How To Keep Cat Off Stereo Equipment?

Cover your gear with towels. 

Re-home the cat.

Maybe a scatmat from petsafe?  Keeps our animals off the couch.

I keep my equipment covered with bandanas to keep out the dog fur.Towels or vinyl place mats would work too.I would worry more about a cat climbing up the speakers. I would lean something slick against the front that can't get claws stuck in to climb.

Get your cat another kitten. She just might need a friend to keep her occupied!

Get the cat a Technics 1200 turntable and teach her to DJ, she can be a great help at parties 😁

All of my tube gear is located in a closed hall closet located behind the speaker wall (speaker wire runs through the wall to the living room).

If this is not option then look into a closed/doored ventilated cabinet/rack.

If a cat PP's on a live tube amp it could be toast for both.

I once picked up an old pie safe to use in the spare bedroom (tube gear), but ended up using SS gear instead.

Stray and rescue cats are the best.

DeKay

C'mon, 

You KNOW the answer! 

With my cats 🐈 every time they go behind,or on my equipment I have a Air horn I blow 6 ft away  after a few times they got the hint !!

Cats don’t like certain scents, especially citrus such as lemon (and some other scents like peppermint you can look them up). Keep some fresh cut lemons in a glass or maybe a peppermint plant near your equipment.

I’ve got three cats and they never bother my stereo equipment - they have window perches to sit and enjoy instead, looking at birds and squirrels which is kind of like "Cat TV", however a friend of mine had some young kittens that wanted to use his speaker grilles as a scratching post (he was dumb and hadn’t provided them a real scratching post and some training on using it). He ended up using some black painted chicken wire on some homemade wooden frames and place them in front of the speakers. That worked fine.

Cats are of course curious creatures and if they see movement, such as a turntable, they will be drawn to it and want to see what you are doing. Provide them with other entertaining activities and they’ll soon leave it alone. Good luck.

When the cat gets on the equipment pick it up, put it your lap and pet it. If you have a dedicated room shut the door.

 I love all animals but they are not allowed in my audio room.

Joe Nies

Aluminum foil. Cats hate it. 

And I thought I was the only one with this problem....my cat is nuts! I've yet to find a way to control him...he's all over the place, spastic...

Electric collar / virtual fence thing they make for dogs?

Dedicated room is my answer, but we can't all have that. 

This is a question for Michael Vick.

they like the warmth.

I agree, wrinkled aluminum you can put on when equip is still hot, in a way they cannot pull it off, i.e. rocks, center weights,

or upside down baking pans that you can place on top and go.

or spray adhesive on bottom of baking pan, dip into a bed of tacks, there you go. that should keep the bloody cat off!

give up, as you will inevitably lose no matter what strategy you employ - we have been domesticated by cats for thousands of years….

@jon_5912 Vick abused dogs and there is a special place in hell for him. 

Play something from Men Without Hats. The cat will never enter the room again.

Seriously, as with any animal reward good behavior, punish the bad. Gently of course.

@jeffstrick * 1000.  
 

@sid-hoff-frenchman I have my equipment on racks with enough clearance to prevent the equipment from frying but not enough for the cat.  He loves to lay in front of the tube amps where it’s warm and I’m fine with that.  It’s nice having him in the room while I listen.  Personally I am using Pangea racks with the extended spacer post.

Everybody who suggest or implies harming the cat, you’re why Audiogon needs a block button.

Scents that cats hate are:

1. citrus
2. rosemary
3. thyme
4. bananas
5. mustard
6. strong menthol
7. assorted bath oils

Just like hanging garlic for vampires, try one or two of the aforementioned around and/or atop your gear and see if that works.

All the best,
Nonoise

Thanks for the input. I will try some sort of scatmat thing, see if she gets the message that way. The stereo system is in our living room, so no way to keep her out. When she originally arrived on our doorstep last year she was underfed and likely abandoned. Her ribs were showing, had only one eye as I said, but very affectionate. She is now healthy, happy and appreciative of the world class sound in our house. She's a little opinionated (don't get her started on the topic of audiophile fuses!), but we love her.

Cat scat mats worked great for me.

They come in rolls or tiles.

I put them around my Maggie 1.7 speakers and put the in front of my audio cabinet so the cat couldn’t get to a spot to jump up on equipment. They worked great for a few years until we re-homed the cat.

Cat scat mats on Amazon

I don't have a cat, but I cover my amplifier with a cover from Stan at Radio Dust Covers.

https://www.radiodustcovers.com/

We currently have three cats, so I empathize with your situation. We've tried lots of different solutions over the years, but have had very good results with "Pet MasterMind Claw Withdraw Cat Spray". It comes in a small pump spray bottle in either 4 or 8 ounces (get the larger size!) On equipment with top vents, I spray it kinda sideways so it doesn't go down into the vents. Leaves no visible traces, and has a slight lemony scent. They claim it lasts several days, but I generally use it daily. Cats definitely don't like it - they jump up and immediately down again. Fortunately, most cats learn quickly: after 3 or 4 days, they won't get up there anymore! Hope this helps - good luck!

Put a cucumber or pickle near the stereo gear.  Scares the hell out of cats for some reason.

>PetSafe SSSCAT Spray Deterrent

Its simply compressed air with a motion detector.

@riie ​​​​​@shastasheen65 there is something wrong with you both.

metal/metal

a lot of them are metal on a plastic sheet or strip, must take off if equip get's hot. cannot put on untill equipment cools enough

this one (just an example) is metal/metal, can be left on all the time, or placed on when hot

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BRL4LK8M/ref=sspa_dk_detail_6?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B0BRL4LK8M&pd_rd_w=xuu68&content-id=amzn1.sym.d81b167d-1f9e-48b6-87d8-8aa5e473ea8c&pf_rd_p=d81b167d-1f9e-48b6-87d8-8aa5e473ea8c&pf_rd_r=D8MAXAHX1BFDXJ8XT92R&pd_rd_wg=P69vM&pd_rd_r=4e71f100-2028-455e-8cac-3ffaa3a20ce5&s=lawn-garden&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9kZXRhaWxfdGhlbWF0aWM&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEzTEw5RlFaRkRNVjZYJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwMzI1NjU1MkRLUjJYUkJUMFRWNiZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwNDA4MDI1M1RLVUJEQzJZTjc2TyZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2RldGFpbF90aGVtYXRpYyZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=

My cat never went near my gear.

Did like to chew on wires though. For some reason, never touched any of my audio cables.

If the music was right, he would sleep on the floor between the speakers.

My cat climbs on my ATC SCM19 speakers and pushes the grilles (which attach magnetically) onto the floor.

Whatever you decide to do, take the cats picture first and post here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Catsonstereos/

You are not alone. The struggle is real.  Fortunately, for me, my cat likes to sit on my lap or my ottoman.

How about a 3 pound collar?

Place some sticky tapes on your equipment with sticky side facing upwards. Cats hate things sticked to their feet...they will learn very quickly to stay away from your gears. 

stereo gear is worm and they like worm places. put some ice on them

@sid-hoff-frenchman Bonjour, mon ami!

As a consummate lover of animals and having shared my home with 3 loving, beautiful Maine Coon cats and loving every blessed moment of it, I can say your kitty likes the warmth generated by your components. No matter how warm the ambient air temperature may be, kitties just love warmth. I would recommend covering your components with something that still lets the warmth or heat they generate dissipate and/or get your kitty some sort of heated pet bed or blanket that s/he will like better. Air horns and the like are cruel. Positive reinforcement and/or positive replacement behavior is much more effective. God Bless you for rescuing your furry friend. 

Really to any and all that respond to the OP with answers like re- homing or any other solutions that involves removal of loved animal. Stick to what you think you know about audio and leave the rest to the one's with wise solution's. Audio and Loved animals can and do co- exist.

The best way to keep a cat off of audio equipment is a 9mm.

@jeffstrick plus 1

There’s a special place in hell for Vick!

Nerf has a bunch of stuff that shoot soft foam, enough to get their attention without hurting anyone or anything.

Best of luck.

The rack suggestions work. If for whatever reason a rack doesn’t work, I have had great success placing a piece of equipment that is not ventilated (like a tuner, streamer, power conditioner, tape deck, etc.) above the ventilated equipment with some risers to allow sufficient airflow for the ventilated equipment. If you don’t have such equipment or it is too bulky for this approach, just get a properly sized piece of wooden shelving and use that as a cover.

This approach also works well as a way to handle family members who persist in placing things on top of ventilated gear without being a constant nag.

animal torture and neglect is not funny

I had a cat once about 50 years ago, only once. and this is why,

I was laying on my bed listening to an album when all of a sudden the needle started to jump around!

Naturally I leaped up and saw that my now gone cat was pouncing on top of the dust cover of the turntable! it seemed that the spinning record label had something to do with this odd behavior.

I have three cats and top vented equipment, including a 532H sitting on the floor. They lay on the top of everything because the equipment is left on all the time. I have never seen chassis damage created by the cats or hair in the equipment. I have opened the equipment for small repairs and tube changes. The only drag were the scratches on the top of a pair of JBL speakers. I had inexpensive, custom covers made for them.

Have 2 since they were +/- 2 months and were able to learn audio anything is Yes, in your turf but N/A for their amusement/vantage point(s)/napping/anything. 

Clio' is Ev's lap, Ginger reminds me of Tuxy, who was a reserved kinda guy.

I want to build them a catio....but not so long ago lost Betty to a bumper.

Zed suddenly Bridged with a GI issue suddenly and expensively.

Reluctant to test Fate.

Clio' has bonded to dog Sunny; 15 years of off/on again cats, she could give a squat.  She and The G stay out of each others' food, cool with each other.

Squirt gun if any critter forgets, hasn't occurred for quite awhile.

*Raps skull*  Knock on wood. ;)