Why Does My Cat Eat My Hair?

If you’ve ever caught your cat nibbling, sucking, or even ingesting your hair, you know how bizarre this feline behavior can be. As strange as it sounds, hair chewing and eating is actually normal for cats. The reasons behind this weird habit can vary, but it typically stems from boredom, stress, medical issues, natural instincts, or a combination of factors.

While harmless in moderation, hair ingestion can lead to dangerous intestinal blockages or other health problems for your beloved pet. As the owner, you naturally want to discourage this behavior and understand what’s causing your cat to snack on your luscious locks in the first place.

In this comprehensive guide, we’ll cover all the common reasons for hair eating in cats, when it’s time to see the vet, and most importantly – how to get kitty to stop! We’ll provide tips on redirecting the behavior, addressing underlying issues, creating a stress-free environment, and outsmarting even the cleverest hair-obsessed cat.

Let’s get to the root of this peculiar pastime and help you and kitty live happily ever after…without having to resort to a drastic buzzcut!

Common Reasons for Hair Chewing

Cats exhibit all sorts of quirky behaviors that seem bizarre to humans. But there’s usually an underlying reason behind their weirdness. When it comes to hair eating, there are a few key explanations for why your cat may have developed this oral fixation.

Boredom and Stress Relief

One of the most common triggers for hair chewing is simple boredom. Just like their wild ancestors, domestic cats need mental and physical stimulation. Without adequate playtime and environmental enrichment, they can become restless. Excess energy and anxiety often get channeled into overgrooming behaviors. Eating their owner’s hair can seem like a handy distraction.

Cats also tend to cope with stress through self-soothing activities like grooming. If your environment is chaotic, that can activate their stress response. Chewing hair may start as an innocent comfort-seeking behavior. But just like nail-biting in humans, it can easily become an unhealthy habit.

Attention-Seeking Behavior

Some cunning kitties also learn that hair chewing gets them noticed. If you react strongly when you catch them in the act, it rewards their behavior. To discouraged cats, even negative attention is still attention. So hair eating can become an attention-seeking ploy.

Medical Causes

While boredom and stress are common reasons for hair chewing, certain medical conditions can also trigger this behavior. Health issues that lead to nausea, dental disease, skin irritation, or neuropathic pain can cause your cat discomfort. Excessive grooming and hair eating can seem soothing.

Cats with a nutritional deficiency, metabolic disorder, parasite infection, or gastrointestinal issue may eat non-food items like hair. This is known as pica. It stems from the body’s innate drive to obtain missing nutrients and self-medicate during illness.

If your cat’s hair chewing started suddenly, coincided with other symptoms, or she is also eating inappropriate items like fabric, plastic, or dirt, have your vet examine her. An underlying medical problem could be the culprit. Treating the condition causing her distress will help resolve the obsessive hair eating.

Natural Grooming Instincts

Lastly, the simple natural instinct to lick fur may drive your cat to snack on your strands. Cats groom themselves by licking their coats to remove dirt and distribute beneficial oils across their skin. To them, human hair may just seem like a handy extension of their own fur. They don’t understand how weird it seems when they lick and nibble our heads!

Kittens and Hair Chewing

Kittens exhibit all sorts of oral behaviors as they explore the world around them. So you may catch your curious kitten nibbling or trying to eat your hair. In most cases, they will outgrow this as they mature. But it’s important to redirect the behavior early on to prevent an unhealthy habit from forming.

Teething and Oral Fixation

Teething is a prime reason kittens mouth and chew on human hair. Just like human babies, kittens teethe for the first six months of their life as their adult teeth push through the gums. This causes soreness and discomfort that makes them gnaw and suckle.

Kittens also develop food preferences through oral exploration in their early months. Their oral fixation gets channeled onto whatever objects are available, including human hair. As their teething stage passes and you provide proper outlets, these behaviors typically resolve.

Mimicking Adult Behavior

Kittens also imitate the behaviors they witness in adult cats. They look to mature cats for signals on what is safe and normal. So if your adult cat has a hair chewing habit, kittens will instinctively try to copy this grooming ritual.

By redirecting your adult cat’s hair eating and discouraging the behavior through deterrents, you remove the stimulus that teaches kittens to develop this habit. Be consistent so kittens don’t receive mixed signals about whether hair chewing is acceptable.

Dangers of Consuming Hair

While grooming hair may seem like a harmless feline quirk, ingesting large quantities of human hair can cause significant health hazards for cats. Two of the major risks include intestinal blockages and toxicity from hair chemicals.

Intestinal Blockages

Cats regularly swallow loose hair while self-grooming, which usually passes easily through their digestive system. But excessive hair ingestion can cause trichobezoars, or hairballs, to form in the stomach and intestinal tract. As hair accumulates, it binds together with food and mucus to create an obstructive mass.

Blockages disrupt normal digestion, causing vomiting, diarrhea, loss of appetite, and abdominal pain. Without treatment, they can prove life-threatening. Blockages require emergency surgery to remove the obstruction and intensive aftercare to stabilize feline health. So preventing your cat from gorging on hair is critical.

Toxic Chemicals and Dyes

The chemicals, dyes, bleaches, and other products applied to human hair also pose toxicity risks if ingested by cats. Grooming products contain many hazardous ingredients that can irritate the stomach lining, respiratory tract, and esophagus or have systemic impacts.

Additionally, some cats may have sensitivities or allergies to specific compounds in hair products. Reactions can cause painful inflammation, breathing issues, tremors, lethargy, and other worrisome symptoms requiring rapid veterinary treatment.

Stopping Hair Eating

The key to curbing excessive hair chewing is addressing the root causes behind the behavior. Boredom, stress, medical problems, and natural instincts all need to be managed to break the habit. It also requires removing the temptation by keeping hair out of reach and using correction techniques when catching kitty in the act.

Redirecting with Toys

When hair eating stems from boredom or pent-up energy, provide more active playtime and environmental enrichment. Direct your cat’s enthusiasm toward appropriate toys that satisfy her prey drive and chewing urges. Interactive wand toys that tap into a cat’s instinct to stalk “prey” are ideal.

Puzzle feeders and treat balls also encourage natural foraging behaviors. Rotating novel toys keeps things interesting. Make playtime rewarding with treats and catnip. A tired, fulfilled cat has less need to self-soothe through destructive habits.

Providing Appropriate Outlets

Ensure your home environment gives your cat adequate outlets for her scratching and chewing impulses. Offer different textured scratching posts, boards, mats, and tree towers made of sisal, cardboard, wood, or carpet. Place them in areas your cat already likes to claw so you can redirect those urges onto suitable surfaces.

Chewing cat grass or wheatgrass helps redirect nibbling behavior and eases digestive issues. Natural pilling toys with hidden chambers challenge clever cats. And regular brushing or a cat tongue grooming brush removes loose fur they’d otherwise lick off their coats.

Addressing Any Underlying Issues

If a medical issue or stress trigger is causing your cat’s obsessive hair chewing, work on resolving the root problem through veterinary care, diet changes, or environment adjustments. Treating skin conditions, dental disease, gastrointestinal issues, anxiety, or other problems leading to overgrooming behaviors is key.

Cats also overgroom due to stressful situations. Monitor what environmental factors may be causing your cat distress. Limit major changes, additions or losses in their surroundings when possible. Ensure proper introduction techniques if adding new household members or pets. And stick to predictable routines for feeding, play, and litter box cleaning.

Using Deterrent Sprays and Scat Mats

You can also make hair chewing an unappealing experience for cats through taste and touch deterrents. Bitter apple sprays or anti-chew formulas create an unpleasant flavor that deters nibbling. Just check that the products are non-toxic for cats.

Scat mats or double-sided sticky tape give a harmless static shock or sticky sensation when stepped on, so they can be placed around human resting areas. Use them cautiously and under supervision to avoid injuring or alarming kitty. The goal is to discourage rather than punish them.

When to See a Veterinarian

While adjusting home conditions and routines can curb hair chewing for mild cases, seek veterinary help if the behavior persists or worsens. A vet visit is especially warranted if the habit coincides with other clinical signs.

Changes in Behavior or Appetite

If your cat’s obsession with eating hair represents a drastic behavior change or she shows signs of reduced appetite, lethargy, or depression, schedule a medical evaluation. Sudden differences in grooming routines or energy levels can reflect an underlying health issue requiring diagnosis.

Signs of Illness or Discomfort

Cats often increase self-grooming behaviors when experiencing nausea, dental pain, skin irritation, arthritis, or other discomfort. If excessive hair licking and swallowing starts alongside indicators like vomiting, limping, swollen gums, compulsive spot licking, or areas of hair loss or redness, seek veterinary attention.

Underlying problems causing distress must be addressed before resolving obsessive grooming habits. Vets can provide medications, special foods, mobility aids, or suggestions for improving home conditions to reduce discomfort.

Intestinal Blockage Concerns

Also alert your vet if you witness symptoms potentially signaling a hairball blockage like gagging without producing anything, constipation or diarrhea, loss of appetite, swollen or tender abdomen, or lethargy. Your vet can feel for obstructions during a stomach palpitation exam.

X-rays or ultrasound scans may be used to diagnose the presence and location of any obstructive hair masses. Early treatment is vital for clearing blockages before lasting damage occurs. In severe cases, immediate surgery is needed to remove obstructions.

Living with a Hair Chewer

If your cat’s hair chewing habit persists despite your best efforts, take heart. While vigilant monitoring is needed, it is possible to manage the behavior and protect kitty’s health with some adjustments. Here are tips for coexisting with a hair obsessed cat:

Tips for Managing the Behavior

• Keep hair tied back and wear hats or headbands to remove the temptation.
• Use lint rollers frequently on clothing and furniture to limit loose strands.
• Shut bedroom and bathroom doors to keep kitty away during grooming times.
• Correct with a firm “no” whenever catching kitty nibbling hair.
• Schedule regular vet checkups to monitor for blockages.
• Invest in pet insurance to offset costs if emergency care is ever needed.

Creating a Stress-Free Home

• Maintain a predictable schedule for feeding, playtime, litter box cleaning.
• Make sure kitty has “safe spaces” she can retreat to when stressed.
• Use feline pheromone plugins to encourage a relaxed environment.
• Play calming music and limit loud noises or household chaos.
• Consider adopting a companion cat if yours is under-socialized.

Outsmarting a Clever Cat

• Use clever deterrents like Ssscat automated sprayers when away.
• Place bitter apple sprays around the home for self-correction.
• Rub hairbands against citrus peels to create a nasal deterrent.
• Set booby traps with bells or empty cans to alert you of trespassing.
• Rotate different deterrents frequently so kitty doesn’t get used to them.

FAQs: Why Does My Cat Eat My Hair?

Do you still have questions about this peculiar feline pastime? Check out answers to some frequently asked questions about hair eating cats below:

Why does my cat only eat my hair, not my spouse’s or children’s hair?

Cats often form a closer bond and feel more socially affiliated with the primary person who feeds and cares for them. Their obsession is focused on you because your scent and familiarity is likely more comforting.

Are some cats more prone to hair eating habits?

Yes. Breeds like Siamese and Burmese are more oral fixated and predisposed to sucking behaviors. Solo cats and anxious, insecure cats also tend to overgroom to self-soothe. High energy breeds get bored more easily without adequate stimulation.

Is eating hair dangerous for my cat?

Ingesting small amounts of hair generally passes through a cat’s digestive system without issue. But large quantities can cause life-threatening gastrointestinal obstructions. Toxic chemicals from hair products can also make cats ill.

How can I cat-proof my hair?

Tie hair up securely, wear hats and headbands, use hair catchers when styling, lint roll frequently, and shut bedroom/bathroom doors during grooming times. Also correct kitty whenever catching her in the act of chewing hair.

When should I take my cat to the vet for hair eating?

See your vet if the behavior persists despite correction efforts, coincides with appetite/behavior changes, causes hair loss spots, or comes with concerning symptoms like lethargy, vomiting, swelling, etc that could indicate blockages or toxicity.