Cat chewing wires

Faith177

Our megan does the same but she has expensive tastes she prefers apple leads but will take a cheap substitute if she really must

she also loves boxes and chews them she is an outdoors cat and still does it think shes just a weirdo. Though she was a rescue too was born at my vets and was the last one left (think I know why now lol) so maybe it's a security thing

Fen1

Has he been seen by the vet recently? Are his teeth and mouth ok? Are his bloods ok: there is a condition called Pica which can be triggered by vitamin and mineral imbalances. These need to be checked first, just to make sure that there is no medical condition causing the chewing.

To stop the cat chewing dangerous items, such as cables, wrap them in sellotape, sticky side out. Cats hate it!

I would strongly suggest that you play significantly more with the cats. Chewing can be a sign of boredom and frustration. He needs a lot more structured play to vent his energies. Leaving him to it is patently not enough. If he has enough energy to be chewing everything, then he has way too much energy stored up.

tesuhoha

RosesInTheHospital wrote: »

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

My bengal is the same. She loves elastic bands in particular and climbs into the cupboard and searches for them. She likes cardboard boxes.

As for the Christmas tree she doesn't chew the lights but pulls them out of the tree. Her favourite game is knocking the baubles onto the floor. I spoke to her very sternly and she has stopped that. She will soon think of something else though. Yesterday she climbed the Christmas tree! She also likes knocking all the Christmas cards over, hiding under the tree and chewing the wrapped presents.

My other cat loves chewing anything plastic.

DD265

The boys went to the vet last month for jabs and had a checkup whilst they were there; no issues. The chewer is like his Mum though (me) and has a thing for carbs so if there are biscuits available he doesn't chew as much. He's still a bit fat though so it's a balancing act and when he susses out the current puzzle board completely I'll have to find a new one.

The tree is still standing (all lights have been removed) and I keep finding baubles in random places. As a result of him chewing the lights, we did a check of the other wires.

Took a trip to IKEA yesterday and have cabinets to enclose our PCs, then the exercise over Christmas is going to be doing a proper review of cables to cut down what we can (e.g. two extension leads if we can use one bigger one), and cover up the rest. Telling myself it was overdue for a tidy up anyway

Fen1

If his thing is crunchy food have you tried raw chicken wings? The wings MUST be raw as cooked bones splinter and are dangerous.
There is a lot of information about raw feeding on here and the Web.

Puzzle boards and puzzle balls with biscuits inside sound a good idea. Make him work for the treats!

HarryAzhar

When a cat isn’t able to move around and exercise, explore, or interact as much with the world, boredom and the resulting stress may cause the cat to seek other outlets. At this age, there may be metabolic issues such as hyperthyroidism that increase activity level, or anemia that increases the urge to gnaw. A blood screening panel may reveal a treatable issue that resolves the behavior, too.

Of course, chewing electric cords could be deadly. Covering the cords, painting with hot sauce, or with a commercial Bitter Apple substance can help. Smearing forbidden targets with Vicks (menthol) can also keep some cats at bay since the smell can be quite off-putting. The Ssscat motion detector that “hisses” if the kitty comes close, also can be a humane deterrent.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

What about getting the squiggly plastic cable tidies? Or gaffer tape to keep as much of the wires safe as possible?


I had one who would sulk and search for plastic to chew on if he felt he was being refused food. The only way around it was to make sure there wasn't any laying around - and to never, ever have lametta threads dangled over the Christmas Tree ever again.