ION, is there something you can apply to wires and cords so cats don't CHEW THROUGH the cord to a cable box? Something bad-tasting but safe?

Amy, apple bitters are supposed to do the job, though I've never tried it myself: [link]

Amy, for dogs the progression I recommend is Bitter Apple, to Bitter Cherry, to a product called Yuck!

Usually, one of the first two does the trick. If not, Yuck really is nasty. As a last resort, hot sauce nearly always works. It really is a last, last resort but if it comes down to a hurt tongue vs. electrocution, I'm going to pull out the big guns.

You can also try wrapping the cord in aluminum foil, if no actual wires are exposed.

Spasticity just means that the muscles tighten and can't relax. My sister's brain damage was one-sided, and her right hand draws up into a claw and her right leg muscles tightened so that she was on tiptoe on that side, at least prior to several surgeries. Spasticity has nothing to do with jerky features, but contributes to the awkward gait.

Yes, but I think when kids use it they mean hyperactive, not in the same sense as in spastic CP.

I should add, Bartleby casually chewed on exactly one thing in my house. Roughly 10 minutes later, the place was coated in Bitter Apple. He never chewed on anything else.

With one weirdly notable exception. He dug under a stack of books/papers, to chew up my 1999 'book'. Three times.

His permanent record in one vet office states "Destroys financial records."

I still have the book in a big ziplock just in case I get audited for that year. I suppose I could throw it out, but it's a good story.

Must have been a tasty glue, or something.

Doing things like naming the CP association the Spastic Society doesn't lean to casual distinction between the types of CP. Even though spastic CP is a subdvision of the disease, it's also a synonym for them all.

Thanks, guys. I can't do aluminum foil for the wire S. just had to splice to get to work (which will be taped when he finds the electrical tape), but I will for other things. AND get the apple spray. He's a big chewer, and this isn't the first cord he's chewed all the way through.

Uh, the cat is the big chewer, not Stephen. To be clear.

good gravy. I would NEVER have known that "spastic" and CP has a connection. I don't use "spaz" very much if at all, but it was all the rage in the 80s when I was in high school. There was no connection to CP in our use of it. It would be more likely to be associated with hyperactivity.

I get why not to use it anymore, but when I was a middle schooler, spazzing out or spazz had the same meaning as "wigging out", possibly with more jumping about. I didn't even get the connection with the word "spastic". Language is fascinating.

Steampunk office: [link]