Freya
Sometimes you look at behavior, and you try to fit it into a known pattern.
Sometimes you have to look objectively, and realize there's more.
My cat, Freya, enjoys string--she loves playing with it, gnawing on it, carrying it around. A piece of shoelace a foot long is one of her favorite toys, in fact. She'll gnaw the end to fraying, and then paw it, and even carry it to her food bowl, to be left among the pile of 'things that are hers'.
However, depending on the type of string, she'll use the string differently.
Strings that fray into really small, cottony threads are definitely 'play' strings: They're meant to be dragged around the house to a convenient human who is to pick them up and wave them about the floor to be chased and pounced upon. Barring a convenient human, if there are table legs they can be wrapped around, she'll take one end in her mouth, carry it around the table leg, and as she drags along and then end pulls away from her...
*wigglewigglewigglebutt* ... *POUNCE!*
Voila! Instant personal entertainment, and no human necessary!
Strings with thicker, tougher nylon threads are 'chew' threads. They're to be held down with both paws and then bitten, and bitten hard enough that you can hear the thread creak while she's biting down and pulling on it. But then...
Freya is typically fed twice a day, once in the morning and once at night. She gets a mix of wet and dry cat foods, and always gobbles down the wet cat food the minute the bowl is down. After a while, though, you don't think to watch your cat as they eat; you just know they're eating. But I stopped and watched her as she eats, and then finishes eating. True to form, her strings are right by her food bowl, right where she's put them. The chew string never leaves the area, however--and here's why.
My cat flosses her teeth after eating.
Yes, that's right. She finishes whatever she's going to eat from her bowl at that time--and then dutifully, she takes her chew string, holds it down, and starts gnawing away. She does both sides of her mouth, shafting her head to do the front and back teeth on either side... then scampers away quickly. (I'm convinced it's because she doesn't want anyone to know her hygiene fetish.)
Sometimes you have to look objectively, and realize there's more.
My cat, Freya, enjoys string--she loves playing with it, gnawing on it, carrying it around. A piece of shoelace a foot long is one of her favorite toys, in fact. She'll gnaw the end to fraying, and then paw it, and even carry it to her food bowl, to be left among the pile of 'things that are hers'.
However, depending on the type of string, she'll use the string differently.
Strings that fray into really small, cottony threads are definitely 'play' strings: They're meant to be dragged around the house to a convenient human who is to pick them up and wave them about the floor to be chased and pounced upon. Barring a convenient human, if there are table legs they can be wrapped around, she'll take one end in her mouth, carry it around the table leg, and as she drags along and then end pulls away from her...
*wigglewigglewigglebutt* ... *POUNCE!*
Voila! Instant personal entertainment, and no human necessary!
Strings with thicker, tougher nylon threads are 'chew' threads. They're to be held down with both paws and then bitten, and bitten hard enough that you can hear the thread creak while she's biting down and pulling on it. But then...
Freya is typically fed twice a day, once in the morning and once at night. She gets a mix of wet and dry cat foods, and always gobbles down the wet cat food the minute the bowl is down. After a while, though, you don't think to watch your cat as they eat; you just know they're eating. But I stopped and watched her as she eats, and then finishes eating. True to form, her strings are right by her food bowl, right where she's put them. The chew string never leaves the area, however--and here's why.
My cat flosses her teeth after eating.
Yes, that's right. She finishes whatever she's going to eat from her bowl at that time--and then dutifully, she takes her chew string, holds it down, and starts gnawing away. She does both sides of her mouth, shafting her head to do the front and back teeth on either side... then scampers away quickly. (I'm convinced it's because she doesn't want anyone to know her hygiene fetish.)