To SootheĮating or chewing hair in cats can often be linked to thumb-sucking in children. This is your cat’s way of confirming its connection to you and marking you as part of their group. This could be anything from moving house to having a baby to a new pet. If your cat suddenly starts displaying this behavior, it may be because it has experienced a change to its routine. In some ways, self-grooming is your kitty’s way of giving itself a calming massage. When your cat feels worried, eating your hair helps calm your cat as it shows its bond with you and claims to you. To De-stressīiting or eating the hair of someone it loves can calm your cat down if it is stressed or anxious. So don’t be offended if your cat tries to eat your hair and then rejects it. Our locks aren’t as even or as dense as a cat’s fur, and it is usually much longer. However, our hair wasn’t designed to be groomed by a cat’s tongue. Remember that your hair is your fur, so if a cat wants to make you part of its family, it will most likely groom you for bonding. This kitty behavior is only displayed around humans for communication purposes. Cats know that we are not fellow cats, but they still want to build a strong relationship with us, so they use cat behaviors to demonstrate this desire.įun fact: Cats don’t meow in the wild. The stronger your relationship is with your cat, the more likely it is to eat or chew your hair. This smell identifies the safe and friendly felines your kitty can interact with. Cat families tend to all have the same smell. Cats particularly like to lick your nose as a way of showing affection. They will lick, bite or rub the other cats in the group to demonstrate their love and affection. So, why is my cat eating my hair? Cats who live in groups tend to groom each other – a concept known as allogrooming. So I have no question in my mind that, this cat is susceptible to using compulsive behaviors to cope with stress.Why Does My Cat Try to Eat My Hair? 1. Another reason I am certain stress is what triggered it is I thought back to when it is that the obsessive cleaning that we take so much for granted started, and I believe it started when we lost another cat after an illness-a cat that used to be his BFF. I mean, this started just a month ago in a cat that otherwise seemed very happy and "normal". And then today, eureka! And it seems so obvious now: Just like how human beings can respond to anxiety by developing a coping mechanism like pulling hair or eyebrows out when stressed, and sometimes that can become a habit they can't stop even when not stressed that can happen to our felines too! (Now of course if this is a habit in a kitten, it could be anything as simple as having been taken from Momma cat too early, but in my case, this was definitely not the case. Surely, for something that is apparently so common, someone had to have some information. My earlier searches proved futile and I was getting frustrated wondering why it is that so many people are asking about this and no one seems to know the answer. But when it didn't stop, even three weeks later, and only he, not his brother, was doing this, I figured there had to be more to this, so I decided to do a Google search on this. After all, he and his brother groom one another every now and then, so that was not such a far-fetched possibility. Now THIS was a totally new behavior.Īt first we thought that, even though we put the Frontline Advantage at the base of his neck/head in the back where he could not reach, perhaps he somehow got to taste it and it may have a horrible taste he is trying to scrape off his tongue. Nevertheless, even though the scratching stopped and it was clear Frontline did its job as none of the cats were scratching anymore, the cat in question, who BTW obsessively cleans himself, he started licking sheets, pillows, the armchair, you name it.as if his life depended on it. Oh yes, and we washed everything, adding Borax for good measure. And just as it promised, the cats seems seemed fine after 18 hours. I freaked out and immediately got Frontline Advantage and used as directed. Now I should mention that, in spite of our cleaning the room ourselves (Yes, we bought cleaning supplies and swept and mopped the floor and wiped counters in our room in order to have it in a condition we like without the need for Housekeeping to visit our room at all thus keep the "changes" to the kitties' lives to a minimum), my cats got fleas which they have never had since for the 13 years of their lives. But just as he had become accustomed to the room, our two week trip was over and we were headed back home, which was another stressful experience for our creatures of habit. He was not a happy camper at all but he settled in and soon became at home. One of my cats started doing this after we took him with us on his first trip that was not to the vet and stayed in a pet friendly motel.
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