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Protecting Your Gear from Pets?
EvilJoven asks: "About a month ago I spent quite a large chunk of change on a new system only to have my cat chew through the VGA source cable of my brand new display. Over the course of the last few years my cat has cost me nearly $300CDN in repair and replacement costs due to chewed cables including a few power cables which are not only a pain to replace but potentially fatal to the animal and a fire hazard. So far the best solution I've found to stop this is wrapping all my cables in Snap-On Wire Protectors (about $6CDN for 3m at Canadian Tire in the Automotive section) but this is a rather unsightly solution. Due to the fact that I live in a one bedroom apartment restricting my cats access to my hardware is not an option. I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions on a better way to protect gear from animals."
When I was young, my parents experimented with
putting stuff on my nails to stop me from biting
them. It tasted terrible. Perhaps the same could
be applied to cables in your apartment?
For every problem, there is at least one solution that is simple, neat, and wrong.
eat your cat.
Dialectician. Archology.
Give your cat some cables of its own.
Hang a few up, coil a few around it's cat box.
It should be easier to direct the cat to its own cables than keep it away altogether.
Sam
blog.sam.liddicott.com
There's only one solution to this: Place some cat food on/over one of the power cables connecting your PC. Problem solved.
Ladies, form queue here -->
...taxidermy?
outsource the cat
Suggestion: Your cat is trying to say he or she is not happy. Get another cat so that he will have something to do while you are at work. They will chase each other around and make noises like a herd of cattle, but they won't chew cables.
Give your cat plenty to claw and chew on. Pet stores typically have things that the cat will find a lot more pleasant. If not, make some of your own. In my experience thick, strandy rope is the favorite for cats to claw on, and they prefer insulation of wire (metal removed, assuming it does not completely go soft.
But then again VGA is a huge cable, with metal shielding, so YMMV.
badness 10000
Wrap you cables in double-sided tape? Cat hate the sticky feeling on their paws. It worked when our cats were getting in the habit of clawing our screen windows...........
I had a pet rabbit for a while, so I'm familiar with this problem.
The obvious answer is either "get rid of the cat" or "lock up the cat when you're not watching it".
Assuming you don't want to do that, make an effort to make cables unreachable. Use twist ties and adhesive hooks and loops to get rid of dangling cables or cables lying on the floor. Do your long cable runs along the upper edge of the wall. They make wire baskets that are designed for closet shelves. You can often use them (sometimes with re-bending) on desks to keep wires in a basket that's mostly out of the cat's reach. You can also use plastic containers (tupperware, rubbermaid, that sort of thing) with a few holes drilled in them to contain the rat's nest of cables. Just be sure to allow -some- air to escape.
As far as equipment, think hard about a laptop. There's only a power cable to worry about -- no keyboard, mouse, etc. cables.
Use those ugly cable protectors for everything that's left.
--
You could try feeding the cat, then it wouldn't be hungry and chew the cables!
http://www.22balmoralroad.net/ http://www.tinynetworks.co.uk/
SSS
(Shoot, Shovel, Silence)
--Im an oven mitt, not an engineer! (SLArbys Radio Commercial)
This is a rather low-tech solution, but cover your cables in tape. When my cats figured it would be a good idea to gnaw on the 120VAC power lines running through our (not yet finished) walls, we stuck some tape on them (sticky side out) and it promptly stopped. Double-sided tape would work well for this.
;)
I guess it loses all its fun when your face ends up stuck to what you're chewing on. Though maybe if I just let them bite through the cable would've stopped the chewing as well.
Just wait a little longer or, if you want to help the situation, buy some seriously power-hungry equipment. A cat only has nine lives and yours must have used up most of them, chewing through unknown cables and all.
A buddy of mine has a cat that loves to attack/claw/chew wires. He put a little sprinkle of lemon juice on the wires, cat doesnt go near them anymore.
And it just may make your office area smell nicer.
I suppose you could pee on all your cables and the like. You know, "marking your territory" so to speak.
If you choose to go that route, you might want to make sure you unplug the stuff first. It would give a whole new meaning to "fire in the hole" if you know what I mean...
IKEA sells a cable tidy kit (I can't find it on their website, although it's shown in some of the catalog photos) containing a hard plastic spiral that goes round cables, this might not be as appetising for your cat. You could also reposition your cables so they aren't as easily accessible, or tape them down.
Cats seem to know exactly where you don't want them to be, and will invariably end up there. Good luck!
A cheap solution that might work for you is a length of corrugated vacuum hose (you can pick that up at Walmart or Target).
Just cut it in half lengthwise, and it makes a pretty good wrapper for cable management. It's cheap, effective, and looks pretty good.
And oh yeah - get rid of the cat.
There are 01 types of people in this world. Those that understand binary, and me.
Another option is to make them inaccessible- run them through cardboard tubes. Of course, if your cat shreds cardboard, this won't work. So maybe taping something around them- plastic panels or something?
The options are simple:
render them unappetising
render them inaccessible
render them indestructible
i put them in the order that i thought most likely to work- my cat hates the pet repellent, so the area under my desk gets treated.
let us know what works!
"I'd say 'Have a good time,' but arson is still illegal.
Did you read the post - he's only lost 300 CDN. That's only about $2.50 USD, so what's the big deal?
TWAJS
Popisms.com - Connecting pop culture
High voltage, low amperage dummy cables.
After a few chews through it they will just not like being electrocuted any more.
Maybe a scratching post with something for them to chew on.
Cats usually don't chew on cables, so this is an indicator that something is wrong. And it's not your cables.
It might be an indicator that the two of you have a relation problem. The cat may want more attention. Especially if the cat does not go out of the house, you are the only one "social contact" for the cat. Play with the cat, pet the cat, crawl the cat. Or if you don't think that you have the time to do so, give away your cat to someone who cares for it; and get your self a cat doll.
Maybe your cat is a real hunter but has no other prey than those dangling cables. Get or make some cat toys. Remember: "Everything not nailed down is a cat toy." You just have to make sure that your cat toys are more attractive than your hardware.
A last idea, to cure the symptoms but not the disease: place your cables in flexible tubes. IKEA has flexible tubes in black and white that can be wrapped around the cables without disconnecting them. Unless your cat can look onto your table while standing on the floor, it will have a hard time chewing through those tubes.
Tux2000
Denken hilft.
This is not really a /. question. Your local petstore will help you solve this in under $10. Just get any pet repellant spray like bitter apple and spray it on the needed area for a few days. Your pet will the idea that this area/items have the worst taste and it's better to chew on your shoes than to chew on cables sprayed with Bitter Apple....
Get rid of the damn cat. Seriously. If you've got a one-room apartment you have no business owning a cat. It hasn't got room to exercise in the apartment, and it's seriously antisocial to let it out on the streets to crap in everyone else's gardens.
(The standard cat owner argument: "Oh, but cats are wild animals and do that." Yeah, and I'll buy a bear and let it run loose so it can maul your kid sister to death. Bears are wild animals and do that. It doesn't mean having a bear as a pet is a good idea, now does it?)
Grab.
Hi. I'm Troy McClure. You might remember me from such gear-and-pet films as "Tom and Logitech: A Tale of Cat and Mouse in the Tech Age" and "Fluffy the USB-enabled Hamster"
they make this stuff. I tried it once, and it tasted like a 9v battery.
While most people seem to be of the "get rid of your cat" mindset, I'm taking a fresh approach and suggesting that you get rid of your computer. That way you solve your problem AND ours at the same time.
Slashdot quality declines as the number of hot grits posts decreases. - Provolt's Law, Apr-09-2005
No really, it's fun and it works.
Also someone's idea of giving the cat other cables to play with is terrible. All that would do is teach the cat that cables are something to play with and s/he'd do it more often.
Believe it or not, and I assume most cat owners won't believe me, I've found that the best way to 'train' my cat against unwanted behaviour is to simply move her away from whatever she's doing. For example, I hate it when she goes outside and then comes back in and jumps up on top of the television -- wet paws! So every time she went near the television I would tease her until she ran away. Every time she got as far as jumping on to it, I picked her up and didn't let her go for a few minutes, which of course she hated. I don't think she's been on the TV in months. Hey my cat's a C-list celeb!
It'll only try once more... : )
We have three cats and they live in the basement...and I've never had a problem with them messing with my computers down there. First, like others have said, it's a pet-owner problem...the cat needs more attention either petting or playing with. Second, try aluminum foil around/over cables...cats hate the feel of foil on their paws and will avoid the area entirely after awhile (at which point the foil can be removed)
This is exactly right. The problem is that your cat is trying to communicate with you. Its basically saying, "You spend a lot of time in here, so therefore I should destroy what is taking you away from me--so you can play with me instead!" Getting another cat will undoutedbly take its attention away from the cables behind your computer, and instead focus on the other animal in the apartment.
The other solution is to (gasp!) actually play with your cat. I mean, how hard is it to get a laser pointer and send your cat tearing about the place like a nitro-funnycar? Might I suggest the Green Laser Pointer from Thinkgeek.com?
Or you could always call Confuse-A-Cat LTD...
Giving the cat it's own cables to chew on will show the cat that it's ok to chew cables.. My recommendations are as follows-
1- Sell the cat to a chinese restaurant (have them save the skin- Cat fur would make a nice pair of fuzzy slippers...)
or the recomended option--
2- Go to a Pet's Mart and get this sour apple flavored goo they sell in a tube just for this purpose and apply some to any cables you don't want the cat to chew-- Works like a charm and if you really want to, you can still keep the cat.
I've got cable chewing birds. Over the years, they've chewed through innumerable headphone and speaker cables. One of them chewed through a mouse cord and ruined the PS/2 ports on that computer - I had to use a serial mouse. And worse than all that, they give off tons of dust that clogs up power supplies and the fins of heat sinks.
I don't let them run around the computer desks any more, and I bought a large HEPA filter to try and keep down the dust. Unfortunately the cooling fans on my main computer seem to have more power than the HEPA filter, so the prevailing air currents go from the bird cage to the computer to the filter, instead of the other way around.
The next Cmdr Taco duplicate will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and see it early!
How do I keep the cat from peeing on all my porn mags?
We now have a cat that shits in flower boxes, plant pots, anything that looks like a plant pot, and anything with a picture of a flower on it.
One without an attached VGA cable. Cables go bad all the time for all kinds of reasons. Sometimes you want a longer cable that the monitor came with.
On the cat, well I haven't had trouble with our puppy chewing on cables since she got the juice out of a 12v line running to the hub at work.
Awesome furniture, accessories and cabinetry in Santa Rosa, CA: http://humanity-home.com/
once we allowed him access to the outside, he stopped attacking the cables. Of course he moved up to lizards, birds, and snakes.
I think the last snake he went after though was the one that got him in the shoulder. (Not poisonious, fortunately, but he had a sore shoulder for weeks).
And once my dog got to taste a 3.5 inch floppy, he lost interest in them.
Perhaps the Snap-On cable protectors are unsightly, but there are more attractive solutions.
I picked up some cable protectors from my local computer superstore that look quite nice. They are about the same diameter as a vacuum cleaner hose, and are split down the length.
I just twist-tied all my cable runs together and then routed them inside the cable protector. It give a very clean, modern-looking solution.
It's not my fault! It was this way when I got here.
Double sided tape is definitely a solution. I have some friends who had a cat that was in the bad habit of knocking stuff off of shelves. They had a couple of things they didn't want to have to put away, but at the same time couldn't risk the cat destroying. Double sided tape worked perfectly and the cat eventually learned to stay away.
However, other posters who have pointed out that your cat is bored and or otherwise upset are on the mark. Get some cat toys, including some catnip toys. Consider getting another cat, opposite gender and read pet advice sites for how to introduce a kitten to your adult cat.
One thing though - don't try to punish the cat. The cat is doing this because it's unhappy, bored, frustrated etc. If you punish it, you just add something for the cat to be upset about. Oh, and I personally had great luck with my bored indoor cats by installing a bird feeder outside and keeping it stocked. It was like the cat version of television - they sit there for hours watching the birds.
a Bonsai Kitten
Pet stores sell products specifically designed for this problem. The most common one is a "bitter apple" extract; you just apply it to the items you want your pet to avoid (cables, baseboards, whatever). It's similar to but far more effective than treating the surface with lemon juice, and it's not harmful to the animal.
Any decent pet store will have these types of products. Find one with a knowledgable owner and ask him/her.
--
Twoflower
My solution? Give the cat to someone with a garden and get a more docile animal that won't mind living indoors. Chinchillas, hamsters or rabbits are ideal for this. But not a cat.
Get a dog to guard your gear. Cats are scared of dogs. Give the dog an old sock to chew.
Stick Men
You're kidding, right? Because dogs never chew anything.... ;-)
I've owned cats and dogs, and the chewing/scratching damage done by the cats is nothing compared to what one of my dogs has done. (And he's really not that bad.)
Just two days ago I caught him laying down by a power strip, beginning to chew on the attached power bricks. As others have said, I was careful to not scold him for chewing. I moved the power strip away from him and immediately ran to get two of his favorite chew toys and brought them to him, and praised him when he started chewing them.
He was bored and wanted to chew something. Telling him, "don't chew anything" ain't gonna cut it. However, telling him, "Chew this instead," is >99.99% effective. (Standard, obvious psychology stuff, but had to be said.)
whenever the animal goes near the wires with ill-intent, hold it down and give it a thunk on the head. use an appropriate thunk as to scramble it's brains, but not kill the poor thing. i allow no beast near my wires.
oh man, do i. i have 4 cats and 5 computers.
one of them LOVES! phone cables for some reason.
The best method is not to protect your stuff - that becomes ridiculous as the amount of crap you use grows. No, what you need to do is provide better targets. Observe what they prefer, and give it to them. They'll have a preference, i guarantee it. If it's VGA cables, then keep the ones they busted, and hang it somewhere they can play with it and gnaw it as much as they want.
they should leave the new one alone.
it works!
My oldest dog, Emma, then a 1-yr-old puppy, pulled all of the phone cable out from under our house. All of it. She found the box and went to work. Now that's dedication.
We tried to keep Emma from jumping on our kitchen door by putting hot sauce (Texas Pete, Tabasco and a delightful Habanero sauce... in that order). That's how we found out that she likes hot sauce.
I was driving my truck into our back yard to drop something off. With Georgia summers and no A/C, keeping the windows open is a must. Emma adores the truck. She just likes to sit in the bed while it's parked if we let her. My passenger window was open about 10 inches. She's a 45 lb dog. She jumped through the window opening and into the cab while I was rolling at about 2 mph into the back yard. These don't count the antics of the other three dogs or any of my now dearly departed cats.
The moral of the story is that smart, determined or bored animals will do what they ain't supposed to do. We cured Emma's phone phreaking by getting her a dog. She was much happier with a playmate, and a lot of her energy went into playtime with brother Harry. It didn't cure everything, but having something to keep her interested made a huge difference.
Cats are a tougher trick. Some just want to chew on stuff. Others won't even eat people food. The issue isn't as easy as getting them a playmate. Our best cat training method was a water gun. We couldn't be home every minute, but the water training seemed to take root really quickly. The best cat I ever had eventually learned the word "no."
Pepper may be more effective with cats (white or plack powder... depending on your carpet color). Just sprinkle a little around the cables. A scratching post or cat playhouse may be useful, too (after all, you've already spent a lot of money).
Amateurs discuss tactics. Professionals discuss logistics.
Cut a small chili (the smaller and greener, the better, habaneros are particularly fiery) in half and rub it on your cables.
I swear to $DEITY that your cat will not forget that one. Or he will start demanding curry dinner, in both cases, you win.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
I was going to suggest o use that high tech artifact called door, but then I realized you live in one of those post modern one bedroom appartments .... Or next time you go to IKEA buy one of the modules for your bookshelf that can act as a cage.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
Worked for me when I had the same problem with my cats. Just dilute it 1:1 with water and use a little paint brush to cover your cables. It also works to keep them from chewing the leaves on your potted palm tree.
Of course, they need to study for their MSCE exams
16,777,216 comments ought to be enough for any forum!
Try http://www.izola.co.uk Aim it with care, and you it could guard off a corner of your room! "Recommended as a professional grade ultrasonic cat repeller, the SYG3 is nevertheless a true multipurpose system for various pest situations including badgers, squirrels, deer, dogs and armadillos, rodents and insects. It has an adjustable frequency dial. The powerful transducer coupled with the ultra-sensitive motion sensor which makes it suitable for distances up to 80 ft, but highly effective at shorter ranges." -they don't like it up 'em-
Damn, to think I had mod points earlier!
Predictive text is shiv!
a long time ago. Just take the chewed cable, hold it in a U so that the chewed portion is at the bend, grab the chewer by the scruff of the neck, show him/her the chewed portion, then lay a couple of "thank you sir, may I have another"s on their ass, and let Pavlov do the rest. Cats have nine lives for a reason; use a couple.
P.S. Both a companion cat and plenty of other chewy things will help greatly, but they are "secondary" solutions.
what I've found to be highly effective with my 3 (!) cats in my small 2 bedroom apartment is keeping a spray bottle on hand full of water. when the cats go somewhere they know they're not supposed to or do something they're not supposed to, they get thoroughly soaked. a warning squirt is usually good enough to keep them from being stupid, but if they insist, a good shower will usually discipline them with no ill effects. barring that, if you scruff them (grab a good chunk of skin on the back of their neck) and hold them down to the ground, they usually get the picture that they're being disciplined and will learn not to do that behavior.
Step 1: Get a burlap sack
Step 2: Place cat gently in burlap sack
Step 3: Tie burlap sack shut
Step 4: Toss burlap sack in the river
Problem solved!
Salsa Shark. We're gonna need a bigger boat.
Clearly this is a sign that your cat has some serious psychological issues and is asking for help. This is probably your cat's way of letting you know that spending all day every day inside your little apartment with nothing to do but play quake and chase optical mice that don't even taste good is slowly driving it insane. Think of your cat's mental health. Think of your own mental health. Not to mention your wallet. Let your cat go free. It's not worth 300 dollars!
You should have disciplined your cats when they were kittens. But you didn't. I hope you don't have kids. The prisons are already overcrowded.
The best solutions are to either:
(a) budget a monthly amount to pay for the cats' damage.
(b) give them away.
(c) try to discipline them now with a squirt bottle (good luck with that).
Sorry for the flamebatish response, but time & time again I hear people (even my wife when she had cats before we were married) say "my cats do this or that". Invariably, the situation is the same. People think thay shouldn't discipline cats.
If you make it known to them that certain behavior is unacceptable, and enfore your rules, you will not have this problem in the future.
1. Open window (one on wall, not computer)
2. Pick up pussy (small furry animal, not woman)
3. Walk to window (one on wall, not computer)
4. Throw pussy out window (small furry animal, not woman) (one on wall, not computer)
5. Close window (one on wall, not computer)
6. Problem solved = Priceless!!!
I got my wife her own machine; my uptime went to five nines! ;^)
"Can there be a Klein bottle that is an efficient and effective beer pitcher?"
Get a dog to guard your gear. Cats are scared of dogs.
Please explain to my cat why it isn't a good idea to attack a dog 10 times your size. He doesn't get it.
The idea that cats are scared of dogs is overrated, they get along just fine when introduced correctly. My dog cannot walk down the hall without the cat chasing after. My dog cannot sleep at my feet without the cat running across the room, jumping on the couch, springing off the end, and doing a backflip onto the dog's head. Funny to watch the two of them, but it makes it hard to get any reading done.
Not really applicable here, but a friend of mine who has model trains kept the cats off his layout by taking the locomotives off the track and putting wall current on the rails. If it doesn't kill them the first time, they'll learn their lesson pretty quickly.
Unknown host pong.
Due to the fact that I live in a one bedroom apartment restricting my cats access to my hardware is not an option. I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions on a better way to protect gear from animals.
Have you considered getting a bigger apartment or even a house?
I have a cat (7 months old), and he's managed to chew through an AM antenna for my stereo and the cord of the earpiece for my cellphone. I also use Bitter Apple spray for some cords and plastic cable covers for others (sometimes both), but neither of those two mentioned items had been sprayed nor covered. The cable covers can be obtained from either Menards or Home Depot, multiple diameters, and cuttable to length.
But with the number of cables around my computer, the only real solution is segregation except when I'm there to keep an eye on the cat. I moved from a two-bedroom apartment to a three-bedroom house and got the cat after the move.
And at times I worry less about him eating cords than I do about him getting entangled in them, especially ethernet cabling. Its hard to get a cat out of a tangle of ethernet in the narrow gap behind a desk when it doesn't want to be got.
I may also start packing a water pistol to discourage bad behavior.
Or you could try hiding the cable in conduit or behind a false wall or under a false floor. And switching to wireless Bluetooth devices wherever possible, like keyboards, mice, and printers.
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
testify my brother.
No, it's not. Cats are social creatures, just like dogs - just because they display their sociality in different manner than dogs, or that some cat owners decide to reward thier cat's dominant behaviour (which is misinterpreted as anti-social tendencies), doesn't mean that the social instincts are not there.
One of my firends, who should not have pets, has a cat. The cat started scratching his crappy sofa. I mention something about it, a month later he finally gets a scratching post. But since the cat has the sofa nicely broken in, he's not particularly interested in the curiously large lump of carpet. So my buddie is all pissed off I made him buy a scratching post for the cat, and the cat doesn't like it. Solution: Shove the scratching post up against the corner of the couch he likes to scratch one. Amazingly, or not, it immediately solved the problem. I also taught him to come when called (when I took care of him during a vacation), but since my pal never kept up with it, or even in fact calls him anything other than "Cat", he stopped doing it pretty quickly.
Again, being a dog person, I normally couldn't be bothered, but his cat is such a ham.
Cat in the Kettle
There should be a law requiring/prohibiting that (Please circle one)
I had the same problem with my golden retriever when he was young ($100 USB headsets
:)
:)
When animals chew on inappropriate things, it can mean one or more of several things. [Caveat: my experience is largely with dogs, though I expect some of the insights will apply to felines too.]
o They are teething or have a dental problem. This is normal when they are young (and new teeth are coming in).
o They are bored or feel abandoned -- inappropriate chewing, marking, etc. can be a compulsive disorder for dogs, kind of like ADHD. Sometimes it is an experssion of anxiety (particularly separation anxiety) or lack of attention. There are resources available for training this out of dogs (and cats, too, I assume)
o In the case of both cats and dogs, it can mean they are pissed off at you, either for leaving them alone, not playing with them, or whatever.
o Finally, it may indicate that they are hungry (is your cat *eating* the wire or just chewing it to bits?). If they are eating what they are chewing up, you'll find... evidence... routed though their South end in a couple days...
Deterrance and correction. The best course of action is to catch them in the act and correct them, usually with a loud "DON'T!" or something similar. In the case of dogs in particular, this is a good opportunity to establish dominance -- e.g., roll the dog on his back, pin him down (primarily by the neck or mouth), and hold him there until he stops struggling. He'll understand that you're the Alpha and that he's done something unappropriate.
[Note: this is a fight that you absolutely have to win -- if he escapes, catch him; if he tries to get away, restrain him. If you don't win the engagement, the dog will conclude that the's the Alpha and behavior problems will persist. Also, I'm not advocating *hurting* or being violent with your pet. The technique I described mimics, at least for dogs, actual dominant dog behavior, but does not inflict injury or physical pain. It sends the right message with a minimum of violence and a maximum of effectiveness and is a well-accepted training technique.]
One thing that is not effective is correcting the animal after the fact -- dogs and cats have short memories. If he chewed up your cables and you yell at him even 5 minutes later, he won't understand -- most animals don't have the sophisticated reasoning system to connect the correction with the past event. You have to catch him in the act and issue the correction post haste.
One way to ensure that you can catch them in the act is to set up a "trap" -- leave a cable on the floor and keep an eye on the animal. If, or when, he goes after it, nail him then and there. If you do this a couple times, then hopefully he'll get the idea that cables are not food/playthings
Another technique is to use a product such as "Sour Apple", which you coat on surfaces (such as cables) that the animal tends to eat. The product is non-toxic, but tastes quite nasty to them (very bitter/sour) and will deter them. Your local pet shop should have a selection of such products. I never had to use them with my dog, but I have friends who have used it with great success.
The behavior problem may also be due to the fact that the animal does not have any or enough appropriate toys to chew on. Go to your pet shop and buy a selection of animal- and breed- (read: size) appropriate toys. If the problem is chewing, then get chew-toys. If the problem is scratching, get scratching posts or similar products.
Introduce the toys to your pet and praise or reward him when he chews on them and plays with them. This will build a positive association between playing with the appropriate toys. Together with strong corrections for playing with inappropriate "toys", the animal should learn which toys are his and which are not.
If the problem is hunger, then "free-feeding" may be a desirable option. Rather than feeding the animal at distinct times of the day, you leave out excess food in his b
the cat will cower in the corner
/bin/fortune | slashdotsig.sh
Taser cables? Yum!
Just be sure to check what you're about to spray water on before squeezing the spray trigger. If it's part of your computer, stop.
You cannot apply a technological solution to a sociological problem. (Edwards' Law)
This is some good advice. I want to stress the possibility that the cats might not get along unless they are integrated properly (and even then they might not get along).
One thing I've found that can solve a host of cat problems is excersize them HARD at least 15 minutes everyday. Find a toy on a string that your cat loves (shouldn't be too hard!) and keep it out of their reach and site except for excersize time. This will ensure your cat gets real excited about the toy.
I would come home from work and walk around the room, half-absentmindedly tossing the toy around while I watched TV. The cat would burn off all it's excess energy.
Once I started doing this with a problem cat that circumstances lead to my possession the cat became much more social, stopped over eating (poor thing was bored and seditary), got in shape and generally put the spark back into its personality.
As an added plus if you have a cat that keeps you awake while you're trying to sleep do the excersize thing with them just before you go to bed and feed the cat after the excersize. The cat will soon be ready for a nap itself.
Good luck.
That will teach that damn cat!
That will keep them from chewing on the wires.
Dolemite
_____________________
Save the World! Use a Quote!
Excellent suggestion and I wish I'd included it in my post because I've done the same thing. As and added note though, there is a cat toy that is the busy geek's nirvana. In execution it is extremely simple - it is a piece of straight spring wire with little pieces of wood or cardboard at the ends. You hold one end and the other end bounces and waves very much the way an a flying insect will.
What makes this toy great is that in addition to cats loving it and going ballistic when they see it - is that you don't actually have to always actively wield it. I'll hold it absently in one hand when I'm reading or watching tv - letting it hang off the side of the couch, and the cats will do frantic run-bys every five minutes swatting it like crazy.
Bought mine for $5-7 Canadian and I've seen them in every pet store I've been in lately. It doesn't look like it would be hard to make one either.
A friend of ours had a cable-chewing cat. It chewed through their (240V) figure-8 standard lamp cable three times (down in a corner where nobody noticed and chased him off), each time ending with a cat flung across the room by the discharge. However, he wasn't building an immunity, 'coz the third time he didn't get up and stagger away.
Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing
Monitor = $300
Cable protectors = $6/per
Shotgun shells = $0.25
DO THE MATH, MAN!
I ran a pvc maze behind my desk, with the wires running through it to where it needs to go. the pvc can be painted with krylon fusion spraypaint. Works against ferrets, also. . . provided you get the diameter right.
How about using split-loom tubing over your cables? Its cheap, and the cat is unlikely able to chew through that.
My cat used to do the same thing, I found an interesting solution that seemed to benifit everyone (me because my gear stopped getting torn up, and the cat because he diden't choke and die on an electircal cable)- I coated my stuff with wasabi- It smells pugnent (which is important for keeping cats at bay) and it will remain 'active' even after it's dried onto the cable (you can purchase wasabi in powdered form; do not eat the powder) so that if the cat decides to 'forget' the lessons of the past some time down the line the cords are still way too hot to eat!
-Millions of Monkeys, Millions of typewriters, 6 hours of sorting through faeces encrusted pages to find: This post
I thought this was odd. I left my hot peppers out a few nights ago, and my cats chewed through three of them. These were Serrano Chilies, pretty hot on the scale as far as chilies go. Since then they've been trying to get into the cabinet where I put the peppers.
Then again they seem to mimic all my habits. I've got one cat that goes NUTS for coffee grinds and another that chases and eats tobacco products.
Alright, I'm off to go snuggle them!
"Sometimes, I think Trent just needs a cup of hot chocolate and a blankie." -Tori Amos on Nine Inch Nails
You know the plastic tubing on vacuum attachments?? Well they sell it at home depot at any length/width. Buy a bunch of that, cut it down the middle and put your cables in that.
For dogs, bitter apple spray works pretty well.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
vrai wrote : Cats are hunters. They need lots of space for territory and lots of things to hunt. They are not indoor animals.
In Australia, people are advised to keep cats indoors as much as possible. Unfortunately, cats are indeed hunters, and they love nothing more than Fillet of Rare Australian Bird with a side dish of Small Defenceless Marsupial. I can't recall the figures now, but cats, especially when let out at night, can hunt down and wound or kill quite a large number of animals.
David.
shockingly enough, it will.
Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing
Brian
Are you a Candy Addict?
I read *somewhere* that companies who produced paint for street signs discovered including habanero peppper in the mix prevented animals from chewing on their products. Also, the Navy was supposedly working on a synthetic habanero pepper to prevent barnacles from attaching to the sides ships.
That will probably keep kitty from chewing.
My experience with Bitter Apple has been great. I have 2 cats and only the young one is prone to chew on things in the apartment. It doesn't take much BA to convince him that the object of his chewing obsession is not tasty nor worth the bother.
:-)
While having a 2nd cat DOES in many ways make for a more cat-friendly environment (the reason I got a 2nd on in the first place), it is also a lot more effort (effort/cost/trouble increase exponentially with cats). If you have a small apartment, it may not be all that feasible.
Contrary to the statements of some other posters, this behavior in a cat is not generally out of displeasure or anger, but shear boredom and a need to chew. Is it a young cat? Could it be teething? (I have had to deal with that before... ugh). Maybe some more cat toys and some interactive playtime are in order. If your cat is angry with you, believe me, you WILL know it.
It's possible you wouldn't have to coat ALL your cables. If the BA works, then hitting the cables you catch him/her chewing will condition him/her to the association of BA with cables. It's worked well with my cats, but of course cats are each unique so YMMV.
I have a similar problem with one of my cats and found on the cheap and simple solution: split convoluted tubing.
Traditionally found in stereo stores to help gather unsightly cable spaghetti together into a single, somewhat slightly plastic tube, this has proven the perfect answer to discourage pet cable chewing. When bitten the split parts crackle against each other (a real surprise to the cat) and the tubing has chew marks on it. Only a few places have needed additional protection: duct tape. Together, these two inexpensive products have stopped cable chewing on all cables that they have been used on (which is all exposed cables in my home).
Hope this helps!
-JM
Your global village idiot!
I don't know how other cat's work, but my buddy Gizmo certainly hates the smell of oranges. Lemons, limes, and other citrus fruits don't seem to have the same effect, but certainly anytime i peel an orange he will be intrigued by the bright colour only untill he smells it. Usually we find him sneezing on the couch indignantly.
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What's a "preview button"?