Floor Licking

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Ruth B
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Floor Licking

Post by Ruth B »

As most of you know I inherited my Mother's 17 year old cat earlier this year. Stroppy spends most of her time in our lounge out of choice, though she does have access to the rest of the house she only ventures out occasionally through the dining room to get to the back door and cat flap, and every so often pokes her head into the kitchen to see if the others have left anything she prefers. She has her food bowls against one short wall, her litter tray against the other short wall, with her water fountain against a long wall about half way between. She is fed on Felix AGAIL and Gourmet Pate and Melting Heart (she much prefers the Pate and Melting Hearts, but we try and ring the changes). She also has Purina One Dried food available at all times.

I've noticed several times that she is licking the laminate flooring in the lounge, normally the area between the water fountain and the litter tray, but closer to the litter tray than the water fountain. The litter tray is on a board with a layer of newspaper between the board on the tray. With one exception there is no sign that the tray has been missed and when that did happen the newspaper absorbed most of the liquid.

I hoover the floor (not as often as I should I will admit) but don't actually wash it, I just use a lemon scented floor wipe if any one has thrown up etc in the specific area to clean any mess, and have a cat urine odour and stain remover spray in case of accidents and to help keep the trays a bit fresher.

She has had blood tests done recently and they showed all her organs were working fine but her red blood cell count was low, while her white cell count was high.

Has any one got any ideas why she should start licking the floor by the litter tray like she has. i haven't noticed her do it else where and we have the same laminate in the lounge and dining room. Nothing has been spilt there. I did wipe the floor over when I noticed her doing it the first time and it stopped her for a while, but then she started again. If it was by the food bowls I probably wouldn't think too much about it, but by the litter tray seems a bit odd.
booktigger
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Re: Floor Licking

Post by booktigger »

I'd guess at Pica, it can be litter related
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Ruth B
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Re: Floor Licking

Post by Ruth B »

Thanks, hopefully it is just Pica.

I wonder with Stroppy if i am looking for problems where none exist, but the bloods show something is wrong and we don't really know what, so any thing odd in her behavior and I start to think the worst.

Tiggy has Pica, she just has it with plastic bags and I don't think twice when i see her licking one of them, as long as it isn't one she can chew bits off easily, I just never thought of it for Stroppy.
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Re: Floor Licking

Post by booktigger »

Has Tiggy been checked, Pica can have a medical cause?
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Janey
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Re: Floor Licking

Post by Janey »

My cat’s the same with plastic, I have to move any bags or anything covered in plastic because she will chew at it. Wonder why - that’s a common one it seems. From what I’ve read it can be scents on the bag / smell of plastic, crinkley noise it makes, stress, boredom (like us chewing fingernails e.g.), dental problems or lack of something in diet... My cat also likes to get at nail files, and I’ve heard of other cats chewing on those too.
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