"jamina1" wrote in message
...
Thank you all for your recent help with my cat Sylvanas. But now my
problem lies with my current cat, Pagan. She's very spunky - and for
her health I have started feeding her holistic wet food - I've settled
on Merrick brand and she's happy with the flavors available.

My problem is that if I am not on the dot with her feedings (if I
sleep in on weekends, or if I am otherwise not awake) she will come
into my bedroom and start gnawing on things (for some reason she
prefers wires! - predominately the ones behind my computer). So far I
have lost 3 pairs of headphones to her and a charger for my Nintendo
DS, as well as the power cable for my cable modem.

Not only am I worried for her safety - what if she chews through an
actual higher voltage power cable? - I am annoyed at her behavior and
want her to stop. Luckily, I believe she only does this when I am
home!

Even if there is food in her bowl, but it is not a flavor she enjoys a
lot or if it has been sitting for a little while, she will come in and
start gnawing. I know that my behavior has only "trained" her to
continue - every time she does it I get angry, fed up, and end up
feeding her, so technically I'm rewarding her.

As I've pretty much always had her on wet food which requires smaller
portions more often, I'm wondering - should I sacrifice her ultimate
long term health with this natural food and get dry food that I can
put down in quantity? (Which then ultimately means she will overeat
and become fat and unhealthy)

I'm just kind of troubled as what to do here. I am currently
unemployed and can't afford to continuously replace these things she's
eating through - nor do I want to wake up and find her electrocuted! I
tried hot sauce, I tried Curry paste - Help!

I see you have several possible solutions. I have one more.Years ago, I had
a cat that chewed electrical wires. There was a product at that time, and I
hope they still make it...the name is THUMB. It is a pepper extract to stop
thumb sucking and nail biting of kids. I smeared all the wires with a piece
of cotton and it worked. I had to do it a couple more times, but in the end
the habit stoped. I had him for about 17 more years with no incidents. I
used to buy it in a drugstore. I hope it works for you.
Petey's Mom