Purrs In Our Hearts - Cat Forum UK
Cat Health & Behaviour => Health & Behaviour General => Topic started by: Fitzchiv on September 21, 2012, 11:13:53 AM
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Frankie is a 6 month old nutcase animal we have in our lives, and we love her to bits. She also gets on really well with her big sis Daisy, so you'd think everything would be fine yeh?
Wrong.
Frankie has a very bad habit - well two infact, one of them is stealing roast potatos - in that she likes to chew phone charger cables, whilst they're plugged in.
This isn't about the inconvenience or cost, it's 3 days and £4 for a new charger, but I'm really concerned one day we'll find her dead after having got an electric shock. She's munched through four chargers and two USB cables now, just when your guard's down she will strike again. It seems like a really specific kind of texture and diameter cable she likes to destroy - does anyone have any tips on stopping this behaviour, or indeed why she's doing it?
As I said, she's six months old so absolutely barmy as it is - and going through a particularly destructive phase (this morning we awoke to find the bottom 4 inches of the bathroom light pull-chord on the floor, chewed. This had previously been attached to the rest of the chord, 5ft above the ground. There is no wallpaper to grip, and nothing to stand on. She weighs 3KG - HOW did she get up there and gnaw through it?!)
Any thoughts welcome!
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OMG I wish I knew the answer to this cos Lupin now 2 yrs old has been doing it ever since he came here.
He likes all cables to chew but specifically the very thin ones and has bitten through one of my phones and also throught the christmas lights last christmas, he is officially a monster.
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Nina did this - any iPhone cables seemed to be her favourite. I just had to get wise and never leave the cables lying around and charged the phone in my room and shut her out with me with her in the living room.
After this routine for a couple of years she now doesn't seem interested in them. Maybe she grew out of it at four of maybe she forgot about them. It was a hassle at the time but I persevered in hiding them and she did stop!
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Can I start by saying - beautiful pics!
I have read somewhere on here about a bitter apple spray or something? (I think)
Tastes to cats like the stuff to stop us from biting our nails :sick:
Am sure someone will have the proper name and where to get it x
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Sorry I can't help, but I just wanted to say that last picture is priceless!
Frankie's gorgeous! :Luv:
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Great photos of the offender :Luv: :Luv: :Luv:
I've heard about the bitter apple thing too although not tried it myself. It could be that she grows out of it, Riley used to be a terrible chewer and my laptop charger is full of toothmarks - I never saw him chew that ever so he was obviously chewing while I was out too :scared:
the bathroom lamp thing is just :Crazy:
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Can I start by saying - beautiful pics!
I have read somewhere on here about a bitter apple spray or something? (I think)
Tastes to cats like the stuff to stop us from biting our nails :sick:
Am sure someone will have the proper name and where to get it x
It's Grannicks bitter apple spray. I have had some success with this, but others have tried it and not had any results at all. It needs to be re-applied quite frequently (and around electrics I'd be rubbing it on with a sponge rather than spraying for safety's sake) but it did stop my youngest furbie Sly from eating my hands when he was teething, and helped when Sam was self harming by pulling at a scab (this is what the spray was designed for).
Get it from your vet or Amazon.
If she really likes to chew, I'd invest in something safe for her to chew on, so when she starts, gently replace the wire with her new toy/chew and see if she improves. Be aware of the dangers of cord should it get into her gut, there's a section dedicated to this in the Health and Behaviour section somewhere.
Try the Purrs shop for goodies she can enjoy :innocent: up there in Links.
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Cats don't like citrus, try wiping the cables down with a citrus bleach, works with my girls.
Also, try giving kitty something to chew, if wire is preferred, maybe buy some pieces of rubber.