Why do cats unwind toilet paper?

What to do if your cat chews wires

Having appeared in the apartment, the kitten begins to influence the owner. The owner learns:

• make the bed (so that the cat does not use the blanket as a urinal);
• hide woolen items, a sweater (to extinguish the sucking reflex);
• remove food from the table and wash the dishes (the cat will climb on the table and pull off the sausage).

If a kitten bites wires, the main recommendation is to remove everything unnecessary. Plastic fireproof boxes and tubes into which the cable is stored are sold. And the plastic plinth has a groove for the cable.

Simply attaching the wire with tape to the wall to a height of at least half a meter is not enough. For cats, this is a reason to jump up to an interesting object: they will drop equipment and tear off the wallpaper on the wall.

When there is nowhere to remove the wire from a cat - there is nowhere to remove the rodent, use:

1. Ready-made anti-rodent sprays.
2. Scarer crystals (sprinkle around household appliances and wiring).
3. Firecrackers (not suitable for everyone. Some will be scared, others will like to have fun).
4. Double-sided tape for animals (sold in veterinary pharmacies and pet stores). The adhesive surface of technical tape damages the delicate skin on the paws.
5. Products for children to stop biting their nails.
6. Folk recipes based on a slurry of laundry soap with the addition of pepper and orange essential oil.

Advice: if your pet chews wires, reconsider the cat’s diet; perhaps the food does not have enough fiber and vitamins.

If a kitten or mature cat, after playing, bites the wires in front of the owner:

• clap your hands loudly;
• drop a bunch of keys;
• hiss at your pet;
• Strictly and loudly say “no”.

If you can reach it, click on the ears or nose. But you shouldn’t splash water on a kitten playing with a coil of live cable: there is a high risk of electric shock.

Why does the cat shake his head and scratch his ears?

As already mentioned, if a cat occasionally scratches its ears, then there is nothing wrong with it; the owner should become concerned if one or more of the following symptoms are observed:

• the cat scratches its ears too often;
• the animal shakes its head violently;
• behind the ears (or in front of the auricle) scratches and bald spots have formed from frequent scratching;
• tactile ears are hotter than the rest of the body;
• when light pressure is applied to the ear, the cat experiences pain;
• the inside of the ears is covered with a dark mass, an unpleasant odor emanates;
• I can hear something squelching in my ear.

- Something is itching!..
The reasons why a cat’s ears began to bother them can be very diverse.

1. Many purebred cats, due to the structural features of the auricle (Scottish Fold, Scottish Fold, etc.), have a tendency to develop chronic forms of otitis. Other cat breeds often have a congenital narrow ear canal, which can cause ear diseases and their transition to a chronic form.
2. Excessive wax formation is considered a congenital or acquired feature , which can lead to chronic ear diseases.
3. Among the acquired causes that can become the source of the disease are injuries. Even when cleaning your ears, it is advisable to act as gently as possible so as not to damage the ear canal and eardrum.
4. Also, some ear diseases can appear after bathing an animal if water gets into the ears.
5. Separately, it is worth noting the untimely treatment of cats from parasites, as a result of which ear mites can settle in the ears.

The listed reasons can lead to diseases - otitis, otodectosis, sulfur plug. Each of these diseases has its own treatment characteristics, so their correct diagnosis is very important.

Otitis

Otitis may occur due to water getting into the ear or if the cat has been lying in a draft for a long time. In addition, otitis media can occur due to ear parasites. With otitis media, the cat often shakes its head and scratches its ears. This disease is also accompanied by severe inflammation of the middle ear, increased body temperature, and decreased immunity. Untimely or improper treatment of otitis media can lead to serious consequences, including complete deafness.

Presence of parasites

Sulfur plug

Excessive earwax buildup is the main reason why a cat shakes or scratches their ears excessively. In nature, there is a process for cleaning the ears of animals without human intervention - during chewing, wax comes out and plugs should not form. But due to the structure of the ear canal or due to excessive formation of wax, cats quite often suffer from the formation of wax plugs.

To remove the plug, it is not necessary to contact a veterinarian; you can carry out the removal procedure yourself. In addition, if a cat regularly develops plugs due to excessive sulfur secretion, then it will be very expensive to contact a veterinarian every time.

To remove wax plug, you need to soak it with saline solution and gradually remove the soaked parts. Typically, it may take several days to completely remove the cork, since the owner is unlikely to be able to soak the entire cork in one go. Veterinarians perform this procedure much faster. Therefore, if you are not sure that you will find the time to soak the cork for several days and pull it out piece by piece, it is better to immediately contact a specialist.

Otodectosis

If your cat constantly scratches its ear, behaves restlessly and even aggressively, there may be mites in its ears.

Otodectosis is a parasitic disease, the source of the disease is mites of the genus Otodectoscynotis. Most often, the parasite is localized on the inside of the ear or in the external auditory canal. In this case, the itching is so strong that the cat can scratch his ear until it bleeds. The causes of otodectosis are insufficient hygiene, decreased immunity, and contact with a carrier.

If the cat comes into contact with other pets, they should all be examined, since this disease is highly contagious, and treatment should not be delayed. Otodectosis can be successfully treated with specialized medications.

What to put on the wires to wean them off

Any bitter taste is unpleasant for the cat. You can lubricate the surface of the wires:

• fresh orange peel (outer part);
• the middle of an aloe leaf;
• a clove of garlic or onion;
• soap solution with pepper - the animal will not like the bitter taste.

Disadvantage of methods (with the exception of soap): the unpleasant odor quickly disappears, and bitterness ceases to be so when interacting with oxygen. The electrical cord will have to be processed several times.

Attention. Before applying liquid products, you must turn off the electricity!

Industrial products will help you stop your kitten from chewing both wires and the plug:

1. Varnish for children with quinine (with brush included).
2. Infusion of wormwood, buckthorn (1 teaspoon per third cup of boiling water, leave for 2 hours).

Prevention measures

Prevention is the best way to minimize the risk of disease. These measures will help your pet not experience discomfort due to ear diseases and minimize the risk of itching or inflammation:

• Regular ear cleaning. Make it a rule to check your ears once a week and clean them if necessary. If the ears are cleaned regularly, owners will be able to notice the development of any pathologies at the initial stage. Regular ear cleaning also reduces the risk of wax buildup.
• Always bathe your cat gently. Try to keep your head out of the water, and if possible, cover your ear canals with a small amount of cotton wool.
• To protect against ear mites, regularly treat your cat against parasites - use drops, collars or sprays for protection.
• Regularly give your cat vitamins to strengthen the immune system ; most diseases develop against the background of a weak immune system.
• Never treat a cat without consulting a veterinarian , as this will not only not help, but will also worsen the situation.

Diagnosis of ear diseases in cats

Diagnosis should be carried out in a veterinary clinic. In addition to examining the animal’s ear, the specialist, based on the results of which a primary diagnosis is made, takes a scraping, smear and sometimes a blood test.

Be sure to read:

What to do if the cat sheds hair and the whole house is covered in fur all year round

When bacteria are detected in a smear, bacterial culture is carried out to determine which pathogens are present in the ear cavity and their sensitivity to antibiotics.

The veterinarian may also order an ultrasound or x-ray depending on what additional symptoms the cat has. In older animals, there are problems with the auditory organs associated with internal pathology, without treatment of which it is impossible to restore the pet’s health.

Why does a cat bite just like that?

For the most part, cats never bite for no reason, but there are situations when people feel as if they are being attacked for no reason. However, this is not the case and there are several factors influencing this behavior, in addition to those described above. These include:

• Changing teeth. Animals, like humans, first grow baby teeth, which are subsequently replaced by permanent teeth. In cats, this period begins at 3-4 months of age. In this case, there may be pain and discomfort in the oral cavity, and they begin to actively bite the owner’s hands. It is important to prevent the pattern of such behavior from becoming established at this point. Otherwise, even an adult animal will continue to gnaw people’s fingers. You need to buy special rubber toys that your pet will scratch his teeth on.
• Sexual desire. During this period, many cats become aggressive. This is easy to notice: they leave marks on the territory of the apartment, scream heart-rendingly and ask to go outside. There are two options for solving the problem: castration and selection of a partner.
• Declaw removal. Currently, this inhumane operation is common in veterinary practice. If after it the pet begins to bite, this indicates either revenge, or that his teeth are the only weapon with which he can stand up for himself and this is what the cat uses.
• Lack of attention from people. If the pet is not played with and petted a lot, a bite is its way to interest the owner. You should devote at least 10 minutes a day to communicate with your pet, and the problem will disappear.
• Lack of care. If the tray is not cleaned or there is a lack of food, the cat tries to let the owner know that it is time to clean up his toilet or feed him.

The robber cat from Switzerland

A modest gray cat with a white chest named Speedy lives in the beautiful village of Wiesendangen in Switzerland. But behind the modest appearance hides an experienced repeat offender. For more than three years he has been robbing neighbors. During this time, he “stole” more than a hundred different things. The cat has no special preferences, he drags into the house everything that catches his eye: gloves, scarves, T-shirts, badminton shuttlecocks, and does not hesitate to grab a woman’s bra, carelessly left by the owner in the yard.

To deliver stolen goods to the house, the cat uses a hole in the barn and an attic window. All the extracted treasures are stored in the room of the hostess’s youngest son. At the family council, it was decided to print leaflets about the cat’s tricks and invite neighbors to come and try to find the lost things, or rather “grabbed” by the cat.