Compulsive Behaviour
Repetitive behaviours that become hard to interrupt and start to interfere with normal life, such as tail-chasing, spinning, flank-sucking, light or shadow chasing, persistent licking, or over-grooming. A medical and pain check comes first, since many cases have an underlying cause. Managed with enrichment, reducing stress and frustration, and sometimes medication.
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Expert guides
Pica and wool-sucking: why pets eat what they should not
A cat suckles the corner of a jumper. A dog keeps swallowing socks. A kitten gets through a length of wool. These look like quirks or passing phases, and sometimes they nearly are. But pica, the eating of things that...
Feline overgrooming: psychogenic alopecia, or something itchier?
Most owners never actually catch their cat in the act. That is the strange thing about overgrooming. One day the fur on her belly looks thin, or there is a neat bald stripe down the inside of a back leg, the skin...
Compulsive behaviour: tail-chasing, flank-sucking, light-chasing and more
Almost every dog chases its tail now and then, and almost every cat spends a good chunk of the day grooming. So the question owners actually bring to us isn't "is my pet doing this?" but "is the way my pet is doing this...
Boredom, under-stimulation and the role of enrichment
A dog that shreds the post the moment your back is turned, or a cat that has taken up a 3am sprint up the curtains, tends to get called "naughty." It is almost always the wrong word. A great deal of the repetitive,...
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