Well, I don't know if I mentioned this, but I got a new kitten last
month. This is my first cat as an adult (I haven't had a cat in over
twenty years, in fact!) and I'm noticing all sorts of things I never
noticed as a kid. What I'm most interested in is how many things she
tries to eat -- she has snitched caramel creams, zucchini slices, and
banana bread. So, what kinds of weird things have your pets (particularly
cats) eaten? Is there anything (besides chocolate and houseplants and
chicken bones) that I should be particularly careful about not letting
her have? I'm sure that we could have a fine time recounting weird
pet eating habits.

84 responses total.

Oh, just to get the ball rolling, I had a dog who ate peeled and seeded
grapes. ONLY peeled and seeded grapes.

 One of my two cats likes to lick apple cores.

For a while one of our cats had a penchant for bread.  All three of them are
instantly magnetized to the kitchen when they hear a can opener (on the
premise that its tuna, even though it usually isn't).  Our old cat likes to
stick her paw into near-empty glasses to glean some milk.  it's rather
amusing.

I don't eat pets, and therefore have no weird pet eating habits.

Our neighbor's dog likes to eat ants. It's a pain in the butt when I walk him,
'cause he's also pretty strong.

Well, my cat *thinks* he's a dog, and conversely, the dogs like to pretend
they're cats.

Our cat Sidney likes bagels. Actually, "likes" is an
understatement. If he spots me eating a bagel, he'll come up to
me and poke my arm repeatedly with his paw until I tear off some
scraps and offer them to him.

Sidney also likes watermelon.

BTW there is a a WHOLE CONFERENCE on pets, did you know that?  Would the fw
like to link this?

  Where shall I begin?

  I don't have any pets now, but I had several in my childhood/teenage yrs.

  Duke- 
    He ate just about anything. Cats were his favorite. Any stray cat stupid
enough to shortcut through his domain was on fair and even footing. When he
was out with my dad and I, he would bark loudly until he got his own french
fries, plus part of my dad's and my sister's. 
  Rusty, my first dog used to eat my mom's $25 roses that she just bought.

my girlfriends old dog <before it got squished> would eat ciggarette butts
that were dropped too close to him <burning or not>

   i've known many cats who liked to eat rubber bands, which is a *bad
thing*.

Sometimes, our cat, Mad Max, will eat one of my wife's hairs, which is long,
really long and Max is small, really small, so when the one end of the hair
comes out the other end, the rest of the hair is still winding it's way
through the intestinal tract. So now we have a deranged cat running away from
something that it can't get away from (that which is stuck to the hair).
Sooooo this cat runs around as if chased by Hell's Hounds until we grab 'em
and clip the hair.....

ohh as if that didnt just sound like one of those jobs you'd  get stuck
with while serving your sentence in hell:

"JOE...COME IT IS TIME ONCE AGAIN TO TRIM THE CATS "EXTRA" HAIR!!!"

no no no no no no no no no no on on

sorry, that was just the strangest picture ever to pop into my head

Had a cat that would try to attack you if you had any Spanish Olives.

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My brother-in-law's dog (a blacklab mix) has bizzarre tastes...He likes
to eat feces.  He will eat his own crap and the crap of other dogs,
and especially loves togo camping or fishing where he might get to
eat human crap.  This habit is not encouraged of course but if you turn
your back and the dog runs off, its a good bet he's looking for some
decent crap to eat.  He's a healthy dog too...going on eleven years old
and neverbeen sick....

This is a good item to mention that grex has a "Pets" conf btw...type
"join pets" for more discussion about pets.

I have a cat names Wylie who has to get a drink out of the kitchen faucet
every morning or else he will meow VERY loud until he gets it...And if
anyone's eating donuts, you have to give him a piece too or you'll never hear
the end of it...

(BTW, don't give your kitten cow's milk until it's grown up (usually old
enough to be spayed/nutered is old enough) because a young cat's digestive
track isn't up to it.)

Bailey, my kitten (yeah, I know he is 9 months old, but...he's still my baby),
believes that he LOVES banana. He may very well like it a whole bunch,
but....as the person that has to clean out the litter box...*I* do not like
it.

Bailey also loves pizza sauce, or any tomato sauce, icecream, american cheese,
beef fry (like bacon), yogurt, milk,....and LOVES and will almost kill for
Egg Nog. (well,...what do you expect, I got him in winter right after New
Years)

Found out today that Mittens likes olives (black) and mac'n'cheese. :-)
Looks like she's into trying anything she can persuade us to give her.

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Tonchi, my calico cat, likes peanuts.  Whenever, I get out the bag of
peanuts and begin cracking them open, she'll come and sit by me
until I give her one or two.

My cat likes ice cream, but only if I dip some onto my fingertip.
I tried giving her a spoonful in a dish of her own, but she wouldn't
go for it.  I think it's too cold and too hard for her to manage
if in larger quantities than a fingertip-dip.

She also likes popcorn, but is happier if I remove the hull from
the popped kernel.

Neither of these things, of course, are given to her frequently 
or in quantity.

She's not mine, but Melissa's cat Bernadette *really* loves tomato
sauce- it doesn't matter what form.  If we eat something like
spagettio o's she pouts until we let her lick out the empty
bowls. <grin>

This is now linked to Pets, it's item 21.

Oh, by the way, you should never give your cats cow's milk- when
they're kittens they can't handle it, and most cats are lactose
intollerant when they grow up.  You can get special 'milk' for them
to give them as a treat.  My neighbor downstairs does that for
his kitten.

Our cats are rekindling their tastes for local wildlife.

   the cats i currently live with seem to have an affinity for chewing
on plastic.  we have not yet determined if they actually *eat* the
stuff or just like to gnaw on it from time to time.

I have 3 ferrets, and they all have theyre own taste for food..of course they
all like theyre ferret food but, one of them will eat hard boiled eggs and
the others wont and some will eat chicken and some wont...they love milk but
I have to be careful on what I feed them cause theyre not suppose to eat some
foods actualy not most "human" foods :*)  They all <3> rock though, best pet
Ive ever had!

My Oriental Shorthair has a thing for plastic, too.  I don't think he 
eats it, so much as sucks on it.  I worry that it can't be good for him, 
though.

I think you *can* give chicken bones to cats.  As bird-eaters from way back,
they know how to handle the bones.  Dogs are the ones that can't handle
chicken bones.

my cat, spot (rip), was wild for canned peas i found out one day
when she skidded across the kitchen floor tryign to stop her charge,
adn pounced up on the table (something she *never* did before).
  
after that , i experimented with otyher veggies ...she gobbled
up everything vegetable..carrots, broccoli, beans.... 

my parent's crowned prince Edward (cat) used to steal green beans from our
dinner trays (but I think it was the melted butter he was really after).  He
and Blue (another cat) would also be drawn to the sound of the can openerer.
They just loved tuna water sprinkled over their kbble. Eddie has been known
to try anything -- but now he's on a strict diet after he reached 23 lbs!

I think cats can handle *raw* chicken bones, but not the cooked (and hence
brittle) ones.

My kitty, Harley, must eat Pounce kitty treats daily. And he must have them
when I am walking out the door. When he sees me gather my stuff in the mornings
before going to work, he knows it's kitty treat time. He will start meowing me
to death until I sprinkle some on his food, pet him and leave for work. 

He also gets a treat of chicken, turkey or tuna every once in a while.
But it must be torn into teeny little pieces or he looks up at me like "Uh, you
expect me to eat this?". Other than that he doesn't eat much people food,
although he has to check out everything I eat just to make sure. What would I
do without this precious creature?

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I often gave my cats chicken bones, cooked, raw, they used them to clean their
teeth.  But never give cats fish bones.  Also don't give dogs chicken or fish
bones.  

valerie... great way to get just the good parte, eh?

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