Does anyone know why cats like to lick and bite pictures?
by Michael
I'll answer this on the run without reference to anything. The reason why a cat would lick and bite pictures must be linked at a basic level to the fact that the picture (or any other object) tastes nice or feels nice. That is a logical answer although this behavior may be more than just about taste. I think that this phenomenon happens in relation to a wide range of objects. I provided an answer to an earlier and similar question: Why does my cat eat plastic? But what makes it taste nice? Firstly it might not be as straightforward as just tasting nice. Some manufactured objects are made using rendered animal fats or at least a component of the various ingredients that make up the raw product is rendered animal fats. There may be something in the picture frame that contains animal fats that the cat can smell and taste (see cat's nose). It may be that the glass cover is not actually glass but a synthetic product made in part from rendered animal fats. There is also the possibility that a cat licking a picture might be tasting his or her human caretaker's scent that was deposited on the object. This allows the cat to taste the person - a comfort zone thing. Those are the initial possibilities. There might be secondary reasons. The first that comes to mind is early weaning. Cats that are weaned too early may indulge in wool sucking or sucking our ear lobes etc. A cat attracted to licking a person's possessions might, in part, be as a result being weaned too early. On the face of it these are the most obvious reasons. Cats though will tend to play with any number of objects and the way cats play is to use the mouth. If a cat is young, licking and biting a picture might be due to the simply desire to play and explore.
Does anyone know why cats like to lick and bite pictures? to Why Do Cats?
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