My cat ate my headset!

Calcifer has always been a chewer, but I think all the upheaval with cleaning the basement and moving things around has stressed him out lately.  I've noticed him chewing on more things the last few days- everything from my exercise bands to the edge of the carpet.  I didn't see him jump up next to the computer, but I did catch him with the cord of my headset between his teeth!  And he KNEW he was doing something very bad, because the second he realized he'd been caught he raced downstairs and hid for half an hour.  Hopefully I can fix the cord with some electrical tape, but I'm definitely going to have to break him of the habit of chewing on cords.  I do not want my kitty electrocuted!  As soon as I can I'll get some Bitter Apple spray and spray all the cords around the house, as well as anything else I don't want him gnawing on.  It worked to break my dog from chewing on the furniture years ago, so hopefully it will work on Calcifer as well.  His attempts to apologize were pretty funny though.  He was all sweet and cuddly, and sat on my lap for more than an hour.  I think I've got the house pretty much back to normal, so maybe he won't be as naughty now that things are the way they should be (in his eyes at least).  I swear he's just like a kid: he acts out to get attention, but doesn't like getting yelled at.  He's very intelligent though, so I think I can train him out of chewing on the wrong things.  I "donated" one of my exercise bands as a chew toy and gave him lots of praise when he chewed on that.  I've been able to teach him to sit and stay, along with a few other things.  I'll spend a little extra time playing with him too, so he'll burn off some of that excess energy.  There's usually a reason why our pets do the things they do.  It's up to us to figure out what the issue is and try to fix it.  Usually Calcifer's pretty well behaved though.
 
Looks innocent, doesn't he?  Even when he's a bad boy, I still love him!
-Michelle of CreativeCritters