Help! Our cat likes mice!

[Mrinterface]

Hi there,

Our cat is slowly chewing her way through many of my mice -> a few weeks ago my last mouse ( with string ) was chewed to death by our little teenage feline by severing the mouse from its tail. She just has an obsession for chewing wire -> up to know it was only low voltage, but there are pieces of wire where 220V runs through which sorta worries us. Somehow she 'feels' the danger because high voltage wires are not chewed upon ( yet )

Another problem with the USB wires she chewed through is that I can't seem to repair them? I mean : when I color connect them the USB should connect properly again, but somehow the repair doesn't work? Is there some kind of shielding involved that I need to implement?

Did anybody else ever experienced this with one of their cats?

[NewGuy]

She is now an outdoor cat.


In all seriousness the best solution I can think of is to cover any cables you can with plastic "cable tidy"


and use trunking where possible:


Tack cables to walls, run them up the back of desk legs etc. Try to avoid having as much loose cable as possible.

Try and give her, her own set of toys to play with rather than chewing on anything she pleases and try to encourage it. Catnip on the toys, spray with water when going for other cables. (obviously avoid the cables…)


We had a rabbit here eat right through the 220v live wire for one of the televisions here recently. There were only two strands of copper remaining in the cable. I'm amazed that it didn't start a fire or get electrocuted. Horrible creatures…

[woody]

We had a rabbit here eat right through the 220v live wire for one of the televisions here recently. There were only two strands of copper remaining in the cable. I'm amazed that it didn't start a fire or get electrocuted. Horrible creatures…

Leporidae are known for their ferociousness.

[daedalus]

I have a video of my cat pushing around an Apple Mighty Mouse. Must upload it sometime.

[Crazy9000]

I had a USB cable on a mouse cut in half and didn't have to shield it or anything to repair. Try cutting the cables clean an inch back from where the cat bit it on each side, then repairing it.

[ripster]

Run a 220V line in parallel with mouse cord. Problem WILL be solved.

I'm not much for cats.


This pic got me 4 Infractions at OCN but was so worth it.

[webwit]

People who don't like cats must be mistrusted. Deeply. Especially if they repeatedly state it in public. Then there's something wrong with you, and to add to the pain you are not aware of it. On the other hand one could argue it's a good thing they are telling us they are not wired correctly. Thanks for the message, I guess.

[ripster]

I don't even trust my dog anymore.

I tell myself he didn't know any better because he couldn't read the HHKB keyset Japanese instructions. I also tell MYSELF that since I broke the damn wimpy Topre spacebar stabilizer pulling the thing BEFORE my dog saw it on the floor and chewed it up. Not one of my better modding efforts.

[prava]

Damn ripster, you have lego for everything

[Dogi]

Clearly the plastic is too delicious to resist. Like liquorice

[JBert]

Actually, I wonder if no products exist to teach your cat not to chew cables similar to the bitter nail polish used to stop kids from nail-biting.

[ripster]

I tried the bitter stuff. Didn't work that well. Flexible cable sheathing was enough for my dog - luckily dogs are smarter than cats and grow out of it.

[hemflit]

Chop up a nice hot chili pepper. Boil in a little water. Drain. Instant pet-repelling potion, if a little harsh.

Rub a bit of it on the cable, but avoid the parts that you might touch in regular use. She'll probably bite that cable one more time and decide to move on to tastier things.

[Seriously]

MrInterface, can you show us pictures of your solder job? I'm curious as to why your fix isn't working, either. IIRC soldering USB cables back together was pretty simple (I used to mod the original Xbox controller cables to standard USB cables), but maybe you've got a super-duper-rare exception on your hands?