# Why is my cat chewing my charger cord and how can I get him to stop? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 26, 2012, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-cat-chewing-my-charger-cord-and-how-can-i-get-him-to-stop/614052 "2012-02-26T14:17:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![thelabdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@thelabdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelabdude)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-cat-chewing-my-charger-cord-and-how-can-i-get-him-to-stop/614052/21 "2012-02-27T13:28:47Z")
Can you repair the wire? May not meet code. ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-cat-chewing-my-charger-cord-and-how-can-i-get-him-to-stop/614052/22 "2012-02-27T13:41:11Z")
Why are you spending $80 on a cord? I’m sure [this will carry electrons](http://www.amazon.com/Adapter-Extension-Apple-PowerBook-Notebook/dp/B002V4XKRS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1330349869&sr=8-1) just as well as a genuine Apple brand cord. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2012, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-cat-chewing-my-charger-cord-and-how-can-i-get-him-to-stop/614052/23 "2012-02-28T12:31:48Z")
> [@Alley\_Dweller](#): > > Why are you spending $80 on a cord? > I’m sure [this will carry electrons](http://www.amazon.com/Adapter-Extension-Apple-PowerBook-Notebook/dp/B002V4XKRS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1330349869&sr=8-1) just as well as a genuine Apple brand cord. Thanks, I did look online prior to buying the $80.00 one from Best Buy, but I got impatient with too many choices with bad reviews. Perhaps I’ll give it another try. I did get this one to work again finally by bending it and stretching it out. Thanks for all the responses everyone. ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2012, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-cat-chewing-my-charger-cord-and-how-can-i-get-him-to-stop/614052/24 "2012-02-28T12:40:49Z")
The quickest fix is dish soap. Never met a cat who likes it. Soap in palm of hand - rub hands together - run hands down length of cord - wash hands. Done. Cord might get a little tacky, but it’s just soap, yanno? Re-apply as needed, I’ve only needed to do it twice. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2012, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-cat-chewing-my-charger-cord-and-how-can-i-get-him-to-stop/614052/25 "2012-02-28T14:19:59Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > Smear some hot sauce on the cord. Hope your cat isn’t Mexican. This is what I came in here to say. When we first got our cat, he had a bad habit of chewing on cords also - lamp, TV, computer, you name it. But one day I wiped some Tabasco on them, and it got him to immediately stop. ---
**Author:** ![psychobunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/54ee81/32.png) [@psychobunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychobunny)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2012, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-cat-chewing-my-charger-cord-and-how-can-i-get-him-to-stop/614052/26 "2012-03-01T07:56:39Z")
> [@SeaDragonTattoo](#): > > The quickest fix is dish soap. Never met a cat who likes it. Soap in palm of hand - rub hands together - run hands down length of cord - wash hands. Done. > > Cord might get a little tacky, but it’s just soap, yanno? Re-apply as needed, I’ve only needed to do it twice. Yeah-that’s how I thought I’d keep Boris from licking all my pots clean-just immediately fill them with soapy water and leave in the sink to soak until I wash them. On the plus side, his vomit is now nice and sudsy with built in carpet-cleaner. I also don’t think the hot sauce would work. I tried to keep his sister from going for the potato chips by switching to blazing hot buffalo flavor but she apparently likes them. ---
**Author:** ![Malones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bc79bd/32.png) [@Malones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malones)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2015, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-cat-chewing-my-charger-cord-and-how-can-i-get-him-to-stop/614052/27 "2015-04-07T09:26:37Z")
Cats love those white cables for some reason - Apple or Android. Bought two of them and they were gone in two weeks. Wrap a strip of Duct Tape around it, and trim off the excess. Very ugly, but the cat won’t come near it. ---
**Author:** ![stillownedbysetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@stillownedbysetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stillownedbysetters)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2015, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-cat-chewing-my-charger-cord-and-how-can-i-get-him-to-stop/614052/28 "2015-04-07T17:43:09Z")
My youngest dog would eat anything electronic as a pup - cabling (yum!), remote controls (crunchy!), cell phones (tasty!), etc. I was told that part of the reason they do this is that they are attracted to the low-pulse power going through the cord or device. I was told to power things down when not in use and this would stop (or in the case of the remote, remove the battery). By gosh, it worked! We went from chewing everything to chewing nothing. He completely lost interest in these items unless they were powered. Couldn’t hurt to try. ---
**Author:** ![BaldDudePeekskill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5e925/32.png) [@BaldDudePeekskill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BaldDudePeekskill)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2015, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-cat-chewing-my-charger-cord-and-how-can-i-get-him-to-stop/614052/29 "2015-04-07T23:41:02Z")
> [@Malones](#): > > Cats love those white cables for some reason - Apple or Android. Bought two of them and they were gone in two weeks. Wrap a strip of Duct Tape around it, and trim off the excess. Very ugly, but the cat won’t come near it. EERIE!! Same exact experience this week, except the cat destroyed the Mac cable (white) ,the two samsung white cables, but left the black wires on the other gizmo adapters totally untouched. I could not repair the Apple cable, despite trying to splice it. Got luckier with the Samsung cords (they’re not standard USB cables so…) I too, wrapped black electrical tape around all of them. Let’s hope it works. I don’t want to do the tabasco sauce route ---
**Author:** ![stui\_magpie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stui_magpie/32/11010_2.png) [@stui\_magpie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stui_magpie)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2015, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-cat-chewing-my-charger-cord-and-how-can-i-get-him-to-stop/614052/30 "2015-04-08T03:52:06Z")
If the cable is still plugged in surely at some point if the cat keeps chewing it’s going to an electric shock isn’t it? Otherwise mix some cayenne pepper into some eucalyptus chest rub and wipe a bit on the cables. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2015, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-cat-chewing-my-charger-cord-and-how-can-i-get-him-to-stop/614052/31 "2015-04-08T03:59:07Z")
He does it because cats are dumb. To solve it you do what we did to get Dad’s bunny to stop chewing up their laptop cables - you wrap them in split loom tubing. It’s much easier to deal with than something fully solid would be, and it’s not too expensive, either. We used the 1/4" kind [here at amazon](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005V9UU1O/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_1?pf_rd_p=1944687662&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B002045XWO&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1H2QFGAJW0E4CTXR2JM9). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-cat-chewing-my-charger-cord-and-how-can-i-get-him-to-stop/614052.md?page=1)