Thread: Chewing

When my dogs were puppies and they started chewing things they weren't supposed to I used to clap my hands and shout no - it scared them and they didn't do it again - not sure this would work with a cat though.

Ive lost (been bitten through):-
4 blind cords
3 electronic drum cables
2 audio leads

I found some "bitter apple spray" on amazon and tbh... Im not convinced its working.
I sprayed it all over the drum cables four times and left it to dry. Cats still seem very interested in them, although I havent yet got them plugged into the kit and seen if they will get bitten again.

Bitter apple spray: Bitter Apple Spray - Bitter pet healthcare

Im thinking that for the really important cables I will get a length of braided pvc hose, cut it down the middle and then lay the cable in it.

Braided hose: 8mm Clear Braided PVC Tubing Pipe Air Fuel Hose 5 Metre on eBay (end time 21-Mar-10 15:35:46 GMT)

I don't know... we used to have a dog that would eat the cables on the trailer... but the cats we've had have all been good...
Now I'm worried as I have lots of cables around....

Kittens definitely teeth just like puppies, and this continues up to about 6mos. from my experience. I have read many cautions about electrical cables and kittens, and suggestions to get "cable organizers" to protect them (e.g., Hosa Cables, Corrugated Tubing, Hosa Cable, HOSA WHD-410, Split Loom Corrugated Tubing), which is what we did for almost all exposed electrical cables.

hmmm maybe a teething toy like for small dogs or puppies....

I *think* mine only does it when we are around; for attention, usually the laptop wires whilst I am sat here, or my dock wire- whilst I am settling in bed.
I started shouting/clapping but also find diversion tactics to be more effective- toys are everywhere and there is always one to hand

Hiya, what a nightmare! Our two MC's Jasper & Bailey are now 6 months old and have always chewed cables and still do. From our experience (& I don't want to offend anyone) but cat's dont seem to learn like Dogs, I'm not saying you cant train them but it's not the same, we had a retriever and you could teach him anything with-in four or five attempts with a treat in your hand but cats arent greedy enough for this to motivate them. That is one of the 'main' reasons Im a cat man!! All our cables are in trunking fitted very neatly round the edge of the room as we have a home theatre kit, they still try and chew them from between the trunking and the TV but we just have to distract them, clapping works, or tapping their nose and moving them away but the best thing for us is a wrapper e.g. quality street screwed up and thrown on the floor. We are lucky as the only room with accessable cables is the lounge which they're only allowed in when we're in anyway. You're right to be cautious because before I did the trunking they chewed through the first layer of insulation on the 240v piece of cable before the transformer on the laptop.

Good theory about the teething, least that means it might stop, I thought it might just be because we all dangle things on the end of bits of string etc and so how and why would they know the difference between a cable and the toy you wind them up with. Fingers Crossed.......for us all.