It is important to understand that in order to diagnose pica, the individual must be at least 2 years of age. Pica usually occurs as an isolated disorder but there are instances when it may co-exist with schizophrenia, OCD, and trichotillomania. In some parts of the world, the consumption of non-nutritive substances is culturally accepted. In women, it is most often seen during pregnancy. Īlthough pica is seen in children, it is also a common eating disorder in patients who are intellectually impaired. The nature of ingested items is variable, including but not limited to earth (geophagy), raw starches (amylophagy), ice (pagophagia), charcoal, ash, paper, chalk, cloth, baby powder, coffee grounds, and eggshells. For diagnosis, the behavior must persist for at least one month, not be in keeping with the child's developmental stage (and age cut off of 24 months or more is suggested by DSM V), and not be socially normative or culturally acceptable behavior. The term is derived from "pica-pica," the Latin word for the magpie bird, because of the bird's indiscriminate gathering and eating a variety of objects for the sake of curiosity. Shoot her an email, contact her at 73 or follow her adventures on Twitter.The American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) defines pica as eating nonnutritive, nonfood substances over a period of at least one month. Lorrie Shaw leads the pets section for and is owner of Professional Pet Sitting. To read more, click here to read an article on this topic on The Telegraph. Mongillo says that not feeding from the table is essential. Read more for tips on that by clicking here. Seeing that pica may be a companion behavior to psychogenic abnormal feeding behavior, it would be a good idea to eliminate stresses from the cat’s environment. Stress, feelings of anxiety and boredom can be other causes, as can illness and dietary deficiencies. A behavior more common in cats - especially purebreds like Siamese and Burmese - the theory is that pica stems from felines being weaned too early. Pica is characterized by the chewing or eating of non-food items, at times compulsively. Mongillo said that such “ eating disorders” in animals could be stress-related, just as they sometimes were in humans.Ĭuriously, Otto exhibited another odd behavior that, in some cats, is stress-related: pica. If a physical cause doesn’t seem to be behind it, then exploring other things that can be contributing is in order. In situations like this, it’s always wise to have your pet checked out by the veterinarian to rule out any illnesses physical problems that might be contributing to your cat’s ill-behaved ways. If you feed them from the table, just once in a while, the cat will think it is like a slot machine - if they always ask, every so often they will get what they want.” He noted, “Unless the cat is really obnoxious, most owners probably won’t complain. Paolo Mongillo with University of Padua, Italy, led the study with some colleagues and came up with a more definitive name for the problem - psychogenic abnormal feeding behavior. There is a name for it and ideas to get on the path to curb the problem.ĭr. Otto may not alone in the way he behaves, and if your furry friend has been doing the same, take heart. (Our cat, Silver only begs during breakfast, when he thinks there might be some leftover milk sent his way!) I should note that there is a condition called acute stress hyperglycemia, and the study isn’t clear on whether or not the cat has high blood sugar chronically or if it in this case was induced by a stressor.īegging from the table was another characteristic that Otto exhibited, which is something that we associate with dogs more commonly. Otto was found to have a clean bill of physical health by clinicians save for hyperglycemia. The cat, reportedly an 8-month-old Siamese named Otto, exhibited “food-related aggressiveness” (taking food from other cat’s bowls, which, in my experience, isn’t that unusual) and “context-specific excessive appetite” (jumping on the table to get at their human’s plate during meals). In the Journal of Veterinary Behavior, a group of veterinary researchers detailed a bit of one young cat’s behavior tendencies, and some of you might be quietly witnessing these same behaviors. I’ve written about common problems, like introducing a new cat into the household and excessive grooming in felines, but a report that was recently published highlights a very interesting, yet distressing behavior in some cats. The behavioral issues of cats are not something that we who spend much of our time in the "animal world" talk a whole lot about, and for good reason: We don’t understand cats as well as we do dogs.
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