultation with a cat behaviorist. Marilyn Krieger does phone consults and has been helpful to some of our members here http://www.thecatcoach.com/

Check back in and let us know what the vet says. I hope it's nothing serious.
 

admin

Paige
Staff member
It also could be you are not feeding her enough...maybe up her intake of wet food or as Deborah said, perhaps a chicken leg or thigh...
 

Brigitte Cowell

Moderator
Staff member
I think trying adding something she can safely chew on like a chicken wing or leg is a good idea. It may be possible that she suffers from pica though from the severity of the symptoms that you have listed...that's beyond the more typical chewing of odd things as Witchy mentioned...
 

BizarroStormy

Savannah Teenager
Thank you all for taking the time to reply. We will definitely be taking her to the Vet to see what they say as well and will report back.

Mars is a pretty lean cat, but she doesn't appear overly skinny, the last time we were at the vet they said we were on track. She is very active though.

We have never fed them anything raw before, I am sure she would love it though, she goes crazy when we are vac sealing or handling any raw meat. Any advice on that, or anything in particular we need to do?
 

Rob1984

Savannah Super Cat
my cat will take anything to chew on but he just wants to chew but im with you on the not being able to keep anything out my cat is a thief
 

WitchyWoman

Admin
Staff member
Any advice on that, or anything in particular we need to do?
If you are going to keep feeding the food you are now, all you need do is give her a raw wing or bone-in thigh or leg either as a snack between meals or with her meal. If at some point you decide to feed her a raw diet, or if she decides that she wants a completely raw diet, you'll need to do research to ensure that you feed her a balanced diet of bone/meat/organs. There is a Facebook group called Prey Model Raw Fed Cats that you can join and you can read through the wealth of info at http://catinfo.org/

Another option is whole prey diet consisting of mice, rats, quail, chickens, guinea pigs. With a whole prey diet, you don't have to worry about balancing meat/organ/bone because each little body is already perfectly balanced.

At 1.5 years she is still growing and building her adult muscle. You might want to let her eat as much as she wants for awhile as she goes through what is probably a growth spurt. I let all 4 of my SVs eat as much as they wanted for their first 2 years. Three of them never overeat now that they're all adults. I have one F2 who lives for food and I have to regulate his portions or he'll overeat and gain weight.
 

Patti

Admin
Staff member
It does sound like your girl may have pica, which can be quite difficult to treat. I would seriously consider investing in a large crate or enclosure to keep her in when you are not home or otherwise unable to supervise her until you are able to work through all her issues. Providing her with additional food or alternatives to chew on is a good start as well. Here is a good source for duck necks to try:
Fresh Is Best Freeze Dried Whole Duck Necks
 
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