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He doesn't chew on a lot of things. There are a few things he regularly chews on:Honestly it looks like normal chewing behavior.. does he try to eat everything he chews on or just chews a lot on things? If he has been doing this for a long time and has only swallowed 2 things I wouldn't think it is pica but I don't know. My girl has chewed on this rope that hangs from her cat tree to the point of it being completely frayed now. And it is that real rough braided type rope.
Attached is a new one and one she has completely chewed and chomped on. She did that much "damage" in about a month she doesn't chew on it often but when she does she goes at it.
- Cat wands, he likes the stick parts regardless of whether they are made of plastic or wood
- He likes to chew the elastic part of his wand toys too, if they're there
- Stuffed toys that I purposefully give him so that he will chew and bunny kick
- Cardboard boxes, though less regularly
Other than that, he's chewed on a couple of things:
- Plastic chairs
- A window handle that was right where his cat tree was, so he'd see it all the time when he was just hanging out up there
He's only ever eaten a toy feather... I wasn't looking, so I don't know how it happened. When we play with the wand toy that has feathers, he never seems to purposefully try to eat them, though he licks them on occasion. He's more interested in catching them and then chewing on the plastic/wood handle. I've always assumed he somehow ate it on accident... but, frankly, I don't give him much chance to eat random things. I don't know whether he would if he had free access to his toys all the time. Suffice to say, one trip to the vet to get him to throw a feather up and not knowing whether it would work or not and the consequences it could have if it didn't was enough to keep me thinking about it for months.
But, for instance, I've never seen him interested on plastic, or fabric, or cords. He's shown interest in shoe laces, but only on few occasions and only as we were tying them... other than that, I sometimes leave my shoes around and have never seen him anywhere near them. They don't look like they've been chewed on, either. My previous cat chewed on the laces of a pair of boots I have, so I got used to putting them away every time, but have relaxed with Topaz. It's actually interesting to think about how he does differentiate between strings/sticks that are offered to him (toys) as opposed to other ones that are in his environment (charging cables, shoelaces).
Also, on the topic of teeth health, my friend has a cat that's related to Topaz by blood, on his mom's side, and she had gengivitis when my friend got her. I was the one that noticed something was off because of her bad breath, so when my friend took her to the vet for the first time, I went with her and mentioned it (she's a first time cat mom... I don't have much experience myself, but wanted to be there with her to make sure certain things were looked at). It was only then that she had a look and realized her gums were very inflamed... I'm certain Topaz doesn't have that - he's been checked since, even though the males in his line don't have it (it was his grandmother and his two aunts. His dad is their brother and has never had issues), but I can tell his gums are okay by just looking at them, too. I don't know what other teeth problems he could have, though, I think I'd only be able to recognize gengivitis (if it had the same symptoms, of course). His aunt had almost all of her teeth removed, and she's bound to remove the rest soon (probably early next year), but she's doing very well.