Cat chewing on blinds

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FireFighter_834 - 04 May 2005 04:43 GMT

I have this huge cat (about the size of a great dane) *LOL* and he like
to chew on my blinds and the pull cords on the blinds. I have tried th
bitter apple and it just does not work.

the only time he does it is when I am starting to wake up in th
morning (around 7:30am). I catch him in the act and yell NO at him bu
by then he has either chewed off the cord or chewed holes in th
blinds. I have to replace 4 so far and I don't want to have to replac
those 2 weeks down the road..can't even close my blinds all the wa
down the window or I may wake up and not have blinds left *LOL*

anyone have any suggestions on what might work in my situation. I wa
thinking about tabasco sause but I don't want to be cleaning runn
kitty poo poo off my white rugs *LOL*

I know that he is not bored because he has 7 other cats to play with
He was an outdoor cat that I took in before we moved from VA to NC
maybe he is outdoor homesick?? not sure

any help would be appreciated

Candac

--
FireFighter_834

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Karen - 04 May 2005 13:20 GMT

> I have this huge cat (about the size of a great dane) *LOL* and he like

> chew on my blinds and the pull cords on the blinds. I have tried th

bitter

> apple and it just does not work.
>
> the only time he does it is when I am starting to wake up in th

morning

> (around 7:30am). I catch him in the act and yell NO at him bu

by then he has

> either chewed off the cord or chewed holes in th

blinds. I have to replace 4

> so far and I don't want to have to replac

those 2 weeks down the road..can't

> even close my blinds all the wa

down the window or I may wake up and not have

> blinds left *LOL*
>
> anyone have any suggestions on what might work in my situation. I wa

thinking

> about tabasco sause but I don't want to be cleaning runn

kitty poo poo off my

> white rugs *LOL*
>
> I know that he is not bored because he has 7 other cats to play with

He was

> an outdoor cat that I took in before we moved from VA to NC

maybe he is

> outdoor homesick?? not sure
>
> any help would be appreciated
>
> Candac

--
FireFighter_834

Well, you might consider those wooden slat blinds. Doubt he could chew
through those. And pick up some of those childproof cord winders from Target
to keep your cords safe and up. I always kept the blinds up somewhat out of
temptation range. But if you are replacing blinds that much, just bite the
bullet and get those heavier wooden ones. More expensive but I doubt you
would have to change them out.

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Diane L. Schirf - 04 May 2005 14:23 GMT

> Well, you might consider those wooden slat blinds. Doubt he could chew
> through those.

I wouldn't. Some cats have been know to reduce doors and door frames to
sawdust. :)

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kaeli - 04 May 2005 13:40 GMT

> I have this huge cat (about the size of a great dane) *LOL* and he likes
> to chew on my blinds and the pull cords on the blinds. I have tried the
> bitter apple and it just does not work.

Did you try bitter lime?

> the only time he does it is when I am starting to wake up in the
> morning (around 7:30am). I catch him in the act and yell NO at him but
> by then he has either chewed off the cord or chewed holes in the
> blinds. I have to replace 4 so far and I don't want to have to replace
> those 2 weeks down the road..can't even close my blinds all the way
> down the window or I may wake up and not have blinds left *LOL*

For the cords, you can keep them tucked up in the blinds, but for the blinds
themselves, you'll either have to find a good deterrent or lock him out of
the room.

> anyone have any suggestions on what might work in my situation. I was
> thinking about tabasco sause but I don't want to be cleaning runny
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> He was an outdoor cat that I took in before we moved from VA to NC.
> maybe he is outdoor homesick?? not sure

Has he seen a vet lately?
His teeth / gums may be bothering him.
It's probably behavioral, though, so you need to make the blinds unappealing.
Try the standard stuff -- bitter lime or citrus (cats usually hate orange).
You can also try setting him up with something that will fall and be noisy,
but not hurt him (keys, one of those little 8 oz cans of soda empty with a
few pennies in it, etc) when he bothers the blinds.

Since he *only* does it at a certain time, I'd lean towards inadvertent
training. Somehow, he gets rewarded for that behavior. Look more closely at
what happens and see if you can figure it out. It might be that it gets him
attention. Or perhaps he associates doing that with getting fed (do you feed
him right away?). Or any number of other events that he might consider a
reward for the behavior. Think like a cat, not a human, when looking at that.

In the meantime, you may be able to break the habit simply by locking him out
of your room or raising the blinds all the way up out of his reach for a week
or two.

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~kaeli~
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Hopitus - 04 May 2005 21:32 GMT

I have one of those plastic-blind-chewing cats! If yours pretty much only
wakes you up doing that in a.m., you
could try my solution which works here...we have those
apt-house-provided cheap plastic blinds, but he only chews the bedroom
one...I rack them up all the way to the top - as high as you can pull them
up - and tuck the
strings up there before going to bed. He can't reach it.

>> I have this huge cat (about the size of a great dane) *LOL* and he likes
>> to chew on my blinds and the pull cords on the blinds. I have tried the
[quoted text clipped - 50 lines]
> week
> or two.

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bigbadbarry - 05 May 2005 05:28 GMT

> I have this huge cat (about the size of a great dane) *LOL* and he likes
> to chew on my blinds and the pull cords on the blinds. I have tried

the

> bitter apple and it just does not work.
>
> the only time he does it is when I am starting to wake up in the
> morning (around 7:30am). I catch him in the act and yell NO at him

but

> by then he has either chewed off the cord or chewed holes in the
> blinds. I have to replace 4 so far and I don't want to have to

replace

> those 2 weeks down the road..can't even close my blinds all the way
> down the window or I may wake up and not have blinds left *LOL*
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
>
> --

You think your cat is just getting you out of the bed? - I mean, we all
know he knows you don't want him doing it. Your cat uses your blinds,
but it can be one of a million things, my cat uses my computer keyboard
to provoke me to get up (then he gets FRESH FOOD)

Sometimes he gets under the bed and calls my name...

B a r r y e e e e!

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Philip - 05 May 2005 07:16 GMT

>> I have this huge cat (about the size of a great dane) *LOL* and he
>> likes to chew on my blinds and the pull cords on the blinds. I have
[quoted text clipped - 29 lines]
>
> Sometimes he gets under the bed and calls my name...

The darned cat as TRAINED to you to perform a Pavlov dog response! LOL

> B a r r y e e e e!

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Monique Y. Mudama - 05 May 2005 06:05 GMT

> anyone have any suggestions on what might work in my situation. I
> was thinking about tabasco sause but I don't want to be cleaning
> runny kitty poo poo off my white rugs *LOL*

I don't know, but if you figure it out, please tell me!

Oscar has a string fetish, which I think started with the cords in
blinds. In my first apartment, she ate through all of the cords -- I
had not a single window with blinds intact.

In the intervening years, she's eaten string whenever she could get
her teeth into it, but I thought she'd given up on blinds ... until I
realized she's already chewed through the cords on the ones in the
bathroom window.

I did use bitter apple spray on the cord, and she doesn't seem to like
it; I hope that's the answer for us, but I'm not holding my breath.

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