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#1
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Cat gnawing on wires
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! |
#2
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Cat gnawing on wires
Hi
try putting rubber tubing around the wire or wrap foil paper around them cats don't like foil wrap.. my cat is afraid of it Linda |
#3
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Cat gnawing on wires
"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! |
#4
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Cat gnawing on wires
"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! Sorry about that .. finger trouble! Hi Jamina, I think we all have this trouble, especially with younger and 'spunky' cats. My Panther was a (loveable) menace as a kitten and she's still full of spunk ... attitude, mischief, however you want to name it! I put all my kittens through cable, chemical and car training, in the hope that they'll live longer. With cables, I simply start by having cute, bouncy kitten in the room while I'm ironing. At first, I don't get much ironing done :~). After a while, if repeated "no's" and "leave it - it will hurt you's" don't work, and a *light* slap doesn't help, then I teach kitty about what is on the other end of the cable. I would never, NEVER hurt my cats so you must believe this is done with extreme ca I pick kitty up, make sure no lashing paw can escape, then I carefully bring the hot iron closer to kitty's nose - this being the most sensitive part, so you really don't have to get too close. Most kittens learn almost instantly; Panther took a while longer :~), but both my cats leave cables alone. If my husband is handling cables so that they 'dance' or 'wriggle' (which is very tempting to a cat), then I only have to say firmly "leave it - it will hurt you", and kitty gets the message. If I feel there's still some danger, both cats are shut out of the room until the work is done. This is not always possible with open plan homes, so cats need to learn that cables aren't toys very early on. I feel sure you will think the above is rather extreme, but it is done with great kindness (my cats love and trust me) and for the best reasons, and it *works*. Don't let her fool you - her cable biting is not about hunger: it's about getting your attention. As you perceive, it seems to work :~). I'm sure there is nothing wrong with the wet diet you already give her. If she eats it, she's happy with it so if it ain't broke, don't mend it. However, you could supplement it. Cats are natural 'browsers'; that is, they like to snack lightly, little and often. Continue with the wet food, but make sure she always has a bowl of (yummy flavour) biscuits which she can chomp on at will. There are plenty of 'light' (low fat) biscuit recipes out there which are also good for urinary health and even teeth. It would help, of course, if you could close the bedroom door and exclude her, but that may not be possible. Make the most of your unemployment and use this time to train her. Good luck. Spider |
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Cat gnawing on wires
On Mon, 13 Apr 2009 22:15:49 -0700 (PDT), jamina1 wrote:
.... 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! .... Get some super-hot hotsauce and coat the wires with it. Stuff like "dave's insanity sauce" will break kitty of the habbit before she discovers what high voltage is like. If you coat the wires using your hands, wash them at least four times in a row to remove all traces. You don't want traces getting in your eyes or worse. |
#6
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Cat gnawing on wires
On Apr 14, 8:27*am, "Spider" wrote:
I put all my kittens through cable, chemical and car training, in the hope that they'll live longer. * Please describe car training. My cat is but I don't know how I did it other than being out there with her and watching out for cars. There are few cars except during rush hours. When she was young she would leisurely cross the street even when a car was coming down the road. I would of course call her and made sure the driver saw her. When she was young she would try to follow me into my car. I had to make sure I can see her far away before starting the car. |
#7
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Cat gnawing on wires
First, one question--how often are you feeding her the wet? It's best
to serve twice per day, approximately 12 hours apart. Cats don't need more frequent feedings than that. IMO I would stick to the wet food. Second, is it possible to shut her out of the room where the computer wires are? If this is not possible, you can buy clear plastic tubing, cut a hole in it lengthwise, then stuff all of the wires insides that. The wires are safely encased and kitty is much safer. You can use hot sauce but IMO it's more mess than it's worth. If she starts going for the wires, do NOT get up and feed her. Yes, you are rewarding this (or any bad) behavior. Shut her out of the room if you have to, but do not feed her if she does this. Since she's already in the habit of bothering you for food, it will take some time to break the habit, but it can be done. I suggest that, when you get up, to NOT feed her right away. Read the paper, have some coffee, etc. then feed her. She will learn that just because you get up, doesn't mean that she gets fed. I did this a number of years ago for our cats and it's nice not to be bothered in the mornings. Even our kitten, now 7.5 months old, has already learned this rule, since that's all she's known in her life so far. |
#8
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Cat gnawing on wires
On Apr 14, 8:27*am, "Spider" wrote:
It would help, of course, if you could close the bedroom door and exclude her, but that may not be possible. *Make the most of your unemployment and use this time to train her. *Good luck. Spider Thanks for the helpful tips. I have done this before (my computer is in my bedroom) and I did it the other day, but only afterward did I realize that she had already gnawed through the headphone cables. Thankfully I managed to fix both pairs, but still it is very annoying to deal with. I'll try what you suggest, and I think I may have to break down and try the bitter apple stuff or some seriously hot hot sauce. |
#9
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Cat gnawing on wires
On Apr 14, 12:41*pm, wrote:
First, one question--how often are you feeding her the wet? *It's best to serve twice per day, approximately 12 hours apart. Cats don't need more frequent feedings than that. *IMO I would stick to the wet food. Second, is it possible to shut her out of the room where the computer wires are? If this is not possible, you can buy clear plastic tubing, cut a hole in it lengthwise, then stuff all of the wires insides that. The wires are safely encased and kitty is much safer. You can use hot sauce but IMO it's more mess than it's worth. If she starts going for the wires, do NOT get up and feed her. Yes, you are rewarding this (or any bad) behavior. Shut her out of the room if you have to, but do not feed her if she does this. Since she's already in the habit of bothering you for food, it will take some time to break the habit, but it can be done. I suggest that, when you get up, to NOT feed her right away. Read the paper, have some coffee, etc. then feed her. She will learn that just because you get up, doesn't mean that she gets fed. I did this a number of years ago for our cats and it's nice not to be bothered in the mornings. Even our kitten, now 7.5 months old, has already learned this rule, since that's all she's known in her life so far. Well, when I had a regular job routine, I would feed her when I got up in the morning (7:30) and when I got home from work (6-6:30) so about 12 hours apart. I know she is only doing it because she feels like the food is "done" or she wants fresh, not because she is actually starving or needing food (there's a supplemental bowl of dry food she can eat but she rarely does). She's just doing it because she figured out that it gets me moving, which is what she wants - attention. |
#10
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Cat gnawing on wires
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