Pica in cats is a pathological condition characterized by the ingestion or consumption of foreign objects other than food. This includes eating, chewing, or swallowing food contaminated with feces, bedding, wall plaster, rags, etc., and can interfere with normal eating.
Symptoms of feline pica: Feline pica is a pathological condition in which cats ingest or eat foreign objects other than food. It is considered a common nutritional and metabolic disorder. This abnormal behavior refers to cats eating or chewing on non-food or non-nutritive objects, such as food contaminated with feces, bedding, wall plaster, rags, etc., which interferes with their normal eating.
The dangers of feline pica
1. Licking sharp foreign objects can damage the oral cavity.
2. Ingesting foreign objects can cause obstruction or perforation of the esophagus, stomach, or intestines.
3. Ingesting fur can create indigestible and difficult-to-excrete hairballs in the stomach. Foreign objects in the digestive tract can cause symptoms such as loss of appetite, refusal to eat, and vomiting, affecting health.
4. If you eat the excrement of other animals, you are more likely to get infected and spread diseases.
5. Cats with pica are easily frightened and have a sluggish response to external stimuli; their skin is rough and dull, they arch their backs, grind their teeth, are anemic, and experience alternating constipation and diarrhea, gradually lose weight, and in severe cases, they may die from systemic failure.
Causes of feline pica: environmental factorsOvercrowding, insufficient air circulation in the cattery, and unsuitable lighting time and color can all lead to poor mood, depression, and irritability in cats.
Lacking affection from their owners, cats may become curious about foreign objects around them and even their own feces in order to alleviate loneliness. If the owner does not intervene in time, these behaviors can develop into pica.
Nutritional factors
1. Improper diet leading to micronutrient deficiency, or poor gastrointestinal function and indigestion causing pica.
2. A deficiency in certain proteins and amino acids can lead to metabolic disorders in cats, resulting in pica symptoms.
3. Deficiency of other nutrients, such as insufficient calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, sulfur, iron, sodium, copper, cobalt, manganese and other minerals, especially sodium salts.
4. Deficiency of certain vitamins and trace elements, especially B vitamins.
Disease factors
1. Toxins or irritants produced by external parasites can trigger pica.
2. Intestinal parasites can lead to a decline in the digestive and absorptive functions of the intestines, resulting in insufficient nutrients.
3. Some endocrine disorders can also cause cats to develop pica due to stress.
Instinct
Cats are playful, active, and curious, especially newborn kittens, who are full of curiosity about everything in their environment. They will explore unfamiliar things around them with their mouths. If this behavior is not corrected in time, it can lead to pica.
