chewing up stuff

I have a male cat, Butters, that is about 7 months old that has been neutered. Lately he has been chewing up a lot of stuff. It started with the blinds in my kitchen and computer room. Just last week he chewed apart the cable on the joystick to my playstation. This week he chewed apart the cord to my cell phone recharger while it was plugged in. He seems to do these things when no one is home and I am scared that one day he will be killed by electric shock. What does this all mean and how can I get him to stop?

I always find that a sharp "NO" stops my cats chewing stuff - but that's only helpful if you are actually there to see them misbehaving. I've got an old shoe lace that my two like to play with and chew - maybe you could try to give him something to take his mind of your wires.

Sorry I can't be of more help

One thing you can do to discourage him from chewing cords is get either bitter apple or tobasco sauce and put a light coat of it on all the cords within his reach. It won't take long before he figures out that they taste horrible and he won't want to chew on them.

Also, get him some straws to chew on as an alternative. If this is a new behavior he could be teething and just wants to chew on something. Straws, especially McDonalds straws for some reason, are a great thing for kitty to chew on, and you can throw it away before he gets it into small pieces he could swallow.

You can also use Vicks Vaporub, just a little bit of it on the items will keep Butters away. Also buy some new toys and perhaps a cat post if you don't have one. Place cardboard boxes, empty all over the room before you leave, have holes cut in them so kitty can go in and out, and put the new toys inside, flip the boxes upside down, and even cover them with a dark blanket leaving him a sort of cave playground he can entertain himself with. Weight them down, leave room under the blanket that he can slip in and out easily and sprinkle some catnip underneath to coax him to play.

When you are home, do interactive play with him at least 10-15 minutes per day and make him feel very special and loved. (not that you aren't doing that now)

Good Luck!

Hi ermorris,

I've always found double sided tape to work well with the blinds. Kitties hate the sticky feeling in there paws. You can purchase those at the pet store. As for cables my husband read somewhere you can put soap on the cables. Rub the cables and cords with a bar of soap, just a little bit will do. Cat's hate the taste of soap and they'll avoid it at all costs. Also if you see the kitty doing something you don't approve ,I've always found, spraying the kitty with some water and saying "no!", from a water bottle works well. This 3 solutions have worked well for us thus far.

Good luck!
Rosie

Hmmm, first I have a question, is it possible that your cat is teething, or has a dental problem? Sometimes if their teeth or gums are irriated, they will feel a constant need to chew on things.

I also suggest giving him safe alternatives to chew on, and try to eliminate the bad ones. Like the cellphone charger, charge it in a room that the cat does not have access too, or just get a car charger. The joystick, you should put those things up and away so that the cat can not get to them, this is just general kitty proofing business.
And yeah you can also try things like tabasco, or bitter apple etc. However the bitter apple (and perhpas some others) evaporate after about 24 hours. So you would have to spray more on every day, at least until the cat got the hint not to chew on it.

And oh yeah, when your cat chews, JUST SAY NO!
I was trying to do the little drug slogan there... dunno if any of you caught on.

Okay, we have a similar problem with our 11mth old kitten, Aiden. this has been going on since he was about 4 mths, so it is definitely not teething. I have read the suggestions in this thread. I have tried soap, vicks, and bitter apple. Aiden is the cat who will eat anything and none of the above bothers him one bit!!! He still chews on anything, but it is the wires I am most concerned about. He has already cost us a couple hundred dollars in replacement items for the ones he wrecked the cords to, plus i am deathly afraid he is going to get electrocuted. I have tried to hide and/or tack down as many wires as possible, but even if there is a two inch space of wire he can get too, he will chew it. For example, where the wire comes out of the plug.... that can't really be covered or tacked down in any way and we have to constantly keep him away from such things. We find he does the most chewing when we are not around. I think he has abandonment issues from his days in the shelter and he gets insecure when we are gone. But, he also seems to love to chew. He will even chew on our fingers if we let him. I have tried several chew alternatives such as dog toys, but he wants cords, shoelaces etc. Does anyone have any other suggestions or possible theories as to why he chews? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Have you thought of double sided tape? I got another suggestion actually hubby thought of it. He said to try getting plastic tubing from home depot or lowes. I believe they are called spirel tubing or vinyl tubing? Cut the tube along side so the wire or cords can be fitted over it. They do come in different widths. I don't believe they are very expensive. Worse comes to worse you might have to leave the kitty in the bathroom when you're not around? Sorry can't be much help.

Good luck!!

Thank you! that sounds like a good idea to try. nest time I am near a home Depot, I will have to llok for that. Unfortunately the nearest one is 40 miles away. But, I will remember to look for that, and hope he doesn't find the viyl tubing just as enticing. ;-) Thanks again!

Glad I could help. Also if you're near Ikea I know they have them as well.

Let us know what happens!

I also have some of the tubing around some of our computer wires.
We bought a bunch quiet a while back from IKEA (but I imagen it would be cheaper at Home Depot). We just started using it like last month and it works well, I think it makes it less appealing.
My cats and ferret dont chew on wires, but I have had animals around who do, and I think it's a good idea.

I believe at IKEA you can find the tubs in black or white colours.
They open on the side, so you can slip the wire in that way, instead of having to thread it through the tube. I don't know if Home Depots version is like this.

Hubby says he saw the tubing with a slit already cut for you. Good luck!!

Here is a website that has a product that will help you

Stop Shock

my cats love to chew on stuff and have been known to chew on the dogs chew bones. I asked the vet and they said that doggie bones are too hard and might hurt there teeth. so i try to not let them have those and find other things forthem to chew on.

My cat samson does it too.Samson was abused when he was younger,He lived with two ADD 6-year old twins and one day one there mom was in the shower they grabbed samson by the tail and spun him around.Samsons tail broke and he hit his jaw on the wall breaking that too.Samson was very young when this happened because we got him when he was only a 6 month old Baby and his wounds had alredy healed Completly.I worked at the vet clinic he went too so when We got him from those people(they were moving),I checked his records and found out The above.Samson used to chew everything But Two things stopped him.#1 we bought a Piece of leather from a craft store,He loves it he chews it all day long #2 Our pet store started offering These cat chewy treats and whenever Samson started chewing things we would give him one.Now whenever he gets the urge to chew he asks for those treats Instead!Hope this helps!