cat likes to eat clay

Sometimes I will catch one of my 6 cats (it's the same cat each time) trying
to eat my clay. Usually it's when it's leather hard. Especially when I am
trimming he will jump up on the table of the wheel and steal a ribbon of
clay as I trim it off the pot. Will it hurt him if he eats it? I take it
away as soon as I see him get it but in case he gets some I don't see? I
thought he just wanted to play with it but I saw him chewing on it.
Thanks,
Sandi

"sandi" wrote in
:

Sometimes I will catch one of my 6 cats (it's the same cat each time)


There is a little story that I have been told but I am unable to vouch
for the truth of it.

Onr of the big potteries in the 1800 at Stoke on Trent had a little dog
as a mascot and friend to the workers.

The dog had the run of the workshops, glaze and kiln areas and had been
there for about 10 years.

Well one day it went missing and couldn't be found. What had happenned
was that it had crawled through one of the firing holes in one of the
kilns and had gone to sleep behind a stack of saggars.

Later on one of the workers fired the kiln up not knowing that the dog
was inside.

The question is how did they know that the dog had died in the kiln?

Easy. When the fired kiln was unlaoded, behind the stack of saggars, they
found a set of perfectly formed and fired ceramic lungs and stomach.

sandi wrote:
Sometimes I will catch one of my 6 cats (it's the same cat each time) trying
to eat my clay. Usually it's when it's leather hard. Especially when I am
trimming he will jump up on the table of the wheel and steal a ribbon of
clay as I trim it off the pot. Will it hurt him if he eats it? I take it
away as soon as I see him get it but in case he gets some I don't see? I
thought he just wanted to play with it but I saw him chewing on it.
Thanks,
Sandi



This is a condition that some humans also have, i.e. the frequent need
to eat clay. I don't know what the formal name for this
condition is, but I listened to a discussion about it on the radio once.
It's not unhealthy as far as I know but there are better ways to
address it than eating actual clay. Maybe you could call a vet...

Incidentally any human can also eat plain dirt and get some benefit
from it, because most dirt has minerals in it that are good for you.
Next time you're lost in the wilderness and starving to death,
just remember: dirt is good for you. Just don't chew it much, you'll
ruin your teeth.

sandi wrote:

Sometimes I will catch one of my 6 cats (it's the same cat each time) trying
to eat my clay. Usually it's when it's leather hard. Especially when I am
trimming he will jump up on the table of the wheel and steal a ribbon of
clay as I trim it off the pot. Will it hurt him if he eats it? I take it
away as soon as I see him get it but in case he gets some I don't see? I
thought he just wanted to play with it but I saw him chewing on it.
Thanks,
Sandi

I would also talk to a vet about it. I don't think it will hurt your cat to eat
clay, but it might be a sign for something missing in it's diet, some mineral
or so. Animals know what they need and where to find it. (Kids do too, i ate
little pieces of whitewash off the walls in WW II, for lack of calcium)

Monika

--
Monika Schleidt

www.schleidt.org/mskeramik

Hi Sandi,

We had a cat that used to love to drink the clay slip/water on the wheels
and lived to the age of 17 years, and no, we didn't fire her in the kiln :-)
though we had another cat which used to sleep in the gas kiln.

We also has a horse which used to drink the clothes washing water, but
that's too clean a story to tell here!

I agree, it's all to do with mineral and salts in the water.

Dave


"sandi" wrote in message
.. .
Sometimes I will catch one of my 6 cats (it's the same cat each time)
trying
to eat my clay. Usually it's when it's leather hard. Especially when I
am
trimming he will jump up on the table of the wheel and steal a ribbon of
clay as I trim it off the pot. Will it hurt him if he eats it? I take it
away as soon as I see him get it but in case he gets some I don't see? I
thought he just wanted to play with it but I saw him chewing on it.
Thanks,
Sandi

In article ,
sandi wrote:
Sometimes I will catch one of my 6 cats (it's the same cat each time) trying
to eat my clay. Usually it's when it's leather hard. Especially when I am
trimming he will jump up on the table of the wheel and steal a ribbon of
clay as I trim it off the pot. Will it hurt him if he eats it? I take it
away as soon as I see him get it but in case he gets some I don't see? I
thought he just wanted to play with it but I saw him chewing on it.
Thanks,
Sandi


One of my 2 cats will eat all kinds of wierd things. She likes
toothpaste, coffee, tape, photographs, paper & cardboard, and yes,
cat food (but she's fussier about that). She even
ate a capsule of prescription medicine I had set out on the counter
for my son once, too, with pretty strange results. The very next day,
she actually went out of her way to try to do it again. Her favorite
things to play with are strings. Maybe the combination of the ribbon
of clay curling off your pot (and looking like a great toy) combined
with a cat's urge to eat unusual things is too great for your cat to
resist.

My cat has never been harmed by any of these things she gets into,
even the medicine (although that warranted a trip to the vet). I
doubt the clay will hurt more than the pot he chews on. Some people
have success with a spray bottle of water to spray the cat when it's
doing something it shouldn't be doing, like chewing on your drying
pots, and a spritz or two of water wouldn't hurt the cat or your pots.

Deb R.

My ceramics Tutor was a designer up at Stoke on Trent - she is so going to
enjoy that story about the little dog.!!!! In fact the whole class will.
We have actually been up to Stoke and been inside the giant kiln and learnt
all about sagar bottom knockers. We also learnt about the the toxity of clay
dust and components etc. In the 1800's people rarely reached the age of 30
years. Trust me - don't lick your fingers - yuk !
"sandi" wrote in message
.. .
Sometimes I will catch one of my 6 cats (it's the same cat each time)
trying
to eat my clay. Usually it's when it's leather hard. Especially when I
am
trimming he will jump up on the table of the wheel and steal a ribbon of
clay as I trim it off the pot. Will it hurt him if he eats it? I take it
away as soon as I see him get it but in case he gets some I don't see? I
thought he just wanted to play with it but I saw him chewing on it.
Thanks,
Sandi

wrote in message
...
We also learnt about the the toxity of clay
dust and components etc. In the 1800's people rarely reached the age of
30
years. Trust me - don't lick your fingers - yuk !

I think you will find there is nothing in clay which is toxic if ingested
(swallowed) but there is most certainly plenty of effects on the lungs from
inhaling clay dust. However, you wouldn't think so from the number of
potters I have seen dry sweeping their workshops!!

Most potters in the 1800s died of lead poisoning and silicosis of the lungs.

Dave

In article ,
wrote:
My ceramics Tutor was a designer up at Stoke on Trent - she is so
going to
enjoy that story about the little dog.!!!! In fact the whole class will.
We have actually been up to Stoke and been inside the giant kiln and learnt
all about sagar bottom knockers. We also learnt about the the toxity of clay


I have nothing to add, but I want to call dibs on 'Sagar Bottom Knockers'
as a band name.


-Steve

The medical term when people and I suppose cats too eat strange things is
called pica. In people, it usually means they are anemic or lack something in
the diet. Usually it is starch that people eat, if I remember correctly from
my nursing school time. It seems like I remember about people eating dirt---so
clay is tha for sure.
My cats don't eat the clay they just pee anywhere the clay has been. If I
happen to leave the canvas on the slab roller, they will pee on it. Not good.