what to do with my cat on my speaker grills


my cat asia has decided to use my vienna mozart grands to claw on the grills. no major damage.. i use the speaker box packing to protect my speaker grills, but at times the little #$^&$# get to them....anybody have a sugestion and does anybody have this problem...simeese cats are a odd bread..lol
al4jesus
Even with a cat's front claws removed, you're not out of the woods. Several years ago, my declawed cat jumped on top of my speaker, and the back claws got the tweeter. Had to remove the tweeter and send it off for repairs.

So: (1) Get the front claws removed, and (2) keep some boxes on top the speakers when not in use, to discourage the cat from jumping on top of it. Corona 12-pack boxes are great for this. I've never had a problem since.
Soak the grills with some ugly perfume. Cats noses are highly sensitive.
Repeat procedure every second week.
I see some suggestions for squirt bottles. Maybe a few drops or maybe a tablespoon of lemon juice will help.

My original cat, Renfield by name was plain single minded and mean. I tried the squirt bottle thing and he just sat there and TOOK it. By the time he was soaked, I gave up. Than he came over and jumped into my lap.....soaking WET and purred. He had some other annoying habits, including chasing dogs and intimidating house guests with his rotten behavior.

He never even touched my panels.
A little aversion therapy. Set the cat up like Alex in A Clockwork Orange (strapped in, eyes held open etc) Inject a little anti-catnip about 30 minutes beforehand. Then just set up a photograph of him scratching the speaker right in front of him. Play beethoven. After a few sessions of cat therapy he'll be unable to scratch the grills without heaving chunks. If that doesn't work move to something more drastic - like cat with asparagus in a light cream sauce.
I agree with Wratman, My cat does not scratch on my grills, but I have an extra set of grills on hand just in case he does.
I think I have the purrrrrrrrfect solution! Sorry I couldn't resist.
There are always a couple of kitty's in my house. My wife loves them and I must
admit I have grown quite fond of them myself.. I have never had a problem
with the cats bothering my speaker grills, but I must admit, I expect it could happen.
My solution is to make a second pair of grills and not worry about it.
This can't be done with all speakers, but some are very easy to retrofit.
I've done this twice with a pair of Spendors,
and with my current Silverline speakers.
It's not hard if you own a CNC router table, which I do, but can be accomplished with common tools and
some patience.
Both sets IMO actually came our better and
more aesthetically pleasing than the originals.
Speaker cloth, if you like black is readily available at a local fabric store.
My way of co existing.
Give the little fur balls a scratch under their ears for me.

Good luck
Spray bottle and a sisal covered scratching post nearby (that feels better than speaker grill covers)
I yelled very loud once and put a cat post close by, when she came in and went to the post I gave her heaps of praise. If she started towards the speakers I would shout NO!, after a short time she only went to the post and to get her kudos.
Train your cat to obey respect speakers. It's not as hard as you might think. Out of all the suggestions the spray bottle of water worked for me. Only had to do it a couple times. After that my cat lost interest except for listening purposes:

http://cgim.audiogon.com/i/vs/s/f/1242581289.jpg
well, please don't declaw it, most people don't know what that entails, it isn't simply "surgically" removing what we would think of as their fingernails. unless it's changed in the past few years it's basically guillotining off the end bone of their little fingers, NON-surgically (just a big clipper thing, usually). it's messy and typically mangles the tip of their finger, with either some of the bone left, or part of the next bone crushed, it's really sick and it can screw up their confidence, which can lead to more problems (read: peeing).

none of the shelters or breeders around here would ever give a cat to a person that planned on doing that.

i see that rhyno's beaten me to a couple of suggestions - i can think of four things: put a piece of cardboard (or whatever works) in front of the speaker covered in double-sided tape, no cat in their right mind (oxymoron?) would step on that. maybe you could get rid of it after they'd conditioned themselves not to get near the speaker, i dunno. (along the same line, if you could ever get something that played a loud noise whenever they stepped on it and put it in front of the speakers, you're done - that would solve it, but i can't think of what that might be.)

they do, as someone mentioned above, hate citrus smell, but i've never tried to deter a cat with it. you could try putting something of that sort near the speaker.

third, as i think someone mentioned above again, put some scratching posts near enough to the speaker that they see them, but not so near that they make associations.

or, lastly, you could just block them physically - i have some gallo micro speaker stands, for example, that are just thin poles on a weighted base, and if i put them in front of a pair of box speakers without the gallos on them, they would sort of block the grills without doing anything noticeable to the sound. seems like any pole would work.

ironically, the easiest thing would probably be to just keep screaming at her until she gives up doing it and have a second set of grill covers handy for when people come over...

good luck, that is annoying, but cats is cats.
My two cats prevented me from buying Von Schweikert VR-33 speakers. I've never had any real issues with them using furniture as scratch posts, but I decided it would be tempting faith. In hing sight I'm glad, because I went with cheaper speakers which I adore.
i've seen these electronic "invisible pet shields" which transmit some sort of signal when your pet approaches the forbidden zone. marginally more humane than some of the other proposed solutions. i'd check whether they'd interfere with any of your a/v gear.
i love my cats. this is what i'd try:

1) squirt gun whenever they are on / near speakers
2) jar half filled w/ coins, shake when they're near speakers (cats hate loud noises)
3) scratching post closeby w/ catnip rubbed in
4) aluminum foil / 2 sided tape at base of speakers (cats hate walking on this stuff)
5) citrus furniture polish on speakers (cats hate citrus).

if my house was on fire and i could grab only 1 thing, i'd grab the 2 furries; i can always buy another ______. who cares about sh*t, be nice to the cats.
simeese cats are an odd bread alright.If I were you Id give up,the cat is too smart for your moves no question.Love the answers by the way,cheers,Bob
Cats are single minded little beasts. Not really smart, but very clever and willing to take 'risks'.

You may want to check at a pet store. They may have a 'repel' odor treatment.
My MG-1s were so treated by the original owner and my 2-head of cat NEVER went near them in over 15 years. Not ONCE.

Cats DO NOT like CITRUS smell.
Dr. Bronner's Peppermint Castile soap is also on the no smell list. And it is a great shower soap. It is a liquid so dabbing some on a cloth and leaving it next to the speaker may work?
Walmart sells a compressed air can with a motion sensor in the pet section. I forget the name of it, but I think it is called Scatttt, or some form of that. It works well, any time the cat gets within the range of the sensor, it blasts a shot of compressed air at the cat, and away they go.
"This here is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in th world and could blow your head clean off, and in all of this confusion I can't seem to remember if I fired 6 shots or only 5. So now you have to ask yourself, 'Do you I feel lucky', well do you cat?"
Straitjacket?

nah, I like the idea of using smells that repel cats nearby and/or keeping the cat out of the room altogether if possible.

Declawing can help but not sure how well received that is these days for cats medically. I had an apparently healthy adult cat declawed once prior to moving into a new house and the stress triggered undetected dormant feline leukemia and I had to have the cat put to sleep.
Don't use the grills. Put a scratching post nearby and prime it with catnip.
I make protective boxes out of foamboard, with only the top, sides, & front, to go over all my speakers. no back or bottom, so they just slide over them to protect.
A less cruel way is to Pick up a can of Orange Citrus Spray at Bed Bath and beyond or that type of store
shoot a few seconds of orange spray into a plastic sandwich baggie.
place under or in back of the speaker the opened bag should act as a deterrent as they don't like the citrus smell.
Good Luck Johnnyr
I don't know.Maybe keep the cat away from your gear,maybe get rid of the cat if you find you can't control it? I guess it's just me,but I just can't comprehend the idea of a pet controlling someone's life.I have a dog and while I adore her,she does not run the show at my house.If your pet is uncontrollable get rid of it.Gotta go,PETA is knocking on the door as we speak!!!!
there was an entire thread (I could not find it) on this subject that had several funny replies - my favorite was a stick with a nail.

sorry I could not help myself...
Lightly spray Nature's Way cat urine remover on just the bottom edge of each speaker (grill). They won't want to be there. I have a cat, but he doesn't get to come into my music room. This stuff works good, but it does have a noxious smell. I don't think you'd notice it from 6 feet away, however. Good luck, Bob They have this at most pet stores.