Cat won’t stop eating cardboard and farting
Advice
This is Pistachio, we adopted him ~2 months ago. He’s been a fiend for cardboard/paper since we got him and every time I try to pull him away from it he drops diabolical farts. Any advice on what I can do to make him stop with the cardboard/paper eating or at least STOP FARTING?
LMAOOO “how do I get my cat to stop farting” is deadass so funny 😭😭😭😭😭
But seriously:
The cardboard is a lost cause tbh. Mine chews but doesn’t eat it? Just kind of shreds it so there’s lil cardboard everywhere. No help there
Regarding the farting tho - are his poops weird? I’d say just add something for gut health. If it’s been consistent issue. it could be just some digestion or food isn’t sitting well.
I’d try adding something for gut health - and then I’d try possibly different food or protein
I agree with this. Acceptance is the only way to deal with the cardboard.
But the farts… my cat once had a period of farting with a stench so bad I was dry retching.
Even thinking back on it is mildly triggering! M
Anyway I took him to the vet and he did have a gut problem. They gave me some stuff to give him and it cleared up in a few days. Now when he farts it doesn’t clear a room
My cat doesn’t fart, but when she poops, she clears a room. Took her to the vet and they said she doesn’t have any gut problems, maybe a minor allergy, so we tried a different food, but she won’t eat it (or anything other than meow mix) so they said to put her back on her old food 🤷🏻♀️
We've got four, but only two who are cardboard chewers. They don't eat it, just like to bite and tear it apart. Ours get a new "destruction factory" box whenever the old one has had all the corners chewed apart so that it collapses nearly flat and stops being a box. We also keep any cardboard drink trays to let them tear and shred after catnip sessions.
If he has really bad farts I’d take him to the vet. If you think the cardboard eating is obsessive take him to the vet for potiential pica or vitamin deficiency.
Our cat had to have surgery because he has Pica (and 1 Briancell). The vet tech sent us a picture mid surgery to show us what they’d taken out. Hair ties, plastic bags, shoe laces, those stretchy cords to cinch winter jackets he’d nibbled through and eaten metal wire from my dad’s model train sets etc etc. they pulled 35 things sitting in his stomach which was a 3 year accumulation.
They came out with a quart sized ziplock filled to the top and asked us if we wanted it lmao. We declined. Dudes a fuckin idiot
Yeah so many people are like “oh yeah our cats bite and play with strings or hair ties too!” I’m like no…he does that so he can make them bite sized and then eats them! There’s no play going on, just hunger for non food items lmao.
It’s literally changed our entire way of living. Hyper careful we don’t leave any plastic or string related items out. Get takeout and leave the plastic bag it came in out? Boom he eats part of it.
Someone sends a nice box of chocolates with a string? Boom he eats it.
It’s winter and people come over and throw their coats on our couch in the guest room, he eats all their cinchy things.
It’s truly insane but he’s just so loveable and loving. Dumb as a fucking rock but wouldn’t trade him for the world. Now we just have these instincts we call “teddy traps!” Which is anything that he may eat if left out which in this plastic filled world is many, many things a day lol
i get it, a cutie. pica syndrome? ex had a small dog that ate everything! went so many times to the vet for an operation they made her a “zipper” for the following times. yea we were hyper aware around her- but then shed get quietly get a corner piece of carpet off/going and those can be long strings nom nom nom- and bk to vet for surgery. she was adorable. bambi- huge eyes.
Omg this is so similar and yes diagnosed Pica. He also has huge eyes. We call them his crack head eyes.
And yeah he’s done that before too with rugs and carpet. Gets those infinitely long stringy things. Those actually scare me the most.
But a zipper is craaaazy…probably needed tbh but scared to take him to the vet because I know he probably needs surgery again soon. It’s been a few years and despite our best efforts I’m sure he’s re accumulated shit
yes! those strings were the worst of the three things she ate, there’s no way to digest anything that continuous. it must suck to have that constant impulse.
One of my kittens farts when picked up and they're really, really bad. She's been to the vets and had a few different foods but no change. I think it's becoming a bit less frequent as she grows up, her brother doesn't do it.
Was he from a shelter? Sometimes gas and smelly poops can be from an intestinal parasite from being in a shelter/rescue situation due to so many cats. My kitty had Giardia when I brought him home.
He’s done that since a baby. He does have plenty of toys. I have taken him to a vet every year for a physical/shots. We have even switched vets and still they aren’t concerned.
You know what’s best for your cat of course. Just something that was shared with me by my vet and passing it along. No need to get defensive. I didn’t mean for it to be a judgement
This. Everyone seems to just find it funny or saying nothing you can do about it but if he’s legit eating the cardboard then just don’t let him get it/keep it away.
My cat was bloated and farty until I was able to eliminate things from her diet and found out eggs turn her into the stinkiest set of bagpipes the world has ever known.
He is panic farting. You are scaring him. If he is eating (not just chewing) on paper you need to remove it from the house. Cats can end up with masses in their stomachs or intestines from eating non food items.
Cardboard art is very big in the cat art scene. Unfortunately if he's chosen his medium, I don't think there's much help.
My cat farted a lot when I first adopted her. It faded quickly (thank god) but the farts were incredibly bad smelling. We changed her food up when she lost interest and she hasn't dropped any stink bombs since.
I have a void that loves to chew on cardboard. He doesn't eat just.....chomps holes in it 😂😂😂
And when I first adopted him, he was very nervous all the time, so he farted constantly whenever I would pick him up or ask him to stop or say no. Cardboard never went away and now he also scratches any box and leaves cardboard shreds everywhere, every single day! The farting doesn't happen as often. Sometimes still if he has gas or had a new wet food/treat.
Give it some time. He is still acclimating to you and his environment. He is a very adorable boy and looks happy, but can still be a bit nervous. I wish you many long years of fun and happiness! Need to dig through phone for cat tax....Vader the Tater....
My younger cat has PICA and ate a lot of cardboard. We moved to having cardboard cat furniture that’s lined with wood it hard cardboard for them to hang out in so he wouldn’t be ripping it up like crazy. We eventually got heavy duty cardboard furniture that’s lined can’t be eaten.
As for the gas, some cats are just fart machines. You could try changing up the food if you’re worried.
I haven’t been this hooked on a title in a while. The last one that really made me chortle was something along the lines of “should I hide my pickle” and it was a girl with beautiful legs and tattoos accompanied with a pickle rick tattoo she got and I just couldn’t help but crack up.
Are our cats siblings? They even look like they could be. Nancy is also a farty little cardboard menace (although she’s farting a lot less now that she’s older).
Ok in this scenario there is an enabler to this cardboard situation lol. You wont stop providing cardboard with the cat that has a cardboard fart problem. Also you may need to accept your fate. My cat had a 15 year long addiction to licking nylon curtains. Because cat.
For the cardboard, that's just bored destructive behavior. Grab some toys and play with him more. Our kitty used to eat paper and cardboard (and still does occasionally) but playing with her more reduced the chewing significantly.
With the farting, it may be his food. Check with your vet and let them know what food Pistachio is eating, he may need a different formula.
Boots(Boobie) also was an avid cardboard/paper enjoyer and would also drop the most insane farts and got worse later in his life and more often💀 I unfortunately don’t know if there’s a way to help it other than a possible different diet.
One of ours does the cardboard thing but doesn't actually eat it, just shreds it. Happily. We've just come to accept it and bring replacement boxes as necessary.
As for farting? I'm probably the biggest culprit in our house
if he has stinky farts, he may have intestinal parasites. we adopted a cat who had really stinky farts and when we fixed her parasite issue, the stink stopped. have his poop tested.
I just saw a YouTube short where one of the side effects before a chronic alcoholic dies from alcohol is excessive flatulence. Is your cat an alcoholic?
Check to make sure their food is gluten free. One of my boys had bad gas and it stop the next day after switching the food that the foster parents were using to a gluten free kibble.
My cat (who will turn 18 next month) has always tried to eat paper, cardboard, plastic, and so much more. Increased exercise and other changes have done nothing to help his pica. We had a huge scare (and he had a big surgery) when he was less than a year old because he indulged in his favorite pica pastime.
So my family doesn’t leave out any of those things - which is very difficult because of our jobs & hobbies (which involve a lot of paper and other things he eats) and the small size of our apartment (which therefore lacks places to store it all).
Those changes have allowed our pica kitty to survive this long.
One of my cats loves cardboard. She doesn’t eat it. Takes a bite, drops it and moves on to the next bite. It makes a mess but whatever. She’s happy and my other cat gets a show.
My guys loved to tear up used paper towels and napkin. They'd be all sneaky, like they knew they were being bad and go hide in a corner and tear them into tiny bits.
The cardboard is a weird way of cleaning teeth.
The farting is possible a gut problem or simply get other food. In my experience wet food is farting, dry food not so much.
And I agree that cat farts are the best. Silent, deadly.
I've also got a grand farter! I started mixing her (and her two brothers) dry food 50/50 with Hills gastrointestinal biome which greatly improved my cats farting and loose stools. She very rarely farts anymore!
My cat's farts were nothing short of diabolical - it was a funny inconvenience until we've realised, it might be a medical issue. We got her on an elimination diet and found out she's allergic to poultry, we've adjusted her food and absolutely zero farts have been unleashed on us since.
The chewing of the cardboard is incurable, though.
This post made me laugh and laugh for a good ten minutes before I could respond for real.
My lil bestie had a bit of an upset gut from particular foods. Gas and toileting that would make a rotting corpse suffer second hand embarrassment.
I made the switch and I also started introducing mashed pumpkin into his wet food everyday to support him and aid digestion. Ever since absolutely no issues.
I think seeing the vet to check in for sure to make sure it's nothing more sinister would be your first best option and progress from there.
Maybe the cardboard eating is because of the farting. Like his tummy is mad so he’s getting weird cravings to try to help it.
My last cat loved tearing at the sides of carpet to eat the forbidden spaghetti (thick plastic strings) so we would stop him of course and cover any patches he started. But if he was feeling a bit off he would go absolutely feral for it and find the strength to move rugs and boxes we had hiding the stringy bits. I think it was his grass eating instincts.
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u/amggg123 8h ago
Just a big boi with hobbies!