In 2013, Lisa was 43 years old and living in Detroit, Michigan, when her story appeared on My Strange Addiction, the TLC show. Her addiction: eating her cat’s fur.
“I find fur all over the apartment. On the floor or behind the couch, but the best ones are on the cat”.
The way she approached her feline and stole its fur began like a grooming scene: she licked her with her tongue, as a mother would her kitten.
Lisa said she had started eating her pets’ fur 15 years earlier because it made her feel closer to them; after that, she couldn’t stop.
The areas she licked on her pet were the shoulders, ears, back of the head, and face, while completely avoiding the paws and hindquarters. She also summed up their bond this way: “It’s a way for us to bond, and it seems like we both enjoy it”.
But the fur didn’t stay in her mouth for her to spit out. Lisa said she swallowed it and needed to consume it about every two hours, up to around three tufts or balls a day.
Just chewing it relaxes me; it’s a comforting sensation. Her fur has a very particular texture; it’s so soft and fluffy, almost like cotton candy
But repeatedly swallowing fur can form compact masses in the digestive tract and eventually block it. Experts also warn that animal saliva can transmit germs when it comes into contact with mucous membranes.