Pets and electrical cords
Posted by: Laura
Pets and electrical cords - 31/08/2006 01:30
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.
Posted by: boxer
Re: Pets and electrical cords - 31/08/2006 05:06
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.
Posted by: SE_Sport_Driver
Re: Pets and electrical cords - 31/08/2006 11:26
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
Posted by: canuckInOR
Re: Pets and electrical cords - 31/08/2006 17:00
Posted by: andym
Re: Pets and electrical cords - 31/08/2006 18:07
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.
Posted by: Laura
Re: Pets and electrical cords - 31/08/2006 21:07
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.
Posted by: Taym
Re: Pets and electrical cords - 01/09/2006 07:39
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.
Posted by: speedy67
Re: Pets and electrical cords - 01/09/2006 10:24
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.
Posted by: Laura
Re: Pets and electrical cords - 02/09/2006 00:07
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.
Posted by: boxer
Re: Pets and electrical cords - 02/09/2006 06:19
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.
Posted by: wfaulk
Re: Pets and electrical cords - 02/09/2006 14:06
That's the same stuff Brad was calling "wire loom".
Posted by: Laura
Re: Pets and electrical cords - 04/09/2006 12:32
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.
Posted by: peter
Re: Pets and electrical cords - 04/09/2006 12:43
Quote:
foam pipe insulation
Umm, you might not want to use that on wires that carry lots of current, just in case of overheating.
Peter
Posted by: Laura
Re: Pets and electrical cords - 04/09/2006 13:08
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?
Posted by: peter
Re: Pets and electrical cords - 04/09/2006 13:18
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
Posted by: julf
Re: Pets and electrical cords - 04/09/2006 13:29
Quote:
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.
That is what I use to rabbit-proof my wiring (along with conduit for the ethernet). It's supposed to be rat-proof, and if it stops rats, then it stops pretty much anything else...
Posted by: Laura
Re: Pets and electrical cords - 04/09/2006 14:02
Is it slit to be able to slip over existing lines?
Posted by: msaeger
Re: Pets and electrical cords - 04/09/2006 14:09
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.
Posted by: Laura
Re: Pets and electrical cords - 04/09/2006 14:20
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.
Posted by: gbeer
Re: Pets and electrical cords - 04/09/2006 14:46
Posted by: wfaulk
Re: Pets and electrical cords - 04/09/2006 14:47
You could also get some of that spray stuff that tastes bad to pets and spray it on your cords.
Posted by: mlord
Re: Pets and electrical cords - 04/09/2006 15:17
Quote:
Any suggestions?
Cheap ABS or PVC tubing ? You'll need to cut lengthwise slits on it to get it around the wiring, but it's pretty tooth-resistant.
Or just nail up some thin plywood / wood / cardboard / whatever to prevent access to the wiring by the cats. It sounds as if you'll only need to cover a small area.
Cheers
Posted by: boxer
Re: Pets and electrical cords - 04/09/2006 15:20
Quote:
The flexible plastic wire loom can be bitten through if they really try
The Stuff I'm talking about is meant to resist an attack by a garden spade, and be safe for burying in the garden, its ribbed construction woud be very difficult for a cat to bite through (funnily enough, the many cats we've had over the last 30 years have never shown any interest except in moving wires like vacuum cleaners).
Quote:
The wire loom does not have a big enough diameter to cover it
I'm not in the US, but I can't see it being different: The same thing comes in a number of larger diameters, on the railway(railroad) where I work, we use 4" stuff to protect point(turnout) wiring.
(A couple there for the UK v US thread!)
Posted by: Laura
Re: Pets and electrical cords - 04/09/2006 16:30
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.
Posted by: canuckInOR
Re: Pets and electrical cords - 06/09/2006 18:17
Quote:
Quote:
foam pipe insulation
Umm, you might not want to use that on wires that carry lots of current, just in case of overheating.
That's also one of the few things my cats *will* chew on, and, eventually through. I used to leave my camping foam sleeping foam pads within reach, until I discovered little blue bits all over the room, and bite marks (and holes) in the sleeping pads. When we caught a previous cat chewing wires, we just slathered Tabasco sauce on the wires, which worked just fine.
Posted by: Roger
Re: Pets and electrical cords - 06/09/2006 20:55
Quote:
When we caught a previous cat chewing wires...
One of our rabbits got into the habit of chewing through the phone cables behind the sofa. Fortunately, they're low voltage, so he didn't come to any harm. Unfortunately, he later caught the dog on a bad day, and didn't survive the encounter
We suspect that he found the cable insulation tasty. I wonder if the same is true for your kittens, Laura, and if there's a way to discourage them?
Posted by: wfaulk
Re: Pets and electrical cords - 06/09/2006 21:04
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.
Posted by: Laura
Re: Pets and electrical cords - 07/09/2006 10:21
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.
Posted by: wfaulk
Re: Pets and electrical cords - 07/09/2006 18:34
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?
Posted by: Laura
Re: Pets and electrical cords - 07/09/2006 20:35
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.
Posted by: SE_Sport_Driver
Re: Pets and electrical cords - 07/09/2006 21:17
2" Wire Loom on eBay in 5 foot lengths10 foot length.
50 foot.
Even though cats can obviously chew threw this stuff, just having the wires "out of sight" but them out of my cats' minds.
Let us know how the chew spray works.
Posted by: Laura
Re: Pets and electrical cords - 07/09/2006 23:01
Thanks for the ebay links. I bought a 10' section even though I hate ebay and paypal. For my cats I did it.