I know this may sound silly, but does anyone have a practical idea as to how to keep a cat off the layout? It really is a problem with cat hair getting into locomotive motors…into scenery…etc. I do love my cat, but my layout doesn’t!
Close the train room door.
Or, get one of these:
http://www.petsafe.net/Products/Deterrents/Indoor-Pet-Deterrents/ScatMat.aspx
Well I keep a spray bottle with water in it and spray my cats with it and the cats are now staying off the layout . It took about a month to work . Now my 6 cats just set by the layout and just watch the trains go by .
Paint ball gun or chase it with a vacuum? [Y]
Buy a Loco that Barks[:)]
i use a nail gun
The only truly foolproof way is to simple not let them in the train room. Anything else is temporary at best. I was using my test/program track on the dining room table and the more timid of my two hopped up to check out what was goign on. Just as she sniffed at the tender, I hit the whistle. Didn’t even phase her. My train room has a door and that always works. I’ve let them in to poke around but only for a short time, neither has tried to jump on the layout so far, but if left unsupervised they would. When I open the door to come out, one is usulyl waiting just outside the door, but usually does not try to sneak in while I’m coming out.
And speak of the devil, soon as I started typing about her, the little one jumped up on my desk and is between me and the keyboard as I try to type.
–Randy
If you use one of these everytime the lovely critter acts like a furry Godzilla on the layout, maybe they learn…[(-D]
(Observe! Extreme irony!!!)
BTW, otherwise using ground pepper is a good deterrant.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Back when Chessie was a kitten, he got on the layout a couple times. He soon learned not to get on the layout and to just watch from the stairs. Keeping the spray bottle in view reminded him that he wasn’t allowed up there too. He quickly learned to just sit or stretch out on the stairs if he wanted to watch the trains (and me).
Kevin
Pellet gun always works pretty good.
I just keep the KAT locked out of the basement.
Go to your local Dollar Store, buy a squirt gun, use as needed.
Go to the Dollar store and buy a cheap can of flea spray, spray the cat with it ,a good even coat will do it , then spray the edge of your lay out with it about once a month for a couple months . Problem solved , worked for me if it needs a reminder spray the cat again. Jim.
Keeping a cat out of somewhere it wants to go?
I’ve read a number of books that suggested cats have a talent that lets them travel interdimensionally. cross barriers, travel hundreds of miles to get back with a lost pet (aka owner), things like that.
Some years ago, we had a rather willfull male cat. Wife went to spend a few weeks with her mother, after mom got out of the hospital. During that time, when I left for work, I’d lock him in the basement to protect furniture (no layout then). One day, he didn’t want to stay in the asement. Last thing I remember before locking the basement door was him sitting on the stairs, giving me a dirty look.
When I got home from work, there he was, on the couch, giving me a very smug look. The basement door was still loccked. No furnace ducts he could have used, either. We had recirculationg hot water heat.
???
As soon as you turned to close the door he slipped between your legs. Mine occasionally try that, hoping to get into the forbidden room but I’m pretty wise to it, if I don’t see both of them sitting there as I pull the door shut, I go find hte missing one first. The big one has managed to get locked in a closet more than once, I came home to the little one insistently demanding attention and the big one no where to be found, slightly unusual as he usually perches on the back of the couch to look out the window, or else curls up on the bed to keep warm. Not finding him anywhere else, or under the bed, there wren;t too many other options so I opened the closet door - there he was. Little one was being like Lassie “what? timmy’s fallen in the well?”
–Randy
Possible, but not likely. He was sitting about half way down the stairs, and I was watching him as I pulled the door shut. I didn’t turn my back. I watched him until the door shut, then I threw the bolt. Unsolved mystery!
Dogs have masters! Cats have staff!
Cats can teleport. I thought everyone knew that.
NittanyLion:
That explains everything!!![;)]
Dave
Most cats don’t like anything citrus. I suspect some cat repellent sprays that you can get from the pet store have that in them but I stand corrected. I have heard of people putting orange peels on a kitchen counter to keep cats off but I don’t think that would make good scenery on your model railroad. If you put a cat bed on the floor in your train room the cat might lay there while you run trains. My cat just wants company sometimes and even wants me to be with him when he eats his food! When you think about it, a model railroad would be a cool thing for them as most like high places, enjoy seeing movement and a train might remind them of a string or rope. They also like to get in things, and if your scale is large enough, a tunnel would be heaven.
Well, one thing that helps me is that the layout is in the garage (California basement) and my two spoiled-rotten furballs (1 Maine Coon, 1 Norwegian Forest Cat) would not venture out of the comfort of the house and jeapordize their position on the Food Chain for anything in the world.
Of course, the kitchen table, where I do a lot of work on my models is an entirely different bag of tricks–I get a lot of unauthorized ‘help’ from the big furry critters, especially when it comes to using disassembled motors as soccer balls, LOL!
But no problems with them getting into the garage. That’s a different world out there and they’re having no part of it.
Tom