There is supposed to be spray cans with ingredients that cats hate. I suppose you could try that and see what their reaction is.
The only other thing is to give them something else they prefer to play with (or scratch). What about one of those carpet covered posts at Petsmart? |
I think that you should just let them follow their natural instincts. I was able to purchase a pair of cat damaged speakers at a really great price, repaired by the manufacturer and shipped back to me for a fraction of their worth. If there are any Avalon owners in need of a cat or two please let me know and i will get them to you ASAP. |
There's a spray you can use on the covers that should repel cats. Check with your vet.
Ross |
How 'bout a pit bull tied to each speaker?? |
I set two scratching posts in the livingroom right next to the speakers. One is a 6' kitty condominium. the other is a 3'job that is mostly rope wound around a round 4x4. The cat has been very good never to use the speaker grills. Knock on wood. |
i think some well-constructed moats might work, particularly when coupled with my natural sod tweak noted in another thread. (i wouldn't stock the moats with koi, tho a few piranha might add to the effect.) -cfb |
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All you need is a spray bottle of water when they get near the speakers douse them a few times, works like a charm. As far as the repellents go I have tried several and found them to be uneffective.
Damon |
http://www.sharperimage.com/us/en/catalog/productview.jhtml?sku=SI478GRY
Pet Peeve Ultrasonic Trainer
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Keep pets off furniture — even when you're not at home!
Record a command to your pet ("Off the chair, Rover!") up to 10 seconds long.
If your pet jumps on furniture, a motion/vibration sensor is triggered.
Sensor causes playback of your command and a safe ultrasonic alert.
Features adjustable sensor sensitivity and ultrasonic alert-only option.
Of course, this is assuming that your cats actually LISTEN to you :-)
The water bottle works wonders. You just have to be consistent and get them each time they go near it.
Best of luck,
Angela |
Some people cryogenically treat their cables. Try it with the cat, and I guarantee you won't have the problem again. |
My tactic is a dedicated room with a shut door. I ended up conditioning them to never enter that room (different color carpet). So in case I do leave the open, they usually stay out.
And they know I mean business too. I lost several cone surrounds and an entire subwoofer but trying the "leave the grills off" tactic. I even caught one of them "trying to mark his territory" on my left speaker. I got both of them "fixed" and de-clawed the next day. Pretty much from that day forward those cats *knew* who was in charge. And they've been angels ever since. ;-)
In the cats' I scrubbed the speaker down and moved the system over to my brother's place. Then I eventually said up said dedicated listening room. No problems anymore... |
aj: as i read the ad from sharper image, you'd need one of them there pet peeves for EVERY piece of furniture from which you wish to ban your cat. that's a lot of $$ to spend on a device that replicates commands a cat wouldn't respond to if delivered in person. i think you can buy a gross of mouse traps for the price of a single pet peeve. and i KNOW cats respond to a mouse traps, even if you're not around. :o) -k |
I love cats.I have four of them. They are not allowed in my listening room unless I am there. 2001impala's idea works great with my beasts. I am at the point I don't even have to spray them. When they see me pick up my squirt gun, they run. Very effective. They seem to enjoy my music very much. I have one that runs from the room when Dylan plays his harmonica. |
I have used double sided tape at strategic spots on furniture and speakers to deter cats - they hate the sticky feeling of the tape. |
Cats ain't seen the speakers since Stanley, the German Shepherd arrived. One cat was my best listening partner, often found lying on her back in front of the right speaker, or beside me on the couch. Stanley prefers the floor between the speakers, next to the couch. All cats declawed in front, so no problem to begin with. I do have 2 gates so Stanley can't get in unaccompanied, as he sometimes likes to chew, and my fantasy is if the electric cords don't get him, I would. Oh yeah, cats are in basement family room with home theater. No problems there, but the ferrets liked the port in the subwoofer. |
Try urinating on the grills, that way they'll know its someone else's territory (you've marked it). |
Ezmeralda; I almost wet myself thinking about your post. |
Only a stirred fried cat is a good cat!!
(ALF) |
Too late for GoliverJr cats, but don't declaw them. They probably avoid Stanley because they feel they cannot defend themselves. And how would you like your finger nails pulled out. If you squirt them with a water pistol or spray bottle when they go near your speakers, they will get the message after a few times. They also won't become fearful of you with that technigue. (Sugarbrie is my pedigree Maine Coon Cat Sugar Britches). |
Kelly, since WHEN do we NOT think about going to EXTREMES around here, eh?
We just use a water bottle and a lot of patience.....
aj |
Excellent idea, Ezmeralda. However, I agree spraying them with a water works very well. Years ago I was breeding and handraising double yellowhead amazon parrots. My cats were very "interested" in the babies. We hid behind the curtains and used a spray bottle whenever they went near the tank with the babies. After a few times, they never ventured near them again. Somehow, my cats instinctively know not to mess with my speakers. If you use the spray bottle, be careful not to get the inside of the speaker wet. The same is true if you try Ezmeralda's approach, which I think would be very effective! |
Use the spray bottle technique,adding enough ammonia to the water so the cat can smell it on his(her) fur but not enough to be harmfull.
In additon to the displeasure of the water,ammonia is close enough in smell to urine that the cat will figure out the speakers belong to someone else.
My cat is not a rocket scientist(she's smart enough to meow when she wants outdoors) and she learned to ignore the speakers in three days.
p |
kudos to those who wouldn't remove their children's fingernails...
my findings:
1) the scented sprays don't work. if you want to try this route, set the grills on the ground and squeeze concentrated lemon juice / fresh oranges onto them---cats HATE this stuff. note, it does wear off over time, so reapply.
2) stickiness: 2x sided tape works well. so does flypaper. and self-adhesive tile. i personally like tile---use some blu-tack to set it upside down on top your speakers--less likely to cause damage to the paint than 2x sided tape.
3) water gun--very effective
4) loud noises--a sealed jar 1/3 filled w/ coins, shaken violently whenever they get near the item, is SUPPOSED to be effective. but if you're cats trust you a lot, it probably wont work. stick w/ the first 3.
5) scratching posts BY your speakers...cats want to be part of the environment, so make the environment more suitable. condition them to not use the speakers ("bad kitty") and physically place them onto the scratching post and move their paws on the post to stimulate scratching w/ positive reinforcement ("good kitty"). also helps to spread some catnip on the scratching post to make it even more appealing.
and if all that fails, just set your cd player on repeat with the track "who let the dogs out". that will drive everything and everyone from the room, guaranteed.
rhyno |
A small, low-amp electrified grid made from chicken wire (recycled from an old psychology experiment with rats), extending about 9 inches around the base of the speaker, worked very well with our cat. One good zap is usually all it takes (grin).....
Now, before the SPCA or some irate cat lover contacts me, I'll share what I really did. During the day, when away at work, I put long cloth socks over the speakers. Then, in the evening when I was home, I kept a small, hand-held vacuum nearby, rigged to blow rather than suck. When the cat started to investigate the speaker, I'd turn the vacuum on and give the cat a good air blast. Definitely did the trick -- the cat has never scratched the speakers, and she's now too old to bother (kinda like me, actually...) Of course, the cat has a phobia even today about vacuum cleaners -- heads for the hills when anyone vacuums the living room carpets -- but I consider that a small price to pay (heh, heh, heh). All in all, this thread may offer some of the best arguments I've heard for owning a dog... |
my 100lb. sheepdog keeps cats away from anything. |
We couldn't bring ourselves to having our cat declawed either, but after she climbed my Vandersteen 3Asigs (cloth on all four sides) 2-3 times, I kept chicken wire around them for over a year. It looked like hell but was very effective. BTW, when I up-graded to V5s (wood on lower 1/2 of all 4 sides), the cat now no longer bothers them. Kenscollick (above post) ended up with my 3Asigs, so it worked out well for both of us.
BTW, we tried the water spraying for quite awhile with only limited success, ie we couldn't guard the speakers 24 hours a day. Our Vand. 2Ces also ended up getting replaced with stand mounted PSB Stratus Minis to eliminate cat problems. Hey, we like the cat.
Cats don't like tinfoil, and it worked for 2-3 weeks on the floor around the speakers. Good Luck Craig. |
Sound from the bishop's HT room:
GRITCH... GRITCH... GRITCH... (longer pause)... K'CHIC... K'CHIC... KCHIC... WHUMP!!... RANNHHHHHHH... &(*&(#$&%
Translation:
GRITCH = kitty claws being sharpened on full-length grill cloth of Paradigm Studio 100s.
K'CHIC = kitty claws detaching from grill cloth as kitty ascends grill.
WHUMP = grill detaching from speaker and falling on top of kitty.
RANNHHHHHH = kitty expressing outrage.
&(*&(#$&% = bishop employing colorful metaphor.
Kitty does not enter bishop's music listening room, ever, ever, ever. Six mousetraps concealed under several sheets of newspaper for a week assured this. Only minimal surveillance is now required. Kitty thinks that an evil god lives in the music room. Kitty is right.
Note: If you use the spray designed to repel cats, be sure to remove the grills and let them dry thoroughly after you spray them. Repellant and/or propellant could be bad for cones/surrounds.
Sincerely yours,
Alice
(Bishop's kitty, whose full name is "Chinese Food You Haven't Eaten Yet") |
i like the idea of the shock method, but i was thinking more along the lines of disconecting the dryer outlet ever so carefully, and by all means DO NOT FORGET, what you did. watch the cat approach with a video camera. i think it will be simalar to what happened in the movie christmas vacation. send me a video as well, i will show it to the neighborhood cat owners so the next time one crawls on my car the will see what can happen.if you do decide to take ezmeraldalls idea please let me know so i do not bid on your speakers. |
I have two ornery little monsters. My solutions (note that I have multiple solutions as not every trick works 100% of the time):
1) Listening room has been walled off and a door is the only entry. This works 100% of the time when I am not at home.
The following are for when I am in the listening room and the cats have access because the door is open. If they stray too close to the audio equipment I do the following:
2) Spray bottle of water. At the precise moment the sprayed water hits the cat I yell NO!.
3) Yelling NO! And chasing the cat out of the room or picking them up and removing them myself.
4) Put a few coins into an empty pop can and seal it with tape. As silently as I can I toss it in the air as the cat get too close to the audio equipment. The loud crash next to them usually sends them running. If I toss it silently then they don't know it is me doing the punishing and the event turns into an "act of God"
5) Give them listening chairs of their own and reward them with affection when they come in to the listen room and hop right into the chair without "checking out" the equipment first.
6) Give them plenty of scratching posts and toys else where in the house. Good catnip is a diversion that will last for hours.
7) Be consistent. Be consistent. Be consistent.
Good luck. |
