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Any suggestions for keeping the cat off the viv?

Put some easy to remove items up top, or a cactus (heehee). I have three cats, but with my tank being the length it is, it has a center brace so I don't worry about it. The novelty of it may wear off for the cat as well, like it did for mine.
 
smigon said:
Oh, they know EXACTLY what they are doing wrong when hit with a stream of water. I haven't had to use it in years, after doing it twice all you need to do is shake the bottle and off they go. And 2 minutes later they are cuddling with me like it never happened.

Loosen up a little, no need to be so serious!
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I have to agree. Normally, I'm all for redirecting and overall I'm pretty lax with our cats, but after our youngest one chewed up literally hundreds of dollars of headphones and phone chargers we had to do something. And yes, we tried bitter stuff even though it was a pain for things that we handle...that stuff tastes nasty on your hands! We also try very hard to keep them put away, but it's not always possible.

Anyway, spray bottle has finally helped. I don't even actually squirt him with it most of the time...it's the noise. And he still loves me...cuddled up next to me right now actually.

For some reason none of our cats have ever shown any interest in getting on top of the viv. We do have a terrarium light hood on top that we rigged with some wooden supports so it doesn't sit on the screen so that probably discourages them as well.
 
Popcorn715 said:
I have to agree. Normally, I'm all for redirecting and overall I'm pretty lax with our cats, but after our youngest one chewed up literally hundreds of dollars of headphones and phone chargers we had to do something. And yes, we tried bitter stuff even though it was a pain for things that we handle...that stuff tastes nasty on your hands! We also try very hard to keep them put away, but it's not always possible.
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I'm with you, one of our cat has a death wish, any ribbon on cloth is fair game, our WII is no longer working due to wire damage, so far she hasn't really chewed on any power cord yet. It can't taste good, I don't know why she does it! :shrugs:
 
Popcorn715 said:
I have to agree. Normally, I'm all for redirecting and overall I'm pretty lax with our cats, but after our youngest one chewed up literally hundreds of dollars of headphones and phone chargers we had to do something. And yes, we tried bitter stuff even though it was a pain for things that we handle...that stuff tastes nasty on your hands! We also try very hard to keep them put away, but it's not always possible.
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Isn't that weird? One cat now LOVES to eat styrofoam, as in packing material. One LOVES plastic bags. One LOVES bandaids and their wrappers and the parts you peel off (this includes feminine product wrappers and peel off parts of liners). It is kind of hard to explain to company or repairmen why you are chasing a cat with a panty liner strip in her mouth!

One thing I have found is chili powder. I sprinkle it in areas where they would try to chew cords or something else "tasty", you don't see it in tan carpeting and they won't go for seconds on what they try to bite!
 
smigon said:
Isn't that weird? One cat now LOVES to eat styrofoam, as in packing material. One LOVES plastic bags. One LOVES bandaids and their wrappers and the parts you peel off (this includes feminine product wrappers and peel off parts of liners). It is kind of hard to explain to company or repairmen why you are chasing a cat with a panty liner strip in her mouth!
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I had a literal LOL moment reading that!

My cats are mostly voice-trained. They know certain tones of voice and actually respond to "no" and "don't," believe it or not. But we also have a pair of mini super-soakers (one upstairs, one downstairs) if we need quick correction. They don't hold it against us...very loving, very forgiving. Giving positive reinforcement once the bad behavior has ceased definitely helps. Something as simple as a calmly toned "good girl" works well in my experience.

My Bengal is utterly obsessed with cardboard boxes. I've actually had her jump about 4 feet from the ground into a newly-opened box before I could even take my stuff out of it. Granted, that only really happened once. There was no room for her, which wasn't as fun as she had anticipated. "Look before you leap" crosses species lines. :)
 
smigon said:
Isn't that weird? One cat now LOVES to eat styrofoam, as in packing material. One LOVES plastic bags. One LOVES bandaids and their wrappers and the parts you peel off (this includes feminine product wrappers and peel off parts of liners). It is kind of hard to explain to company or repairmen why you are chasing a cat with a panty liner strip in her mouth!

One thing I have found is chili powder. I sprinkle it in areas where they would try to chew cords or something else "tasty", you don't see it in tan carpeting and they won't go for seconds on what they try to bite!
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Oh my, I'm sorry I missed this. That's hysterical. :laugh: Cats can be very weird! One of our other cats eats the ends off of used q-tips he finds in the trash :puke01: Apparently I will never convince DH that it's not a good idea to stick those things in his ears, but I have at least got him to use the trash with a lid and don't find little white sticks all over the floor anymore.

We have zero carpet in our house so I don't know how chili powder would work, but it's definitely an idea to file away. He's been really good with not chewing cords lately, but we've thought he was over it before.....
 
Popcorn715 said:
We have zero carpet in our house so I don't know how chili powder would work, but it's definitely an idea to file away. He's been really good with not chewing cords lately, but we've thought he was over it before.....
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Could you add a little water to make a thick paste, maybe? That way it doesn't scatter everywhere (at least at first), and you can focus the application right where you want it.

You could even apply it with a q-tip. ;) (Kidding!)
 
Phruit Dish said:
Could you add a little water to make a thick paste, maybe? That way it doesn't scatter everywhere (at least at first), and you can focus the application right where you want it.

You could even apply it with a q-tip. ;) (Kidding!)
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Ha! I could. :D

Sent from my Kindle Fire HD using Tapatalk
 
Phruit Dish said:
Could you add a little water to make a thick paste, maybe? That way it doesn't scatter everywhere (at least at first), and you can focus the application right where you want it.

You could even apply it with a q-tip. ;) (Kidding!)
Click to expand...

Haw!

And exactly what I was going to suggest. A little paste smeared on it is a definite deterrent, especially when applied with a q-tip!
 
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This is what I had to do for that reason:
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The cat actually broke one of my 20 longs (busted lid track and busted glass!) and the snake escaped. Lucky for me the snake was smart and stayed hidden under large furniture near his original location. I had moved the tanks three times and invested in a water spritzer and ended up building the stackable escape proof cat proof cages after his fat butt broke the 20l!
 
carriecat2 said:
I'm with you, one of our cat has a death wish, any ribbon on cloth is fair game, our WII is no longer working due to wire damage, so far she hasn't really chewed on any power cord yet. It can't taste good, I don't know why she does it! :shrugs:
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Sounds like you may have a pica cat.... They need e sensory feedback from chewing.... There was a great episode of "my cat from hell" about it!

And I see your cat on the Viv and raise you a cat in the Viv! No the large boa was not in the Viv at the time....

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A good "startle" training tactic to keep cats away from specific areas is to use mouse traps - upside down! By carefully setting traps upside down without triggering them, they will snap and leap an inch or two off the surface when the cat touches them, but with no chance injuring the cat. After a few times they usually decide the area is too nerve wracking to venture into.
 
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