BG Vet: Cat Chews Wires

[Byrthnoth]

Just treat animals like children, if they do something wrong, smack the shit out of them. My friend tosses his cat across the room when it does something bad, and you know what? It never does it again, and the cat still acts friendly afterwards.

This isn't a good idea. I cat-apulted my sister's cat (woke up with it standing on my chest biting my nose) against the far wall four years ago and it hides when I'm around to this day. It also pees on my stuff (bed, gym bag, anything that smells like me). My parents keep my room closed off now, not really because they're sentimental about how their son has moved away, but because they don't like the room smelling like cat piss.

Cats are lovely creatures and I think everyone should have one. They bring happiness and butterflies to everyone. >(^,^)<

[Weiing]

With the sour apple sprays and stuff, how long before you have to keep reapplying it? My cat loves to chew cords... when we bought the spray, we'd spray it a couple times a week. After awhile, my cat still chewed the cords because I guess he got used to it? After going throw hundreds of dollars in headphones (we've gone through 6-8), and even being super-cautious and alert, we've just come to terms with it and try to buy as much wireless things as we can. :\

[Cat]

You could try finding some kind of wire like toy for him to chew through instead perhaps? Or even just buy a whole bunch of cheap cable, and leave it in the middle of the floor for him to play with. Better that that him chewing through expensive stuff

[Icari]

You could try finding some kind of wire like toy for him to chew through instead perhaps? Or even just buy a whole bunch of cheap cable, and leave it in the middle of the floor for him to play with. Better that that him chewing through expensive stuff

That is just asking for him/her to go for other cables around the house, they dont know how to tell which are safe and which are not.

[desertigloo]

poor bear just wanted his trash bag

apple stuff works great, fourthing that as well.

[Max™]

Cats really are useless and unloyal pets, dogs are way better. No cat will protect your house like a dog or let you know when something is going down like someone at the door etc. Useless animal. As for OP, maybe put something non toxic on the wires so when he goes near to smell or chew on them he will be dissuaded.

Clearly you've never had moles eating your garden.


Get a rubber band gun.

http://www.comparestoreprices.co.uk/...r-band-gun.jpg

You don't wanna squirt water at places with wiring I'm sure, but thwapping him on the ear with a rubber band while he's doing it?

Yeah, that'll turn him off of that fast.

When you catch a cat doing something bad, BE SILENT, momma cats do not make noise when they discipline kittens.

Either lob something like a rolled up sock at their ass, or if you're close, flick your finger at their rump, or close to their ear.

Whether you contact the ear or not, the thump of air displacement will INSTANTLY bring back memories of momma barely missing with a bitchslap.

The cat will drop flat, and scurry, and the next time you see them near that spot, which does require watching now and then, make a loud buzzer like "ENKK!!!" sound, or "PSTT!!" the instant you see his brain go into "oooh, chewy wires" mode.

Break the train of thought enough times, he will forget it existed for the most part.

A cat wakes up every day to a completely new world, the world is "as it's supposed to be", but they don't exhibit much sense of permanence. There is a brief "huh, that's not right" moment, but the next day it goes away generally. Training a cat takes vigilance.

When Reggie wants to go outside, he goes to the door and yowls, he does it loudly, so I started training him a few weeks ago.

I look at him while standing by the door, tickle his back, and tell him to "say it pretty", then trill at him. Then I let him meow til he trills, hug him, and let him out.

Now he meows quieter to get your attention, and when I walk to the door and ask if he wants out, he trills quietly at me.

[Amelya]

A small word of warning, if you decide to use the bitter spray just be careful not to get too much of it on your hands when you're using it.

The stuff we have is damn near impossible to wash off, which is very unfortunate if you're preparing say, tacos for dinner, and don't realize it's still on your hands...found that out the hard way. v.v

This is the stuff we have, and I can promise you it does indeed taste like ass!
http://www.petco.com/product/102752/...ehaviorControl

[Max™]

Hell, an example of the lack of permanence.

I hung a 3' x 4' section of sheet with a board woven through the bottom at the top of the stairs to keep alfie from roaming around pissing in the kitchen, he goes in there and fills his bladder with fresh cold water, then heads behind the table to pee on the nice cold tile, where we obligingly clean it up asap.

Unfortunately I've still never caught him in the act, though I do actively discourage him from being near the table to the point where he scoots when I am in the kitchen.

Nonetheless, the best solution was to keep him upstairs at night, and the sheet with a hook we can easily reattach solved that nicely.

Reggie knocks it down the first day from the weak side (it's strong against pushing from the upstairs side, so Alfie can't get past), which I had been anticipating due to him demolishing an early attempt to barricade Alfie up at night.

I put a hidden slit behind a flap so it isn't obvious from upstairs side, and showed Reggie how to use it. We had to do some work on the upstairs drain, and the barricade wasn't treated as nicely as usual, blocking the slit. So Reggie investigated, then barged through the other side eventually. He let Alfie out in the process, and the next day was baffled by that side being fixed, and bitched til I came and showed him the original entrance, which he now uses like the other side was never opened.

The funny part is, when you unhook it to step through, and try to let him go through, he looks at you like "wtf... uh... I uh... I gotta go through the other side" and pushes through HIS little entrance like normal.


tl;dr
A cats brain just locks up at changes in "permanent" features of the environment.

If you wrap the wires in a bit of paper, it won't have the right texture. Get a cheap cat chew plant, whatnot. Punishing him for wanting to clean his teeth on the only thing he can find resembling a vine/grass won't work.
Punishing him for using the wrong things, while giving free access to the correct things, that will.