Chewing can be a normal cat behavior during exploration and play.  However, some cats chew excessively, damaging property and putting their health at risk.  If cats ingest the material they are chewing, it can cause an intestinal blockage which is life-threatening and requires emergency surgery.  Chewing on electrical cords can lead to electrocution.  Thus, it is important to monitor chewing behavior and limit chewing to safe items.

To reduce chewing behavior:

• Restrict access to inappropriate items your cat chews.  Some of these include, strings, dental floss, meat wrapping string or plastic, Christmas tree tinsel and soft plastic such as children's toys.
• Provide daily supervised interactive play time
• Provide appropriate items to chew (e.g. cat grass, safe cat toys)

Please contact our veterinarians at Animal Medical Hospital in Saint Petersburg, Florida (FL) at 727-896-7127 for more information.