Cat chewing wires

DD265

I think I might scream.

We have two cats, 17 months old. They're house cats, as we live next to a main road, but had never previously experienced life outside before we got them in October last year. The rescue were happy to rehome them to us. I do everything I can - short of letting them outside - to give them a good quality of life.

One of them in particular though keeps chewing things. If you leave a cardboard box on the floor, he'll sit there for ages taking bites out of it which he spits out. He, or maybe both of them, have been chewing cables. We've got to be really aware of keeping things out of reach/hidden away, but obviously we can't 'protect' everything and there's only so much that those cable covers can do.

I've convinced myself that it's behavioural, as he's the mog that wants to explore the outside world. I can't help but wonder whether it's cruel to keep them cooped up. I should add that they no longer get unlimited dry food as they got fat, and this boy is the one who really likes biscuits.

If I'm honest I'm not really at the end of my tether and I probably won't contact the rescue to rehome them, I am just in the heat of the moment and I wish he'd f***ing stop chewing everything!

Any suggestions?

sheramber

Do they have toys to enrich their environment?

DD265

sheramber wrote: »

Do they have toys to enrich their environment?

They do! We have a 7ft tall 65kg cat tree, two smaller cat trees, plus two additional scratching posts (funnily enough scratching isn't a problem), toys such as balls, mice etc everywhere, a 'puzzle board' where they have to work to get their biscuits, and then a few toys we use to play with them like long fluffy things, a laser pointer and a drone. They're brothers and they also play together.

During the day they have the run of an open plan downstairs with plenty of space to run around (and the aforementioned cat trees), the hallway and the spare bedroom. At night we shut them in downstairs; my OH won't let them in the bedroom and they yowl at the door otherwise.

I worked from home today and they had a few 'mad half hours' this morning, then one of them mostly snoozed this afternoon whilst the chewer distracted himself with the Christmas tree. I don't know when they chewed through the lights; sometime between us going to bed last night and me trying to turn the lights on when it got dark today. The lights were what prompted me to start this thread (bit of a 'this is why we can't have nice things!' moment) - and the Christmas tree is now looking very sad without it's lights.

They aren't scared of much, so rather than trying to frighten them off doing something we try to redirect them, but the tree is just too interesting for the chewer. I'd pick him up, put him down somewhere else, throw a ball or whatever, then within 5 minutes he's back at the tree. The tree isn't the only thing under threat of being chewed, but it has highlighted the issue.

Dark_Star

Is he a tortoiseshell? I have one & it chews through anything e.g. packaging that it thinks is food. It does have dry biscuits all day & wet food at night & is not overweight. All food has to be shut away...& when we eat, the cat has to be shut out of the room so that we can eat in peace otherwise it steals from our plates... worryingly my tree lights no longer work either...will investigate later...

DD265

Dark_Star wrote: »

Is he a tortoiseshell?

No - white moggy with a handful of black hairs on his head! His brother is white and black.

It honestly didn't occur to me that he would've chewed through the lights, I thought it was just a dodgy wire. Turns out it was very dodgy; totally chewed through! Luckily it wasn't plugged in at the time.

I don't remember my parents having these issues with their cats; I lived at home, but maybe it just wasn't my problem so I didn't care.

RosesInTheHospital

Lol... sounds normal in my house! I have tow house Bengals.. last xmas with a brand new set of tree lights they went off 30 mins before guests were arriving. Yep..chewed through whilst pluggef in😯
Brand new set of expensive gaming headphones..😒 chewed through into multiple parts. Another set of headphones... mutilated! 😣
Everything gets tidied away...people wonder why my house is so tidy... It's so i dont have a large vets bill...lol

RosesInTheHospital

Oh..forgot to add... no tree or lights up this year... couldn't take the stress of trying to keep them off it:rotfl:

tealady

This may sound a bit off the wall but bear with me.
Have you looked on any house rabbit forums for advice as I understand rabbits need to be kept from wires they could chew.

[Deleted User]

Another owner of a cat that chews. We live in a rural area and so goes out whenever she wants and she still chews so I don't think it is a house cat only thing.

Wires, cardboard, books, cat scratching posts, cat beds, wollen jumpers etc. Her main goal in life is to chew the wire on the iron whilst we are ironing (i.e. it is plugged in and switched on) and she loves cardboard.

Elle_Woods

Our young tabby cat (8 months old) chews cables too. It's mostly phone chargers and headphones; we leave them in closed drawers as much as possible. We have a cable tidying box to keep all of the TV wires safe. We tried to discourage her from chewing some cables by using a lemon pet behave spray on the cables (they don't like the smell) but it wears off really quickly.

She hasn't had a go at the Christmas tree lights yet and we don't leave them plugged in when we're not there. We also had to put all the tinsel away because she made herself sick by eating it! She likes to groom the ends of my (long) hair, which at first I thought was a sign of affection but now think is part of her obsession with string/wires.

She has had access to the outside since her spaying but it doesn't seem to have made much difference. We love her dearly (and wouldn't be without her!) but it can make daily life difficult. Sorry I can't offer much advice, just sympathy!

Money_maker

This thread reminds me of the National Lampoon Christmas film and the cat that chewed through the Christmas tree lights on there ...