Bitter spray

Let's talk about bitter spray everyone! For those of you who doesn't know what bitter spray is, it's aimed for pets who have biting, chewing, or clawing/scratching problems. It's supposed to taste foul enough (and it sure is foul tasting) that it prevents the animal from- and ultimately stopping said habit(s).

Does it work? Have you ever had to use it?

I ask because my cat Trixiehttp://bopsie.deviantart.com/art/Let-us-out-458805988(The tuxedo cat) has a massive wire chewing problem. We've tried more toys (The dog steals them), spanking her (She doesn't care), spraying her with water, only to find out she likes water (probably the dunking and bathing we had to give her at six weeks old), spraying the wires with apple cider vinegar (She freaking likes the taste of it now because she still chews on them) so we end up to the topic of bitter spray. We've (my mom and I) have sprayed everything wire with it and so far Tiger is the only one going near them, he's been getting sprayed with water when he does(that works on him, but the little weirdo dunks his head under the faucet for drinks of water all the time). Sunshine (The tom in the above link to picture) is the good one xD

I've tried it with cats and hamsters, and it seems to work better on some surfaces than others. It's good on metal but it didn't really work on wires. My cat would just find whatever part of the wire didn't get enough spray and chew there. Luckily he eventually grew out of his interest in wires, but I'd try wrapping the wires she likes to chew in aluminum foil. Cats hate the sound it makes, plus it won't taste good either.

Sadly my one cat would then think they were toys, he loves foil balls, and if we wrap one wire she'll start chewing a different one, but I will let my mom know so maybe was can try then spray the foil wrapped wires with the spray. Thanks

That's a good idea, the spray will probably work better on the foil. Good luck!

Spray might work. Also mixing up your own might work too.

"A simple blend of lemon juice, cayenne pepper and water will keep most pets away from your electrical wires.
Combine the ingredients into a spray bottle and douse the cord. Beforehand, it’s wise to make sure the protective coating surrounding the wires is intact so the liquid doesn’t seep into small cracks and crevices. Alternatively, I heard success stories involving premade hot sauces like Tabasco, Red Rooster Sauce or Sriracha. If you make a homemade spray, be sure the concoction is concentrated enough to do the job. Cover the cords liberally and reapply on a regular basis."

Also using distraction techniques could work. "Recommendations included blasting a can of compressed air that makes a loud noise, shaking a metal container filled with pennies, or squirting the pet with water. "

Spanking a cat? Doesn't work. You shouldn't ever hit your animals in the first place - and cats are like young kids - they want to get their way - "spanking" is just going to [censored] them off.

When I would spank her it was more to get her attenion, I never hurt her, but if my grandma get ahold of her I'll be calling the cops, what she wants to do is more abusive than giving a cat a light bump on the back end

For me it just depends on how determined the animal is.

Trixie is very determined she chewed half way through a plugged in TV cable