Please make sure that your pets do not chew on electrical cords. I just lost one of my youngest kitties due to electrical trauma to the lungs from biting a cord. Don't let it happen to one of yours.

I know some people whose Labrador chewed through a flex and, although not as tragic as yours, it survived, but had epileptic fits for the rest of its life.
Sorry to hear your news.

I'm so sorry to hear that.

I had to buy wire loom to wrap all of my small wires (speaker wires, phone chargers, RCA cables, etc) because my cats eat them. Your wires end up looking more tidy anyway. Just do a search on eBay for "wire loom" to get it cheap.

Sample

When our cat was young she did take a passing interest in wires which did worry me, but like curtain climbing, she seems to have grown out of it.

It was just such a tragic end for such a wonderful cat that was only 1 year old. He was fine and healthy Monday and fighting for his life Tuesday and gone yesterday. Now I have to go bury him. His sister has been moping around for days and keeps looking for him. I miss him dearly.

This is so sad. I was planning to have two cats in my new house, and this is making me rethink the way cables are around the house.

I am so sorry for your cat, Laura, and thank you for sharing this. It's something I did not think at all before.

So sorry to read this. My cat once chewed through a cable, luckily it was only ethernet. It was during the time she was ill and wasn't allowed to go out. If she's outside most of the time, she doesn't chew or scratch anything in the house. I think, she just was too bored that time.

I'm on vacation this coming week and plan to get some wire loom and make it so it can never happen again to any of my other kitties. I've had cats for 30 years or so and have never had this happen. It was such a horrible painful death for such a wonderful young cat and it's something I will never forget.

I don't know about in the US, but in the UK the flexible trunking(This is the only link I could find, you can get it much cheaper than this) that they sell for outside wiring is the same stuff that they sell in computer shops as "Cable Tidy", but around a third of the price. If you cut it length wise, you can just fit it over the necessary cables. Mine's in a fairly unobtrusive blue, so it's not out of place in the house.

That's the same stuff Brad was calling "wire loom".

I found something even better though much more expensive, foam pipe insulation. It was a little over $1 a foot but worth the piece of mind. The flexible plastic wire loom can be bitten through if they really try but the foam is pretty darn thick and should protect the other kitties and the wiring.

I didn't think of that, crap. I have it on the bundle of house wiring running across the basement ceiling in the areas that the cats can reach it from on top of a wooden storage unit. The wire loom does not have a big enough diameter to cover it. Any suggestions?

Perhaps that armoured steel cable that you get for running underground power cables in gardens? A determined cat might get the outer PVC off, but the steel braiding is grounded.

Peter

Is it slit to be able to slip over existing lines?

Not that I have seen usually when I see that stuff it as the wire run though it already.

You can get plastic conduit and cut a slit in it so you could slide it over the wires.

I guess my best bet is to go to an electrical supply store and ask their advice. Home Depot didn't have much selection nor did they tell me that the foam insulation wasn't a good idea though I told them what I was going to use it for.

You could also get some of that spray stuff that tastes bad to pets and spray it on your cords.

Thanks for the link and all of the suggestions. I'll read up on the options and figure out what to do in the basement.

Again, making them non-tasty by using pet sprays designed for that purpose (bitter apple, IIRC) or even, as also suggested, hot sauce, would probably work. I imagine that the bad taste will eventually wear off, but as long as you keep it tasting bad for a good while, I doubt that the animal will go back to trying later.

I'm going out today to try and find the right size wire loom to cover the basement house wiring. I will also stop by a pet store to look for the bitter apple spray. The computer wires are covered with the loom as are the stereo wires. I also made it inaccessible to get to the back of the stereo by pushing the rack and the components up against the wall. I've talked with my daughter and I'm going to kitten proof her house this weekend since she has a few little ones.

I'll never know what made him want to chew on them, there were many low voltage wires that looked like they had teeth marks in them so chances are he got a tingle on more than one occasion. He was a little over a year old and should have been past the chewing stage and had dozens of toys and other things for his amusement. I've always kept my cats indoors to protect them against outside dangers not realizing the hidden dangers that lurked in the house. It was a horrible tragedy that I will always feel responsible for.

I was reading somewhere a theory that they chew on wires not to chew, but to create a string they can play with. Do you have any milk rings (or the productized equivalent) they can play with, maybe?

They have milk rings, toys that simulate them, twist ties, straws and shoe strings. Plenty of string like toys.


I was able to find some chew stop spray today but I'll have to special order the 2" diameter wire loom. The electrical supply stores I went to today didn't carry any of any size and the other few stores I tried only had 1" which isn't large enough for the basement wiring. Seems like it should be easier to find.

I just checked out the link and they have all three toys shown, maybe a dozen or more of each laying around the house in various areas. They are some of their favorite toys.