When is it too late to declaw a cat
Cats that suckle: Is it Pica?
[Music]
all right today's question comes from
Melanie and her cat Sasha Sasha is not
asking the question
Melanie is asking the question Melanie
take it away hi Jackson
I want to know why our cat Sasha who's
now 21 always seems to suckle on
anything whenever she's sitting with a
person so if we get a blanket out she'll
suckle on it if we're just sitting on
the couch she'll suckle on it even my
clothing it's really annoying and is
there some way I can help her to not do
it so much thank you well first and
foremost Melanie Sasha is amazing
looking for 21 years old she just she
looks fantastic I hope things are going
well she seems healthy and happy and
here's to a lot more happy years for the
both of you now let's get on to the
problem that's driving you crazy about
Sasha so now before I go into any of the
other explanations of things one thing I
want to make sure of is that Sasha is
not ingesting any of the materials that
she's suckling on that is something that
is known to happen with cats like Sasha
they just go overboard they start
swallowing things like this and
obviously that's not good for her
especially yarns and things like that
that can get wrapped around intestinal
tract so it is really important that you
determine whether she's just a suckler
or whether she has what's called Hika
Hika T ICA Pike a-- is technically
ingesting non-organic materials
basically things that aren't supposed to
be eaten cats who have pica have been
known to eat everything from Sasha's
sweater eating two knobs off of dressers
and crown molding off the wall they will
just keep chewing on these things it's a
sort of an OCD now with Sasha she could
just be a suckler and if that's the case
it's okay but the behavior that she's
showing that suckling behavior it's a
leftover behavior from an early weaning
so that is to say that at some point she
was probably removed from her mom just a
little bit too early
that sort of suckling behavior is
something like almost like sucking your
thumb would be for humans and it's a
self soother something that
when she was a kitten that she did and
now she still does it I just I think
this is funny and you know if you can't
laugh at yourself and I can't laugh at
you then why bother laughing at all so
you know I love you Melanie but such as
21 years old now assuming you've had her
for at least a little while now
can you teach an old cat new tricks well
yes you can but when it comes to
something as ingrained as suckling
behavior no no I mean you know look I
can only do so much and I really don't
think it's worth your while to try to
change the behavior so what's left for
you really it's about changing the
environment knowing that the Sasha tiger
can't really change her stripes or you
know what I'm saying
let me show you the key to it okay right
here so we've got Sasha on one side
who's 21 years old and has been doing
this behavior since she's a wee little
Sasha and then you've got you Melanie
with a house full of these whatever that
is cable knit sweaters or little throw
rugs or something like that it's on you
really - just Sasha proof the house I
wish I could give you something better
Melanie but hopefully Sasha's not eating
it if she's not eating it and it's just
you know your sweaters have a bunch of
spit on it you know I'm sure the Sasha
has a lot of things that make up for it
she looks adorable
and by the way Sasha looks amazing for
twenty one years old so here's to a lot
more years to both of you I hope you
look as happy as you seem in your film
film video hey thanks so much Melanie
for the question and folks I'm here for
you I want to hear your questions all
you have to do take out your nice fancy
phone or whatever you got and film
yourself asking the question and film it
like this not like that then go ahead
and shoot a video of your cat doing
whatever behavior that you wanted to
show me again like that no like also of
course you don't want to shoot in the
dark you don't want it to be like this
you know all those fun things so that we
can all watch it and enjoy it
then all you
do is go to this link right here upload
your videos and maybe I'll answer the
question you never know so until the
next time I answer all these questions
for you guys
take care of the cats that you love and
let them take care of you also all light
and all love and all mojo to you
[Music]
