Yeah.

Interesting idea! When she doesn’t have string, she just chews a toy to death. But I’m not sure if that’s evidence against or for your idea

My cat eats a few bites of food then finds a string, swallows it down a good bit, then pulls the string back up from her throat and takes a few more bites of food. This continues for her whole meal.

There’s nothing more disgusting than stepping on her food string. It’s cold and wet. So gross.