ELSEVIE; Applied Animal Behaviour Science 52 (1997) 373-379

APPLIED ANIMAL
BEHAVIOUR
SCIENCE
Factors affecting pica in the domestic cat
John W.S. Bradshaw a.*, Peter F. Neville b, Diana Sawyer a
Anthro;oolog~ Instime, Department ofBio/og~, Uni~rsin of Southampton. Southampton SO16 7PX. UK
h Centre ofApplied Pet Ethology PO Box 18. Tisbuy. Wiltshire SP3 6NQ, UK
Abstract
A postal survey was conducted of the owners of 152 cats, mainly of oriental breeds, which
exhibited pica (defined broadly, as chewing, sucking or ingesting non-nutritive materials). The
most common material was wool (93% of cases), followed by cotton, man-made fabrics.
rubber/plastic and paper/cardboard (8%). Actual ingestion was as likely to occur in Burmese
cats as in Siamese, in contradiction to a report from the USA (Houpt, 1985). Pica appeared to be
linked to infantile behaviour in non-oriental cats, but possibly not in orientals. Onset of pica could
occur at any time during the first 4 years of the cats life, but was most frequent in the 2 months
following rehoming. Onset in other cabes could not be linked to rehoming, but tended to occur
between 6 and 18 months of age, and may therefore be linked to the onset of sexual maturity or
territorial behaviour. Neutering had little effect on the expression of pica.
KrJu~orckc Domestic cat; Siamese cat: Burmese cat: Pica; Wool-eating: Behavioural disorders
1. Introduction
Pica, the ingestion of non-nutritive items, has been most widely documented in man,
although the term itself originates from the Latin word for a magpie. Even in man, there
has been some confusion as to whether it should be classified as an eating disorder in its
own right, or as a symptom of other types of mental illness (see Parry-Jones and
Parry-Jones, 1992 for a review). Its most common form in man is geophagy (earth/clay
ingestion), often associated with iron deficiency, but cravings for paper and cloth have
been reported. In animals, phosphorus deficiency can lead to consumption of bone
fragments, which may have some nutritive value. Other types of animal pica appear to
be poorly documented.
Corresponding author. Tel: 44 (170.7) 594154: Fax: 34 (I 703) 591269.
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374 J. W.S. Bradshaw et al./Applied Animal Behaciour Science 52 (1997) 373-379
Cases of pica in domestic cats usually involve the ingestion of wool, although the cat
may progress to other fabrics (Houpt and Wolski, 1982). Authors in the USA have
reported that ingestion of wool is largely restricted to pure-bred and cross-bred Siamese
cats (Houpt and Wolski, 1982; Borchelt and Voith, 1982), although cats of other breeds
may suck or chew fabrics without ingestion (Houpt, 1985).
Pica in cats has been classified variously as a stereotypy (McKeown et al., 19921,
with compulsive grooming (Overall, 1992), and as an ingestive behaviour problem
(Borchelt and Voith, 1982). Since it is largely restricted to certain breeds, it must have
some genetic basis, but it also has environmental triggers which are poorly understood.
Houpt and Wolski (19821 suggested that it might (or might not) be linked to early
weaning; OFarrell and Neville (1994) have proposed that it may be a form of redirected
prey-catching/ingesting behaviour, or a stereotypy induced by short-term acute stress.
In this paper we present the results of a survey of owners of cats exhibiting some
form of pica, which we have defined broadly as including sucking and/or chewing of
non-nutritive materials, as well as actual ingestion, since the former is thought to lead to
the latter (Houpt and Wolski, 1982). Preliminary reports of this work (Neville and
Bradshaw, 1991; Neville and Bradshaw, 1994) have included recommendations for
treatment, as does OFarrell and Neville (1994); these will not be considered here.
2. Methods
We used a questionnaire to gather information from owners of cats that they
considered exhibited some form of pica. For each cat, the following information was
requested:
The breed, age and sex of the cat (including whether neutered);
The age at which the cat was acquired and the age when pica was first noticed;
The materials involved and whether they are ingested or merely sucked/chewed;
Whether the cat (if over 7 months old) exhibits continued infantile behaviour such as
excessive kneading with the forepaws, or suckling of the owners skin;
Whether neutering altered the expression of the pica;
The damage done by the cat (valued in pounds sterling);
Any reduction in the pleasure in owning the cat caused by the pica, on a four-point
scale (1: not at all; 2: slightly; 3: quite a lot; 4: significantly); and whether the cats
pica would influence the owners decision to obtain another cat of the same breed.
Owners were recruited via articles in Cat World Magazine, Cats, the Journal of the
Feline Advisory Bureau, the Bristol Evening Post, and Siamese and Burmese Breed
Club Newsletters. The sample is therefore unlikely to be representative of cats as a
whole, since we specifically targeted breeds thought to be most susceptible to pica. Out
of 152 cats for which we obtained information, 84 were Siamese or first crosses, 42
were Burmese or first crosses, nine were other oriental types (including four Birman)
and 17 were described as crossbreeds (British type). The sample contained slightly more
males (57%) than females (43%), but this may not indicate a difference in susceptibility,
since the post-weaning sex ratio in litters is biased in favour of males (Robinson and
Cox, 1970). Eighty percent of the females had been spayed, and 94% of the males had
J. W.S. Bmdshaw et al. /Applied Animal BehalGur Science 52 f 19971 373-379
375
been castrated. Sex ratios and the proportion neutered were similar in the four breed
groups.
Responses to each item of the questionnaire were categorised and their inter-relation-
ships were examined by Chi-squared tests for r X 2 and r X k tables. and Spearman
rank-order correlations (Siegel and Castellan. 1988).
3. Results
The commonest fabric reported in the survey was wool (93% of cases), followed by
cotton (64%). and synthetic fabrics (53%). Twenty-two percent of cases included rubber
or plastic materials, such as electrical insulation, rubber bands and babies pacifiers
(dummies). A small number (8%) also included paper or cardboard. The frequency of
occurrence of the different materials was similar between the four breed groups
( x2 = 17.3. df = 12. P = 0.14) and between the sexes ( x1 = 0.64, df = 5, P = 0.96).
Thirty-six cases involved only a single material (75% wool), 45 involved two materials,
52 three. and 19 four or five. In four cases rubber/plastic was the only type of material
involved, and in two rubber/plastic was combined with cotton but not wool.
In cases involving two or more materials, each cat tended to either simply suck/chew
or (chew and) ingest, irrespective of the material; only three cats ate one material and
chewed another. As many Burmese cats (45%) ingested one or more materials as did
Siamese (48%). Ingestion was commonest for cotton (52%) and least common for
rubber/plastic (36%). Ingestion of wool was slightly less common (3 1% of cases) when
no other fabric was ingested than when several fabrics were ingested (50%) ( x2 = 3.14.
df = 1. P = 0.07), which tends to confirm that pica often progresses from chewing wool
to chewing other fabrics, and then to ingestion.
3. I. hfardle behaljiour
In the adult cats (> 7 months). infantile behaviour was reported in 29% of Burmese
and 37% of Siamese cats. Since reliable figures for the incidence of this type of
behaviour in cats not exhibiting pica are unavailable, it is not possible to state that this is
an unexpectedly high proportion, but it is clear from the figures that pica is not
inextricably linked with infantile behaviour. Among the crossbred cats, a higher
proportion (69%) did exhibit infantile behaviour (comparing crossbreeds, Siamese and
Burmese, x = 8.1, df = 2, P = 0.021, which is almost certainly substantially elevated
compared with the general population. Cats displaying infantile behaviour were no
different from the remainder (i) in their age of onset of pica; (ii) whether they chewed or
ingested; or (iii) the number of materials chewed or ingested.
3.1. Age qf onset
Taken together, the distributions of the ages of the cats (Fig. 11 and the reported age
of onset (Table 11 indicate that pica is likely to appear during the first year of life, and
then persist for at least several years. The most common age for onset is between 2 and
316 J. W.S. Bradshaw et al. /Applied Animal Behaviour Science 52 (19971373-379
35 .I

o-1 1-2 2-3 3-4 4-5 5-6 6-8 8-10 10+

age (years)
Fig. 1. Ages of cats included in the survey.
4 months of age, but the majority of cases (52%) occur after 4 months (maximum 48
months). When the age of onset is compared with the age at which the current owner
acquired the cat (Table 11, it can be seen that onset usually follows acquisition.
Although this appears to suggest that transfer from one owner to another may trigger
onset, several factors may confound this conclusion. One is that breeders may be
reluctant to home kittens which are already exhibiting pica; another is that a kitten may
not encounter wool until it is rehomed, and may therefore be unable to demonstrate an
incipient pica for several weeks after it has first developed. The figures referring to onset
before acquisition may therefore be unreliable. Only 13 cats had not been rehomed (i.e.
had been kept by their original breeders), precluding their use as a control group for
statistical analysis of the effects of rehoming. However, the data for these cats (last row
of Table 1) suggest that onset without rehoming can occur at any age during the first 2
years (the oldest onset in this group was 24 months).
Among the cats that were rehomed, onset occurred within four months of acqusition
Table 1
Numbers of cases, divided into those that were rehomed (top part of Table) and those which were retained by
the original breeder (bottom line of Table), subdivided according to age at rehoming and age of onset of pica
Age acquired (months) Age of onset of pica (months)
O-2 2-4 4-6 6-12 12+
o-2 8 2 0 4 2
2-4 1 54 15 11 7
4-6 0 3 7 4 0
6-12 1 1 1 3 0
12+ 0 0 0 2 7
Total (rehomed) 10 60 23 24 16
Kept by breeder 1 4 3 1 4
J. W.S. Brad&w et al. /Applied Animal Behatiour Science 52 (1997) 373-379
371
in 81% of cases (top part of Table 1). Notwithstanding the possible errors in reporting
onset alluded to above, this data strongly suggests that rehoming is one factor which
may trigger pica. Later onset can be examined in the cats which were rehomed before 4
months of age; 23% of the cases in this group developed at least 2 months after
rehoming, which suggests a further potential trigger occurring between 6 and 18 months
of age.
In the UK, it is common practice to rehome kittens of Siamese, Burmese and other
oriental breeds at about 12 weeks old, after completion of vaccinations. This is probably
the main reason why a high proportion (66%) of the cases were rehomed between 2 and
4 months of age. However, the high proportion of these cases with onsets within 2
months of acquisition (61%) suggests that this stage in their development may also be a
time at which the cats are highly susceptible to factors triggering pica. Compared with
the number of cats with onsets at over 6 months of age (six in the group acquired up to
two months, 18 in the group acquired at 2-4 months), the 54 cats developing pica
immediately after acquisition at 2-4 months is slightly higher than expected from the
eight cats acquired and showing pica before two months ( x2 = 2.14, df = 1, P = 0.14).
Some cats may therefore be particularly susceptible to rehoming-induced pica at 2-4
months of age, but otherwise onset at this age is relatively uncommon (17% of cases not
rehomed at 2-4 months).
3.3. Conjinement indoors
Although a substantial proportion of the cats had no access (22%) or restricted access
(18%) outside their owners houses, this is common practice among owners of oriental
breeds to reduce the risk of theft of their cat, and may not necessarily indicate that
confinement indoors is a major cause of pica. In support of this conclusion, the number
of materials involved was similar in indoor, restricted-access and outdoor cats ( x2 =
6.01, df = 6, P = 0.421, and chewing us. ingestion was equally distributed in the three
groups (x2 = 3.77, df = 2, P = 0.15).
3.4. Effects of neutering
In 84% of cases where the cat was castrated or spayed, neutering was reported to
have had no effect on the pica. This proportion was slightly but not significantly higher
for males (88%) than for females (78%X x2 = 2.02, df = 1, P = 0.16). The effective-
ness of neutering was unrelated to whether or not the cat displayed infantile behaviour.
3.5. The pet-owner bond
A high proportion of owners (66%) reported that their pleasure in owning their cat
had not been altered by its pica, and only 8% reported that their pleasure had been
reduced quite a lot or significantly. The amount of damage done by the cat (in
monetary value), mean E136, correlated positively with the reported reduction in
pleasure ( p < 0.01, p = 0.242). The more severe the reduction in pleasure, the greater
378 J. W.S. Bradshaw et al. /Applied Animal Behaviour Science 52 (1997) 373-379
Table 2
Numbers of owners reporting a reduction in pleasure in ownership due to their cats pica, crosstabulated with
their reported intention to avoid obtaining a cat of the same breed on the next occasion
Reduction in pleasure due to pica Avoid obtaining same breed
Not at all
Slightly
Quite a lot/signiftcantly
Yes/Possibly No
3 94
9 28
6 6
the likelihood that the owner might avoid obtaining the same breed on a subsequent
occasion (Table 2).
4. Discussion
We have demonstrated that pica in cats is not confined to wool-sucking/eating, since
a minority of cases did not involve wool, and a small number were confined to items
made from plastic and/or rubber. However, the distribution of the number of fabrics
chewed or eaten tends to confirm that many cats begin by sucking or chewing wool and
then progress to other fabrics and/or to ingestion.
In contrast to information from the USA (Houpt and Wolski, 1982; Borchelt and
Voith, 1982), we have found that in the UK Burmese cats also exhibit pica, and are as
likely as Siamese cats to progress to ingestion of a variety of fabrics. Although our
sample included only a few non-orientals, pica in these cats may be more closely linked
to infantile behaviour than it is in orientals.
Although we were unable to collect reliable data on the time of weaning, early
weaning is thought to be a cause of infantile behaviour in the adult (OFarrell and
Neville, 1994). We could find no link between infantile behaviour in the oriental cats
and any aspect of pica. However, our data does not address the possibility that infantile
behaviour is more frequent in cats exhibiting pica than in the general population of
orientals.
Onset of pica appears to be most common within 2 months of rehoming, and may
therefore be triggered by the stress of separation from the mother and littermates, at the
same time as moving to an unfamiliar physical and social environment. However, many
cats that do not exhibit pica at this stage go on to develop it later, usually between 6 and
18 months old. Both territorial and sexual behaviour emerge at this stage, and will
produce new social stresses, whether or not access to conspecifics is allowed (confine-
ment indoors is apparently unimportant). The lack of success of neutering as a method
of treatment, especially in males, argues against the development of sexual behaviour as
a primary cause of the onset of pica. We therefore propose that pica in oriental breeds is
predisposed genetically, and is triggered by stress due to sudden changes in the cats
physical or social environment. Some of these (e.g. rehoming) are unwittingly induced
by the owner; others, such as increased competition with other cats for territory, may be
chiefly a function of maturation. Further studies, including control groups of oriental
cats that do not exhibit pica, will be required to confirm these findings.
J. W.S. Bradshaw et al. /Applied Animal Behaciour Science 52 (19971373-379 319
Acknowledgements
We wish to express our thanks to all the cat owners who took part in the survey. This
study was partially supported by a grant from WALTHAM.
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