Pica is a pathological manifestation of cats swallowing or licking some foreign bodies other than food. It is also a common nutritional metabolic disease in pathology. This abnormal pathological behavior means that cats have a special hobby for certain things that should not be sucked, just like some people like to bite their nails or suck their fingers, and most of the objects that cats suck are wool. , textile, host or plant.

Cat pica is often manifested in swallowing foreign objects such as wood chips, stones, rags, sand, coat, grass, feces, etc. According to the swallowing of foreign objects The characteristics of the gastrointestinal tract, and whether it is retained in the digestive tract, and the retained site will have sharp foreign body damage to the oral cavity, which can cause salivation and oral bleeding; in some cases, it can cause foreign body obstruction or perforation in the esophagus, stomach, and intestines.

It is not uncommon for some to form hairballs in the stomach as a result of animals licking their coats. When there is a foreign body in the digestive tract, cats often have symptoms such as anorexia, hunger strike, and vomiting. So we must take some precautions against it.

Treatment:

Most sucking behavior occurs in more dependent cats, they retain the psychological dependence of childhood (normal cats are quite independent), so this kind of excessive dependence Psychotherapy will help improve the abnormal sucking behavior, and should increase the stimulation of the cat's play, increase the activities at home, and give some new things to stimulate its curiosity. If possible, let him have more contact with the outside world and take him out for walks.  

Of course, the most important thing is to strengthen feeding management, adjust the nutritional structure of food, and supplement trace elements and multivitamins appropriately, such as: in cat food It is ideal to add multivitamin tablets (21 Gold Vita), calcium tablets, fish liver oil, etc. Also do regular deworming. Adding cellulose to food can also improve the habit of sucking plants, such as rice bran and toilet paper. For the behavior of cats sucking textiles, you can spray some strong-smelling blocking agents on these textiles, such as eucalyptus oil, peppermint oil, etc., or place some traps under the clothes to deter cats from approaching.  

The principle of prevention and treatment is to take laxatives or deep enema to exclude foreign bodies in the digestive tract. pets caused by gastrointestinal diseases, should be treated with primary disease, pets caused by intestinal parasites, preferably levamisole hydrochloride, 10mg per kg body weight, orally, or ivermectin, per kg Body weight 0.2mg, intramuscular injection, repeat the medication 1 time after 1 week.

If a cat exhibits xenophobia, it should be stopped in time:

1. Whenever the cat has pica behavior, immediately spray it with a water gun, and so on, gradually get rid of pica. (Just do it to scare off, don't spray water maliciously)

2. For fixed items such as wires and wood, use Cats are sensitive to odors (such as deodorant, perfume, etc.) on it, and the cat will not approach it because of the aversion to the smell.

When the cat behaves abnormally, we should first find the reason from ourselves and solve the problem patiently. Cats who are sensitive by nature should not be beaten and punished, which is often counterproductive and even more serious psychological disorders.