Cat advice: How do I keep my cat from chewing wires?

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

Stewart has developed this troubling habit recently and I don't know quite how to stop him.

Any advice?

[evlbstrd]

1. He'll stop

when he chews on the wrong one.

[Phillycat]

2. God, I hope someone answers this question.

I'm on my third power cord for my ipod speaker dock. :eyes:

[Maddy McCall]

3. How old is Stewart?

While kittens might do that sometimes, adult cats rarely do.

You might need to talk to your vet.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

4. He's a year old

[Maddy McCall]

10. Have you checked his teeth...

to make sure that all of his baby teeth have fallen out?

Lucinda, my schnauzer, chewed when she was 8 months old, for the first time, because she had a baby tooth that had been pushed aside by a permanent tooth--it had never fallen out.

I removed the baby tooth myself--it was loose enough to wiggle out (not for the faint-hearted) and her chewing stopped immediately after that.

If it's not the teeth, then maybe get Stewart some toys to play with.

(Has he been neutered?)

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

21. Yeah - he's been neutered. He just loves chewing.

I'll talk to my vet. Thanks!

[havocmom]

30. Get him a kid's jump rope and play with him with it to make it a fun toy

If the vet sees no problem with his teeth and the cat won't let up, consider some of that flexible water hose stuff they use in plumbing now to run cords through to cat-proof them.

Lots of interesting cat toys. Might even consider a pet tooth brush and some of that chicken flavored tooth paste for pets. Maybe he is trying to floss? ;)

[barb162]

5. Unplug the wires unless in use.

Really, I have a neighbor whose cat does this. She had to unplug the wires because the cat was just doing it all over the house

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

7. I have so many wires that that is unpractilcal

[barb162]

13. Maybe take a bunch of usused wires in a pile and put some catnip

on them and let that be his play pile of wires he can chew to his heart's content.

[Strawman]

6. there is spray at the pet store to keep cats away from stuff

I've never used it though.

But our little one took out a section fo the Xmas tree lights that way. Hoping he just grows out of it.

[barb162]

11. I have used that and it may work with some cats but it didn't work with mine

[Strawman]

17. i spent $45 on some plug-in that was supposed to stop peeing in a room

Didn't work. He stopped peeing when he decided to stop.

[barb162]

20. I tried numerous products too. What finally happened is he got old

and mellowed out and stopped being territorial

[mikeytherat]

8. Bitter Apple spray

I've used this with cats and ferrets. Also, you might want to try No Scratch spray (we use this for soft furniture, but I'm sure you could wipe the cords with it).

http://www.bitterapple.com/

mikey_the_rat

[caty]

14. Ditto on the bitter spray.

I bought a bottle at a pet store that has worked great. I would suggest that you wear rubber gloves when you use it though. I gets on your fingers a little when you spray it and even washing your hands does not get it all off.

[grace0418]

9. We had that problem and ended up having to wrap the cords in black electrical tape.

It turns out that they hated the taste of black electrical tape and stopped chewing the cords altogether. Our coffee-maker was never the same though.

[Maddy McCall]

12. I suppose you could tack cords to the baseboards, too.

So that they aren't loose enough to be chewed on.

[Haole Girl]

15. My cats never did that, luckily...

...(not that there weren't other problems).

Here is a link w/some ideas: http://www.qeok.com/cats/358-3-cats.html

Good luck. :hi:

[Critters2]

16. I've never had this trouble with cats, but Bitter Apple did the job

with the beagle. She hated the stuff and wouldn't chew anything I sprayed with it!! I don't have any now, but I remember the bottle said it worked for cats, too. Here are some other suggestions:

http://cats.about.com/cs/behavior2/a/chewing.htm


Good luck!

[Maddy McCall]

18. Some suggestions from a website.

http://www.wikihow.com/Keep-Cats-from-Chewing-on-Electric-Cords-and-Chargers

[Kerrytravelers]

19. Sniffles did that.

He loved the tv wired. I took a few smaller empty boxes, poked holes in them and ran the wires through the holes. I basically ran the wired through boxes from the tv to the outlet. There was no exposed wire. It was the "out of sight, out of mind" approach and it worked for Sniffles. A month later, I cleared the boxes and he no longer had any interest. It ain't pretty, but it worked.

I've used the bitter spray on certain areas of the carpet that Pitter-pat liked to pee on. He stopped peeing.

I'd also recommend speaking to your vet. The problem may be a tooth problem, as mentioned in an above earlier post.

Best of luck.


kt

[xmas74]

22. We had a cat that only chewed black cords.

We bought some electrical tape in different colors and that stopped it.

No, I'm not kidding. Strangest thing I ever saw.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

23. Come to think of it he's never chewed anything but black chords

hmmm

[xmas74]

25. Cheap fix for the problem, if that's the case.

People thought I was nuts when I did it but I saved computer cords, tv, Christmas lights, etc.

[Haole Girl]

24. My Vet and I go back and forth about whether or not...

..cats are color blind. She says they are, I say no. I swear my cats love only bright neon cat toys! If anybody gives them a brown or gray cat toy, they won't play it it! They are so weird....I guess that's why I love them so much!

[xmas74]

26. Someone above made a comment about

electrical tape in general and her cats hating the taste.

Now I wonder if it's the color or the taste?

[Haole Girl]

27. Who knows?

I think there are a lot of things, about cats, they still don't understand.

[xmas74]

29. It's a cat.

We'll never understand them. Probably why I like them so much.

[liontamer]

28. you can be color blind and still prefer a bright toy

that's a matter of luminance not hue

[Solon]

34. Cats have more Rod cells in the eyes than humans, but not as many Cone cells...

Same for dogs, actually. The Tapetum lucidum in addition to the large amount of Rod cells allow cats and dogs to see exceptionally well at night. However, they sacrifice visual acuity and color recognition because of this. They are NOT totally color blind, just can't differentiate certain colors all that well. Also, the lack of visual acuity means that cats and dogs have "fuzzy" vision, and can't do things like see small letters in a book. To see what a cat or dog sees is somewhat difficult for humans, but a good example is to darken a room, light a candle 10 feet away from you, and try to read a book, or distinguish between subtle colors. Most people can't do either, or at least without extreme difficulty.

[Patiod]

31. Ours did it as a kitten, and *I* almost killed her once

Spent an hour on the phone at work trying to sort out a problem with my long distance service.

Then spent 45 minutes at home, also working on my long distance bill

FINALLY I got through to someone who had a clue, but I didn't get his name. "Okay, I think I found your problem..."

*silence*

*silence*

Why wasn't this guy talking to me?

I looked over to the phone, and there's the cat, with the cord between her paws and threaded through her teeth, looking at me like "what?"

[Beausoleil]

32. We have two cats that

we have to hide the miniblind cords from. They will destroy them. Had the problem with speaker wires, too, but that seems to have subsided somewhat. We'll have to try the bitter apple spray.

[HEyHEY]

33. Step on him

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

35. Get a plastic cat.

Or a cat made of another non-conductive material. :D

[ElsewheresDaughter]

36. wipe them down with cheyene pepper ...diluted with a little water

it works

[SOteric]

37. StirFry used to do that. In fact, it's how he got his name.

I coated the electrical cords and wires in my home with a generous layer of some potent cologne. He took one sniff and moved along. Probably burnt out his nose hairs, poor fella.

[DainBramaged]

38. The alert system image in your post made me spit out my drink, too funny

[kedrys]

39. My cats did that when they were teething

I have no advice, other than to bundle all the cables you can inside one of those slit tube things you can buy at Ikea or Office Depot.

One of them crushed an RCA jack - I can't even do that with pliers.

I think the EM field around the cables attracts them, for some reason. All were lucky enough not to get shocked (as far as I know), but I went through about 6 power supply cables (half PC, half Mac). :D

[Catshrink]

40. My dog chewed through my speaker wires..

I have some nice speakers for my computer and woof woof, in one little chomp they're forever changed. I tried to splice them back together but I guess I need to try it again because it's half assed and they don't work half the time. I have to wiggle the wires. The good news is that Brattie is a big boy now and doesn't do that anymore.

[BlackVelvetElvis]

41. One of my adult cats did that. Here's what I did.

I bought some clove oil and wiped the cords down with it. The smell offends her so bad that she avoids them now. Matter of fact, to see if she hated the scent, I had her smell the lid and she hissed at it. Anything with eucalyptus has that effect on her as well.
BTW, I also tried the bitter apple spray and it didn't work.