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Old August 5th, 2012, 02:00 PM
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Reg Reg is offline
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Wire Chewing Cat

Hi:

I am having a bit of a problem with a four year old Manx female cat named BB. Pretty well ever since we got her at the age of six months, she goes through periods of chewing on things, namely; electrical tape, cardboard boxes, packing tape, duct tape, double-faced tape, labels and stamps, not to mention electrical wiring, such as speaker wires, headset wires, coaxial cable, DC power supplies, and that's just a starter. The lucky thing is, she doesn't go after any wiring that is carrying line voltage yet.

I was wondering if anyone else has experienced this problem. If so I'd love to get some feedback on how to stop it. I have spoken to a couple of vets about the situation and they feel that she should grow out of it. Well at the age of four years, and she's still doing it off and on, I feel the time of growing out of it has passed, and I'm afraid that she may graduate to the heavy wiring that would kill her, or maybe even set fire to the house.

I've done some research on the Internet, and I came up with a product called Bitter Apple by Grannick's. Has anyone had any experience with this product? there are pros and cons to whether it will work or whether it won't, or is there anything else that will work.

BB also had a very difficult first few months of life, and I'm wondering if this is causing a deficiency of some sort and she's missing something in her diet, which could be part of the problem. Anyhow, any thoughts on this problem would be greatly appreciated.

Reg
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Old August 5th, 2012, 07:56 PM
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growler~GateKeeper growler~GateKeeper is offline
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Have a read through these two threads, there was a member who hasn't been on in a long time, she was going through similar but more severe episodes with her cat

Bunduk almost electrocuted himself....twice!!!

A review on two products:
CritterCord vs Chewsafe (cord protectors)
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Old August 5th, 2012, 11:14 PM
Kilter Kilter is offline
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Bitter apple and cord protectors for sure...

And something 'safe' to chew. Try giving her a chicken wing (raw with skin and bone), chicken neck, lamb ribs etc. once a week so she can work on chewing something better than wires.

It may be a sign she needs some dental care too.
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Old August 6th, 2012, 09:06 PM
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Thank you growler~Gatekeeper and Filter. It answered my question about bitter apple, and it has also given me some insight into other peoples problems with wire chewing cats. I will just have to find out how dedicated she is to chewing, so I'll start with the bitter apple and if I'm still having a problem I will reapply once a week for several weeks and see if that will stop her. If not I'll have to order cord protectors as recommended. I am using some cord protectors now. They come in a roll of 10 feet about 3/8" in diameter. I was able to pick them up at the hardware store is the same type as used under the hood of the car on electrical wiring, and it has curtailed the chewing to some degree maybe the Critter Cord the Chewsafe cord would be the way to go.

I checked BBs mouth and her teeth are as white as the driven snow and her gums are in perfect shape. And I don't see any chipped teeth either. They used to eat a lot of organic chicken backs necks wings but for some reason they quit and I can't get them to eat chicken at all anymore, but they love their turkey and a bit of beef from time to time, mainly they are pork lovers. I have been feeding raw for a period of 9 1/2 years, believe it or not, recommended by my Veterinarian. I will try the lamb ribs they love lamb but haven't had it for quite some time due to the cost.

I still have a feeling that there is a deficiency of some kind in her system, especially when you take into consideration all the other things she chews on.
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Old August 13th, 2012, 06:10 PM
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Tundra_Queen Tundra_Queen is offline
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Hi,

I have a cat that chews cords, she has gone thru 2 vacumn cleaner cords, steam cleaner cord, speaker coards, pond pump cords.

I've used the bitter apple spray but then I thought she was over the chewing and nope she wasn't.

I'm going to check out those auto cords u got too...did u get them at Canadian Tire?

The condition where a cat or any animal, even people who eat strange things is called Pica.
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Old August 14th, 2012, 11:30 AM
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Hi:

I happened to find my wire protector at Rona hardware in town here. I was going to make up a clear plastic protector out of the clear soft plastic tubing, which is about 3/8 of an inch in diameter. I mentioned to the clerk what I was using it for. And that's when she pointed out the hard black plastic corrugated type wire protector. It has worked quite well since I put it on six months ago, the cat has attempted to chew on it at several different locations, but I think she finds it very uncomfortable in the mouth. It's all the small wires that I am having trouble with that is why I'm trying the bitter apple to protect the speaker wires and wires to headsets. Plus all the fine wiring behind the computer and stereo system using the wire protector stuff would be very unsightly for the amount that is required to cover the wires.

I would expect Canadian Tire would carry this product in the automotive department due to the fact that the main place you see it used is under the hood of a car to protect the wire harness.
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Old August 16th, 2012, 08:11 AM
Jim Hall Jim Hall is offline
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my favorite is tabasco sauce get some string on a ball try classical guitar strings the nylon ones and try a couple of catnip stuffed mice
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