The Plastic Cat Connection

Our cats have made plastic bags the bane of our existence. When our first cat Spider Jim started licking plastic bags my husband and I thought it was something unique to him. We had both grown up with dogs and didn’t know of this odd behavior.  As much as Spider seemed to enjoy licking the bags Duncan, who lives with us now, does it purely to irritate us and get attention. When Stubby Jones moved in he had no interest in plastic bags but within a couple of months of watching how it worked for Duncan he jumped on the bandwagon. Now, it can be a plastic bag licking symphony at 5:00 AM on a Saturday morning. Fortunately, our arrogant tuxedo cat Fiddle has no interest in plastic bags. He thinks the behavior is barbaric and beneath him.   

I have read many articles and columns on cats licking or chewing plastic and the most common answer is cats like the taste of “tallow” a form of animal fat that is used when manufacturing plastic bags. Tallow comes from a form of beef or mutton fat that conforms to certain technical criteria, including its melting point. It is common for commercial tallow to contain fat derived from other animals, such as lard from pigs. Some cats have a strong sense of smell and enjoy the taste. Ick! 

As funny as it can be to watch your cat playing with a plastic bag it’s best to supervise them. Plastic bags can get caught around their neck and choke them if it gets caught on something, pieces can be chewed off and swallowed, and if trapped in a bag they can suffocate. If your cat ingests a bag this could create some serious, and expensive, medical problems.   Never pull out accidentally ingested material, even slowly, from a cat's anus or mouth because those items may become twisted around the digestive tract therefore you may accidentally pull out the intestines. Take your cat to the vet.  

During the week Duncan gets up at 6:30, however on weekends it is 5:00 which he does just to annoy us. He will employ the plastic bag maneuver to get us up.  When we hear this little crinkling sound, which is just loud just loud enough to wake us, we know Duncan is ready to eat. We swear the cat has a secret stash that he sneaks them off to when we aren’t looking.  Either that or he deals in plastic bags like contraband with other cats off the fire escape when we aren’t home. More than my husband and I it is Fiddle who is most annoyed by the licking. He always gives the other two cats a death stare then looks at us and gives his best ‘see, this would not happen if I were an only cat’ look then glides  out of the room.