Crazy Cat Lady Addicted to Eating Cat Hair +
The crazy cat lady stereotype is one I’d believed was fading until now. A viral video segment from the new season of Strange Addictions on TLC is designed to shock. Lisa, a 43-year-old artist from Detroit, Michigan is apparently addicted to eating her cat’s hair every two hours, and has for the past 15 years. She grooms her cat with her own tongue in what she views a bonding experience. Cats do communicate and reinforce their bonds by licking members of their own family (feline and human) but cats don’t expect us to lick them. You don’t have to be a cat whisperer to know her cat isn’t thrilled. Cats have raspy, barbed tongues ideal for grooming fur. Human tongues, not so much.
I believe in the freedom to do whatever we want in the privacy in our home as long as we don’t harm our pets or ourselves. Cats often mirror their caretaker’s behavior but in this case, Lisa likely has a condition that both animals and humans can develop, called pica. Pica is compulsive eating disorder of non-food items. Cats with pica will eat anything from kitty litter to plastic bags.
Treatment is available but Lisa doesn’t appear to be interested or crying out for help. Most addicts go to great lengths to hide their addiction, or act out before seeking help. Going on national television may be a ploy for something entirely different.
As someone who grooms four cats daily, I’m hard pressed to come up with a total of one teaspoon of hair let alone the three quarter-sized hairballs every day Lisa claims she gets from her one-short-haired cat. I believe if this crazy cat lady is telling the truth, it’s highly exaggerated. Do you believe this story is true or a hoax?
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtck3jkjzaQ]
On a happier and less weird note: The winner of last week’s giveaway for a an interactive toy box from CatAmazing is Alice. Congratulations! Look for an email from Layla and Cat Wisdom 101.
18 Comments
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Ms. Phoebe
This show features some of the most odd behavior by some humans indeed. The sad thing is this woman and others like her are real and do exist. What is even more disturbing than ANY of their behaviors is how the media and public flock to these salacious shows that mock, poke fun at, and make a mockery of people with mental illness and the disorders they suffer from. This does little to help bring awareness of the issue, it just further creates stereotypes, misconceptions, and fear of the mentally ill. People see them as someone to avoid, be afraid of, victimize- not help or do what we can to ensure they get the compassion and understanding needed so they don’t feel shame or denial and avoid reaching out for help. Feral kitties and the mentally ill have a lot in common: both are dumped out on the streets to fend for themselves, are targets for abuse, used as easy scapegoats for violence in the world whether it be toward birds or the cause of gun violence, and are misunderstood/judged based on old wives tales and non-factual, biased information.
My hope is that this lady gets the care she needs by truly supportive and understanding professionals, friends, family, and most of all- we the public.
boomermuse
Ms. Phoebe, you make a good point about scapegoats, ferals/strays and the mentally ill. The first step to seeking help is to have the awareness that help is needed.
Abby
Ummm no.
🙂
I do kiss the babies all the times but…grooming, no way.
Skeeter and Izzy
Concats Alice! You know pet owners eat a certain amount of hair unintentially but poor cat..like Sparkle says…the germs on the human tongue! EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
Luvs Skeeter and Izzy >^..^<
CATachresis
Yuk! Can’t watch it!! Agree with Sparkle! mol
Marg
Love Sparkle’s comment about the number of germs on the human tongue. I did NOT watch that video. That woman must have a very upset stomach at all times or she is telling a huge story. She does sound like she needs some serious help. Yikes.
meowmeowmans
Um, yeah … that is just gross. I sure hope that woman gets some help, because that can’t be good for her (or her kitty)!
Congratulations to Alice! Those CatAmazings are awesome!
Maxwell, Faraday & Allie
That’s just GROSS. Eww. We’re thoroughly disgusted!
OTOH, CONCATS to Alice!
Bernadette
I’ve resisted watching it, and will continue, something about it makes my stomach turn! I know another woman who licked her cats too. I think I simply will not lick my cats.
Brian
That human needs some serious help, and some duct tape on her mouth!
Julia Williams
Ok, that’s just beyond weird. I think a lot of that show is fabricated and this probably is as well. Perhaps some of the stories start with a grain of truth and they take it from there. I do, however, get a huge amount of fur from grooming(with a brush, not my tongue!) my two long haired kitties every day. Not that I would ever eat it, though. I am a crazy cat lady, but I do have my limits. lol.
da tabbies o trout towne
thiz doez knot happenz ta uz often, but we bee speech lezz on thiz one
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Tamago
That’s too weird!! Actually I’m too scared to watch the video.
Debbie
I love my furkids to distraction and kiss them all the time, but the thought of grooming them with my tongue is too weird for me! Oh well, I guess most everyone needs a little more fiber in their diet… (NOT!)
Katie and Coccolino
Oh, yuck!!
Oink oink,
Katie and Coccolino the mini pig
Sparkle
Ewww! I couldn’t even watch that all the way through. Do you know how many germs are in a human’s mouth?! Poor kitty – that is just nasty. And eating cat hair is just icky – I don’t know about this woman, but it gives ME hairballs.
Kathryn
Whoa. Yeah. Weird.
Back tomorrow to watch it.