We adopted a long-hair, one-eyed stray kitten. She is a very lovely cat, however, she likes jumping up on stereo equipment - tube preamp and mono block amplifiers. Am I right in thinking that cat hairs that fall inside the equipment can eventually fry things? Assuming so, I can't be the first person to have a cat AND hifi equipment. How do you keep the cat off? For the record she only jumps up there when she is alone in the room, so I think she gets that we don't want her up there, but just hasn't filed under "relevant info." I would greatly appreciate suggestions!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
@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.
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.
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.
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