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Cats

Too funny!

Levitious said:
Just make sure the speakers aren't the most expensive thing they can scratch, a fine Persian rug, or a nice eames chair will do as a distraction.QUOTE]

:lmao: That's funny Levitious. Judging from your AK moniker, I shouldn't be too surprised though, should I!!! :)
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I've had cats most of my adult life and in my experience they DO occasionally like to scratch on grilles. Currently we have a pair of cats (they're sisters) and once I caught them going after my L96's. Since then I've been spraying the carpet around the speakers with a cat repellant called "Boundary", available at most pet stores. It seems to work very well; at first you use it almost daily, but once the cats are conditioned you can use it intermittently. I also spray a little bit of it around my car at night (cats love to scratch most car cover material). After it dries it doesn't leave much of a residual smell to humans, but to cats it supposedly smells like coyote urine.

I never new that about fabric softeners like Bounce; I'll have to try that as well.
 
the only cat i ever had problem scratching up stuff was my wife's cat Clemens she had him when i met her and she (my wife now) made no effort to train him away from doing stuff like that.. she figured he could claw her couch if he wanted.

but otoh we had a bunch of cats when i was a kid ... and we trained them to use the scratching posts we provided them with and would pick them up and move them to it when they would start on something else (or look like they were going to) ... while they were still kittens ...

none of them ever messed with other furniture...


You can't declaw a cat (could stop there in my view) that will go outside...or possibly get outside at some point as it will be defenseless... and that would suck.

get a kitten get it a good scratching post (new one just for him/her) and put them by it whenever they look like they want to scratch or if they start trying to claw something else... and you should be fine.

like kids if raised well they are ok.... if not they are brats..
 
Cats need to mark and own things in their new environment, using scents secreted from their cheeks and paws, (and urine...). They will keep doing this if the object is cleaned or loses the scent somehow. It's a powerful instinct, and one that it is difficult to stop. Some people report some success using commercial sprays or home concoctions. Me, I prefer to figure out a clever way to get the cat's scent onto the grill without damage, such as by letting the cat rest on it one evening, or by attaching a small piece of pre-scented fabric behind the grill. This method reduces their automatic impulse to mark the speakers, and usually then enables pos/neg reinforcement training to work rapidly.

Just FYI: many people don't know that cats have some of the most exquisite hearing systems in the animal kingdom. They can hear to frequencies twice as high as dogs, and about three times higher than humans. Cats also have the ability to locate sounds in space at least as accurately as humans, a nice trick given their small head size. (Bats are one of the only animals to outdo them in both regards.)

-k



foliver said:
Man, sorry for the silly question...

In may i´m moving to a new house we are finishing after an year of work.

This year i´ve bought some speakers, amps etc to rig the living space.

So, we have 2 childrens, 3 and 5 years, and now they understand that cones and surrounds, and tweeter and all the stuff need to be untouched. The dog don´t give a sh#@. This last 2 years my main speakers was looking the wall to avoid tweeter and woofer death.

Now i'm confident everything is going to be good again.

BUT. A cat seems to be a new guest, in some time.....

So the equestion: does the cats like to destroy all the speakers they cross in their life?, do i need to start a plan to put an electrical fence arround the speaker and be seated close with a weapon, taking aprazolam?

Please say no.
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ken kantor said:
Just FYI: many people don't know that cat's have some of the most exquisite hearing systems in the animal kingdom. They can hear to frequencies twice as high as dogs, and about three times higher than humans.
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Interesting. I didn't know that. I know mine all lifted their heads up and looked around when I was testing my hearing with some 20k wave files. :D
 
Cats & Bats

Just FYI: Cats also have the ability to locate sounds in space at least as accurately as humans, a nice trick given their small head size. (Bats are one of the only animals to outdo them in both regards.)

-k[/QUOTE]

I never knew about their sonic spatial location skills, that is very interesting! Cool!
 
My cat, Rocky, has been with me since he was five weeks old. He somehow knows to leave audio alone, and does so. He also knows not to scratch my chair, and does so anyway - but not vigorously, it isn't marked up. It's his way of letting me know his bowl is empty or he really, really wants outside. Yes, his claws are sharp and intact.

He spends a lot of time outdoors - often at night - and I've seen him be quite predatorial, including killing and eating a bird just this past week. I allow him to be a cat, let him out and in as he desires, and he knows how to behave inside the house. He marks outside but not inside. He's my buddy.
 
This thread seems really lame without some pics! So I'll start. :D

This is Wolfie. She's a feral kitten I took in just before Halloween. She's not fully socialized yet, but I can pick her up and hold her.

IMG_1643_zps3bd70818.jpg


And here's Roxy the munchkin cat checking out my outboard reverb unit.

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Never had a problem with cats and speakers because we set up scratching pads and posts in various spots around the house that they head for when they feel the need.

The power amp is another matter. Had to put a screen on the front of the cabinet that holds it to keep cats from sprawling across the cooling vents when the amp is on.
 
I have a pair of Imperial 9’s that I bought new in ’75. (To steal someone else’s comment) "The grill foam rotted off when Reagan was still president." I covered the Masonite backing with ¼” hardware cloth. Protected them from large dogs, cats, kids, and grandkids.
 
Whatever you do, do not have the cat declawed, laser or whatever, it is mutilation and inhumane. I have six sets of speakers and my cat does not mess with them because I have a couple of scratching posts strategically placed. Get the kind made of rope as opposed to carpet.
 
Many cat owners are irresponsible and let the animal outside to freely roam. This only creates problems for the natural local wildlife which in some places are protected. People are finaly starting to see the damage the "pets" are causing and in some places are calling for the round up and extermination of domesticated feral cats. If you think alowing your cat outside is the right thing to do you are wrong on so many levels with or without claws.
 
One time my cat scratched the side of my speaker. That was several years ago...

Probably to mark her territory.
 
I have a pair of Infinity RS4s at my girlfriend's house, sans grilles. They have a crazy cat, very young that destroys many things. No damage to my speakers though, even with exposed mid-domes.
 
olddude55 said:
Use fabric softener sheets, like Bounce. Put them under or around the speakers.
Cats hate the smell of them and they'll leave the speakers alone.
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Unfortunately, this will not work for every cat. I have one that tries to cover every unpleasant smell that he finds. This includes the occasional dryer sheet that falls to the laundry room floor. He's also sprayed to cover the smell of cat calming warmers that work for every one else. Not to mention a fetish for eating plastic bags and carpet. He's a special case.

Good luck.
 
Don't declaw... would you like to have the end of your fingers removed? You'd still be able to flip an LP and operate the power switch but would you like it?

Spray of water is a great deterrent or a soda can with some coins in it and the opening taped over works too. Shake it vigorously when they look at the speakers longingly.

The best advice was what my vet gave me when we had a problem with Kitty scratching furniture. He explained that this is natural instinct for the animal in the wild. They sharpen their nails on trees. He asked if our scratching post was secure... like a tree. It was a small wobbly one that we replaced with a big kitty condo she couldn't possibly move... stable as a big tree. She never went back to "our" furniture after that.

Positive reinforcement can do wonders too... when she does scratch HER furniture reward her. Kitty always loved the water from a can of tuna... and we got to make tuna salad which I loved! We used it when we trimmed her nails and she would sometimes jump in my lap when I was trimming my fingernails to get hers done.
 
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Really funny reading about the cats in this thread. Sabrina pictured here never touches the speakers. She is declawed (came that way from the animal shelter) and she likes rubbing her paws on the sofa and chair. No damage done, so I leave her be. Patches, the new cat, has her claws and doesn't seem to have have any inclination to do anything destructive. She's pretty mellow, so I'm leaving the claws on her.

Now the almighty Simba (RIP), my previous tomcat, had 'picker problems.' He had to claw everything and made a mess out of the old furniture I had at the time. His favorite scratching post was a series of 2x4s nailed together and laid on the floor. He made toothpicks out of that! Funny thing is he never clawed the speakers. However, he did use them as a handy stepstool to reach the spider plants hanging by the window and have a quick snack. I called that his 'salad bar! :D

A squirt bottle of water does a great job of diverting any cat's attention.
 
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