Q: We bought two Siamese kittens _ a brother and sister _ from a breeder who did not allow us to pick the kittens up until they were 12 weeks old to be sure that they were fully socialized. We had them spayed and neutered when they were 6 months old, and all seemed well until now. One month from the surgery the male cat seems to have a taste for wool. If we leave a sweater out of the closet, he chews it all up and actually eats it. We scold him and chase him off when we see him do this, but it has no effect. His sister does not seem to have any fascination for wool at all. What should we do about this and do we have anything to worry about?
A: This is not uncommon. I have seen many cats with fetishes for eating wool, paper, plastic or houseplants. I have heard that a cat that was weaned off the mother at too early an age will do this, but yours was obviously not.
I had a Siamese cat years back that was an indoor/outdoor cat with a very full and interesting life. Yet he also had a wool fetish and would chew and eat any wool article in the house that he could find. When this particular cat was 6 years old, I switched all my cats from dry food to just canned food and he slowed down and eventually stopped seeking out wool.
Some people have told me that this was because the canned food is more satisfying to cats and makes them feel more full than dry food, but it also could have been because he was 6 years old and just grew out of it. Thus far there are no scientific studies of fetish behavior in cats. You might switch them to canned food to see what happens.
No matter what you do, you need to think of this as a management issue and just do your best to keep all wool garments locked up so that the cat cannot find them. Hopefully, if he does not get the opportunity to act out on this fetish for a long enough period of time, he will no longer think it an option.
Q: My husband and I have a medium-sized mix breed dog who is the love of our life, but he has no use for children whatsoever and we cannot trust him around small kids at all. Since our two children are grown and gone and thus far we have no grandkids, this is not a problem. However, we do have some cousins from the West Coast coming to stay with us for a few days and they have twin 6-year-old boys. My husband feels that the best thing for us to do is to let Barney stay at our vet for a few days while the guests are here. Barney is like family to us and I hate to think of him away from us _ but I am sure that I can manage him staying in our home with the guests by just being careful to keep him away from the kids.
A: I am sure there are those who would disagree with me, but I side with your husband on this one. I know a lot about both animals and people and one thing that I can say with certainty is that animals are a lot more forgiving than humans are.
No matter how careful you may be to monitor Barney and the children, an accident is just that _ an accident _ and if Barney snaps at the face of a child, no matter how provoked or justified he feels, then that child can have a scar for the rest of his life. Not to mention all the family drama that this will cause. If you board Barney at the vet for those few days, there will be no drama at home and, quite frankly, he has no idea why he is staying away from you. He just is and he accepts it and his tail will be wagging when you go to pick him up after your guests leave.
P.S. I love the fact that your dog is named Barney as that was the name of the best dog I ever had.
Q: We just got our daughter a long-haired male guinea pig, and he certainly sheds a lot. Should we brush him every day as we do our Yorkshire terrier, and if so can we use the same slicker brush?
A: Long-haired guinea pigs do need to be groomed daily, but do not use the same brush that you use on the dog. Guinea pigs keep themselves very clean and I am sure that yours would not appreciate having a brush that smells like a predatory dog rubbed all over him daily. They are also very ticklish, and a wire slicker brush would be too stimulating. A better bet would we a stainless steel grooming comb that has wide teeth.
