When Pets Nibble On What They Shouldn’t!

As most of my followers will know I have x2 cats, “Angel” aged 2 years and “Verne” aged 8 months.

I’m proud to say Angel is very well behaved and well trained. Verne is still being trained and in this process I’ve had misshapps where certain cables have been chewed without my knowledge. This unfortunately after some research, I found out is usually due to one of two things, the first can be boredom, this is unlikely with Verne or Angel as both are played with daily and on a regular basis, the second is teething, which this makes more sense in my case, as Verne is still only 8 months old and Angel did the same thing while she was younger.

As stated, I had a similar thing with Angel when I got her, however I believe Angel is a little smarter than Verne and she was able to be taught more quickly.

If your cat is chewing cables you may want to do the following:

1) Cover the cables, be careful though as some coverings can cause cables to get hot, over heat and catch fire – ALWAYS do your research. I personally find these “Cable Tidy’s” are the best things to use. You can find them from 99p shops to superstores, and online.

I’ll go through how to fit these to help in the process: you will need “Cable Tidy”, a pair of sharp scissors, and electrical tape.

1a) Gather the cables you wish to keep together, you may want to do these individually or in this example you may want to keep several cables together. I will be showing you how to do a two cable gathering.

1b) Here are the x2 phone cables. You will then place them into the clip which comes with the Cable Tidy.

1c) You will then place the Cable Tidy onto the clip.

1d) Then slide the clip down through the cable tidy making sure you have the cable/s inside the cable tidy.

1e) Once you have the cable/s inside the cable tidy, you can then use electrical tape on the end to keep the end of the cable tidy secure.

1f) Then measure the length needed from the plugs to the cable tidy, so not to cause any electrical difficulties with bendings. I used a Samsung and an Apple charger to demonstrate how to do this as the connectors are at different ends of the plugs. Once you have the length measured out, use some electrical tape to hold the two (or however many cables you have together – this isn’t nesscercery if you have only one cable).

1g) Then use some electrical tape to hold the cable/s which you have just measured out to the cable tidy (if you have one cable to one plug, you can use the electrical tape to hold the cable tidy to the end of the cable, I’ll be covering this step shortly).

1h) Now go to the other end of the cables and work out how much cable you need showing at the other end (in this instance I’ve left a few inches, because if you are charging both phones together, then you would need to make sure they could lay side by side without the cables causing any issues. If you have one cable in the cable tidy, then you wouldn’t need to leave several inches showing).

1i) Once measured, trim the excess cable tidy with your scissors. You can then repeat step 1f and 1g,

1j) If desired, you can then add cable tidy to the cables (if more than one cable is being used) closer the plugs to protect them. As before place the cable into the cable tidy and tape with electrical tape, the end connecting the x2 cable Tidy’s.

1k) Measure the length you require, trim with scissors, then tape with electrical tape the (in this case USB) end.

1l) Now place the second cable into more of the cable tidy, making sure the end fits snuggled up over the previous cable tidy. You can then use electrical tape to tape the end in place.

1m) Measure the length needed to the other end (in this case the second USB end), trim the cable tidy with scissors and tape securely with electrical tape.

1n) Where the second and third cable tidy’s join, secure them in place with electrical tape.

1o) Now move onto what I call the divided V shape, this is where the two cables and cable tidy’s meet. You will want to secure the ends with else rival tape to make sure either one doesn’t become unfastened.

1p) Then tape with electrical table the two joining ends together to make sure they can not be pulled apart. The steps in 1n, 1o and 1p will secure the cables and cable tidy’s from coming undone and/or being pulled apart.

1q) Finally you can mark each end so you know which (in this case USB) ends are for which phone etc. I used a sharpies pen however you can use two different coloured electrical table for either end to identify which cable goes to which phone etc.

2) Once all your cables are securely covered and safe from any form of chewing, you may need to look at something that can chew, I’ve heard the large cable ties are quite useful and they are soft enough to not damage the cats testy. I however have not tried these and I would always recommend caution and advise seeking advice from a repertable Vet or/and vetenery nurse.

3) If your cat/s have been chewing cables/wires, please take them to see your vet, they may have some mouth/teeth or/and gum disorder, they may also could have done damage to their teeth or gums or insides, you are not aware of, it is always better to be safe than sorry.

Remember “Prevention is better than Cure”.

4) Give your cat/s toys, if they are bored, then they will what we would think of as misbehave. Cats like small children need to be nurtured, they do more than eat, sleep and poop.

Make sure you have a tall cat tower, long scratching posts. Cats like to be up high and look at their souroundings, it makes them feel safe, and scratching posts are more than just for scratching, cats use them for stretching out their muscles.

I hope this has helped and I wish you success in training your little balls of joy.