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I have an 8 month old kitten and she has recently started destroying (chewing through) treat bags, food bags (both cat and dog food), and anything else that looks like it has treats in it.

I have already ruled out a lot of possibilities. She gets lots and lots of love, she is never ignored, and she gets lots of food daily. I have 4 cats and my kitten is the only one who has been doing this... There was a time that I was training her, so she would get some treats while learning, but never too many. I always split the treats into half or thirds, so she wasn't getting many treats in one training session.

My kitten is getting a lot of food already, so she doesn't need any of the food that she is trying to get to. What should I do to stop her from chewing through bags of food and treats?

Allison C
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Courtney
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3 Answers3

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Some cats are convinced they're "starving" regardless of how much food they get. Some have a particularly strong "treat drive," and will do anything to get a treat. Some just like to chew on things, particularly certain plastics. Any of those factors can lead to a cat chewing through anything that looks like a food or treat bag, and it's certainly not limited to just "food" and "treats;" a bag of potato chips, cat litter, or even just a plastic shopping bag may be a target as well.

I have found only one solution to this, though decades of cats who exhibit this behavior: Put the bags they're chewing on out of their reach. This may mean transferring food to plastic pet food bins, keeping treats in a drawer or on a shelf they can't reach, or using different containers they can't get into. Personally, I don't feed kibble, I keep (open) treats on a high closet shelf in sealing containers, and keep litter in a plastic bin, and even then sometimes I'll come home to find a closed treat bag has been knocked down and ripped open, or a hole's been chewed in the litter bag. Pet ownership is a compromise, and you'll need to learn to restrict what damage they can do, and live with them occasionally outsmarting you anyway.

Be aware that, if your cat is of the first variety I mentioned (convinced they're "starving" all the time), she'll be at a high risk of obesity if you're free-feeding kibble. At eight months, she's still growing, but you'll want to consider starting to move to feeding times for all the cats in order to prevent her from becoming overweight.

Allison C
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When a cat chews through a bag and gets a treat, operant conditioning reinforces that behavior. From then on, they have positive associations with chewing through bags, and that can exist independent of hunger (it's not like they want treats only when they're hungry in the first place). You may be able to curb the behavior with operant conditioning that goes the other way, such as finding something she doesn't like (e.g. cinnamon) and putting it in bags.

There may also just be an urge to chew. See whether you can find a chew toy she likes. Just as the response to scratching is to get a cat tree, the solution to chewing bags may be to get something that it's okay for her to chew. If she's only on wet food, giving her some dry food may help.

Acccumulation
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Some great advice in all the answers.

My puppy liked chewing electrical wires! I couldn't put them in drawers. Instead I got some bitter apple spray. It tastes horrible - I tried it! Once it dries (after a few seconds) there is no smell but the taste lasts indefinitely.

Search for bitter apple spray online - there are plenty of suppliers. Spray the outside of the bags very lightly with it (or some dummy bags). She will soon learn and this learning should transfer easily to unsprayed bags.

chasly - supports Monica
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