Cat proofing cables, any suggestions

Cat's eaten into my only USB A type to B type cable. and he has a go at them all. Any suggestions that don't included maiming  him to stop this?
 

I've tried covering the cable in some washing up liquid, to see if the taste puts him off. I'll have a look for some cable coverings, but home improvement stores don't exist here. More a section of one street in the city has a row of shops all selling the same stuff, and when you go in they randomly shove items in your face in the vain hope it's what you are looking for, preventing you from actually browsing and finding what you are looking for. I'll have a gander to see what I can fiind
 
Most of my cables a neatly tied, but he was at the mic lead yesterday, and just moving with my midi sax sends him after the power and midi lead. usb cables are easy to replace, but psu ones are not.

LOL, Karyn wins the practical application.
 
Trying something like vinegar may work, since smell is another factor at play. Unfortunately, cats tend to go for anything resembling a string, so if they pounce/attack it, they may be going off of visual more anyway.
 
Not all cats react to catnip, but that may be another thing to try with a toy you want them to use instead.

Ah, I forgot you're in Vietnam, sorry. Probably a long way from the nearest Home Depot . But it's probably possible to get it online.
 
This is the stuff I'm referring to:

(BTW, the above link is in Vietnam)

Make a cut outs of a cat that is angry and in a fighting posture out of black construction paper and place them around your computer. He should do everything he can to avoid the apparent confrontation.
 
Something like this:
 

Some interesting suggestions guys, I'm not sure how I feel about filling my bedroom with cardboard cats. 
 
Problem with giving him other cables to chew on, is that it encourages the behavior. Your not meant to play with them with your hands apparently as they then think it's ok the attack your hands when you are not playing. So the toys I use are on strings at the end of sticks or that I can throw. Problem is you have to use your hands to stop him doing things he shoudn't, so he already has an association with my hands. Sometimes after peaving me off biting me when I've made it clear he's peaving me off, he'll come back with his favourite toy in his mouth so he can fight with his claws in, but bite his toy and not me. Someone looked after him when I had to do a visa run and and was the same with them.
 
Since he killed the USB cable I coated the dead cable and some others in washing up liquid to but him off. Hoping the taste would not be pleasant, it's been really successful, not because of the taste it seams, but the smell. Even the cable that he destroyed doesn't seem to have been touched.
 
Following on for Bitflippers suggestion, I thought maybe of using some plastic tubing like they use in fish tanks, either cutting a spiral or along it's length. He seams to prefer the thinner cables, so this would make it thicker. I think the coloured conduit is more suitable for several cables making the same run, but it's given me the other idea.
 
I have thought about running some tabe over the top, but often, especailly with the temperatures here in the summer the adhesive can appear at the edge. Should I change my mind, it's then left behind. At least if I use it on the fishing tank tubing it will be left behind on the and it's easily replaceable.
 

Mine don't like the feel of bubble wrap. I just have to put it by the cables and they stay away.
Also years ago when growing up we had cats to and using plastic runner turned upside down worked really well.
they don't like the feel of the nibs.
 

We've had a total of 8 cats, currently 3 with maximum of 4 until last year when our oldest tom died after being the terror of the neighbourhood for 18 years.

The only thing we've found that works is to shut the door, or if it must be open then wedge it so the gap's too small for them to get through. And never, ever relax your guard.

Another possibility is that all cats seem irrationally scared of something, the difficult part of the trick being to find out what that thing is, and it's different for every cat. The tom who died last year was frightened of nothing - cats that didn't live with us, dogs, cars, all were just more potential victims. But he was scared witless of a leather hat I have. No idea why, the others sleep on it quite happily, but he'd run at the sight of it.

One of our current females runs away from a plastic covered camping pillow. Another used to keep well away from cables if you moved them, but not if they were stationary - her particular endearing trick was trying to vomit hairballs on guitars, which I suppose might have been criticism of my playing rather than just vandalism.

But, in the end, the only way to stop a really determined cat interacting with expensive or fragile stuff in bad ways is to keep the door shut.

More 'totally brilliant' (TM) ideas:
 
o install a tiger(1)
o put insanity sauce on the cables(2)
o pass the cables *through* the cat, such that the cat becomes the cable shield (irony bonus!)(3)

1 - you then only have a tiger problem to deal with, they don't bother with cables much or so I've heard
2 - another approach may be required if you find out your cat is a chilli freak
3 - very thick gloves may be required, and the cat can actually still chew on the cables :-(

For some other, not completely r_e_t_a_r_d_ed ideas, try here:
http://www.wikihow.com/Ke...ric-Cords-and-Chargers
 
[Aside: I can't believe that r_e_t_a_r_d is a banned word?!]

OK, a serious suggestion, based on experience*.

Black pepper. Probably doesn't even have to be ground. Just arrange a tray of it, trough, whatever, that the kitten has to get through to get at the cables or that the cables can lie in. If that doesn't do the trick white pepper might. We've found scattering some on top of the compost is quite good at keeping kittens out of flowerpots.

English mustard powder would probably do the trick, but a feline eyeful of that (or finely ground pepper) = trip to the vets and lots of awkward questions to answer.

If you're new to the job of cat servant, then don't despair, things will settle down and one day you too will have the joy of providing a home with all found to a lazy, moulting, hairball-expelling creature that knows it is superior to you because your species goes out to work to provide for cats' every need, not the other way round.

Eventually.

(Don't get me wrong, I like cats, but I've been under their collective thumb for long enough to have no illusions about them).

*All cats are different. While this has worked on some cats at least some of the time, there is no warranty it will work on yours.

I have heard that covering the cable with hot sauce will keep them from chewing on them. I can't say as mine never did chew on cables. Of course, I did have the ultimate cat remote control - a spray bottle loaded with water. They even think about doing something wrong and they would mysteriously find a stream of water. :) Eventually they learn to stay away from certain things.

I wonder how that bitter stuff that you paint on kids fingernails to stop them chewing them would go with a cat?
 
 

Not to be too moribund but a friend's dog got killed by biting into a power cable. He might have survived if not for a bad turn of events. When the dog got shocked he immediately started to pee and then the carpet was wet where he was standing. Well you get the drift...
 
Just saying that dogs have been known to chew cables too.