From: gil@limbic.ssdl.com (Gil Kloepfer Jr.)
Subject: Spiteful Chewing - HELP!
Organization: Southwest Systems Development Labs, Houston, TX
Date: Sun, 12 Apr 1992 06:05:54 GMT

I have a siamese mix ("Smokey", male, fixed), about 10 or 11 months old,
who I CANNOT keep from chewing things.  He does it for spite, it seems.
The two cats have a scratching post which had (past tense) a half-inch hemp
rope with a knot as a toy.  Smokey chewed through the rope.  I've since
taken all ropes away since he chewed (and ate) both my shoelaces on
two separate evenings.  He chewed and ate part of the string on my
laundry bag when I left it for 10 minutes to handle an emergency computer
problem.  Now that I'm packing to move, I've found he's chewed
my phone cable, keyboard extension cable, and heaven knows what else.
When he started chewing lamp cords about 4 months ago, I did the
cayenne pepper idea and that helped, but it leaves red stains all over
the wires....and some wires and things just don't lend themselves to
being peppered or covered.  I found that today while I was gone, he
chewed-up a corner of the carpet.  I've since sprinkled cayenne pepper
on tempting places of the carpet (thank goodness it's a brownish color).

He also won't leave Peppy, my older (4 year old) cat, alone, to the
point where she's become a pretty worthless pet.  She will not let
anyone (including me) hold her (she growls), hardly ever plays...
About the only time Peppy will appear "happy" is at feeding time.
Although Smokey is a "fun", good-natured cat, he's turned everything
to hell around here.

I've been out of work for 6 months and am about to start a new job on
Monday.  I am almost afraid what I'm going to find when I get home
with boxes of things sitting out where cats can get them.  At the end
of this week, I'll be moving to a new apartment.  The new carpet is a
lighter color, and there are glass doors with blinds which go to the floor.
Since Smokey chewed one of the slats on the blinds here, I am concerned
he may destroy the blinds there if he gets "bored."  And yes, he has
plenty of toys.  He does this when he's not getting attention.

I'm just about ready to give Smokey away.  I don't want to - I've grown
attached to the guy.  Unfortunately, I can't afford nor do I want to
replace everything that hangs.  I can't have any kind of decorations
at all around the apartment because he'll literally destroy them.  To
be honest, anything that has wires or strings or anything he can happily
chew on can be thought of as junk if I leave it in the living area.

I can't and won't let Smokey outside during the day.  Not only is it
against city ordinance (and the apartment rules), but it's just too
dangerous.  All it takes is one "cat-hater" or a car...

Before I go through the grueling task of trying to find a new home for
Smokey, has anyone had any success with dealing with a situation like
this?  I can crate him during the day and when I leave, but cats aren't
like dogs and they don't seem to like to be caged-up.  I can't leave
him in the bathroom - he'll rip the toilet paper to shreds, and open
the cabinets and chew anything in there.  I haven't even tried this...
he chews toilet paper without being kept in there...  I can't put
cayenne pepper on everything.  If I had a dog (Smokey gets along well
with dogs), it'd probably wear him out...but I'm not getting a dog!

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.  I'm at the end of my rope...because
Smokey has chewed most of it up. ;-)

-- 
Gil Kloepfer, Jr.                                         gil@limbic.ssdl.com
                                                          ...!ames!limbic!gil