Destructive Chewing

Cats love routine to feel secure, but they also love to play. They play not only with their claws, but sometimes with their teeth, like babies. However, Cats usually do not differentiate the edible from the inedible, and the inedible objects that cats chew can even be dangerous to them. Therefore, it is important for us to prevent them from chewing anything that could harm them in any way, as well as to prevent our household items from damage.

Cats’ destructive chewing is usually caused by teething in kittens, curiosity, boredom, and in some cases physical health issues, such as vitamin deficiencies, dental problem, or gum inflammation. Kittens are like human babies and they explore things with their mouths and teeth. This habit goes on until adulthood.

Unless we suspect the destructive chewing is caused by physical health issues, which should be solved with veterinarians’ professional help, there are actually some issues that we can focus on and do to prevent cats from chewing them.

Electrical Wires and Cords

It is understandable that electrical wires and cords can be easily found in many rooms, and we can imagine how dangerous it can be when cats chew on them. As in humans, it can result in electric shock or even death. We can cope with this in two ways.

Diverging Cats Toys – First, diverge cats’ attention from the cords to cats’ toys. Cats chew on cords usually out of boredom, especially if they are left alone during the day when we go out to work or for leisure. We can give them a lot of “play-alone” toys that can be mounted on the wall or doors, so that they can swat or bat around or tower to explore.

We can also make some tunnel with cardboard boxes with holes cut through the sides for them to run around. This adds fun to them and keeps them busy. These toys are good to keep the cats moving, which means they have more opportunity to do exercises.

Cats Repellers – Second, we can do something on the cords to prevent cats from approaching and chewing them. We can do so by covering the cords with pre-split hollow tubing that cover cords and electrical wires. They are available in many computer supply stores or household utilities stores.

In case there are a lot of wires in the same area, we can group them together with flexible poly tubing in several diameters, or the larger “corrugated” tubing. They are available in most building supply or hardware stores. We can adjust the length of the poly tubing by slitting the tubing and cut it so that it fits the length of the cords.

In addition, we can discourage the cats from accessing the cords. This can be done in a few ways. As in the case of clawing, we can apply double-sided adhesive tape not on the surface of the cords, but the surface surrounding the cord. Cats normally are reluctant to walk pass the tape.

Another way is bitter apple spray. This is a very good training tool to discourage cats from chewing the cords by making the cords taste bad. After leaving a bad taste in the cats’ mouth, they would not approach the cords and try to chew it again. A more expensive alternative to bitter apple spray is cat repellent canister, which consists of a motion detector and an aerosol can (also known as canister). When the cats approach, the motion detector atop the canister will trigger a high-pitched alarm. This will trigger a quick spray of harmless material to the cats.

Greenery

Many households love to decorate their houses with green plants, but they may not be aware that houseplants are another common target for cat chewing as cats have a natural attracted to greenery. We have to be careful about this issue not only because the plants would be destroyed, but also because some of these plants can be very toxic to cats. Some common indoor plants that are potentially poisonous to cats and their effects and symptoms are listed alphabetically below for cat lovers’ reference.

Amaryllis – Vomiting and diarrhea, with discomfort in stomach and intestinal

Azalea – Inco-ordination, trembling, even collapse

Cactus – Punctured skin and infection

Caladium – Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, shaking head, breathing difficulty

Creeping Charlie – Vomiting, diarrhea, stomach pain, cramps

Easter Lily – All parts can cause kidney failure

Dieffenbachia (a.k.a. Dumb cane) – Affects central nervous system

(English) Ivy (Hedera helix) – Vomiting, diarrhea, excitable behavior

Mistletoe – Ingesting berries can cause vomiting, diarrhea, blistering in the mouth, breathing difficulty

Oleander (Nerium oleander) – Dilated pupils, excitability or lethargy, seizures, drooling and vomiting

Philodendron – Same as Caladium

Poinsettia – Same as Mistletoe

Some of us may be surprised to find that some of the planets are their favourites and yet are harmful to the cats. If for any reason it is difficult to remove the plants, one way to solve the dilemma of keeping the plants and the cats is to place the plants where the cats can never touch by any means, whether they are supervised or not.

As mentioned, one way to keep cats away from a restricted area is by bitter apple spray or cat repellent canisters. We can keep cats away from these plants in some other ways, such as placing rocks or gravel in the soil, mothballs, or a maze of wooden skewers around the plants. These materials and devices help keep the cat from climbing on, digging in the soil, not to mentioned chewing the plants.

Other items 

As with human babies, we need to be careful in handling items such as string, thread and twist ties that can twist cats’ limbs, body and/or neck, plastic bags that can suffocate, and tiny pins and needles that can pierce cats’ skin or be swallowed to hurt mouth and esophagus.

After all, having dry food handy for cats always reduce the chance they seek to chew something that is not edible.