If anyone has any suggestions or tips on things they did to “Cat-proof” their layout I’d love to hear them. I’ve threatened to return the beast to the great outdoors from where he came but that was met w/ less then enthusiastic approval from the rest of the family. He’s ripping up all of my trees on my n-scale layout & I’m at my wits end.
GOODY!!! A cat thread!!![:D] Can’t wait to see how this can of worms goes…
(my votes for get rid of it)
Oh boy, here we go again - the cat lovers vs. the layout preservers! Let’s see, the last time it was everything from layout covers and door locks to mothballs and cat electrocution systems. [:D][:(!][xx(]
jgotts - A good start would be clicking the search button at the top of the page and search for “cat”; it will give you a lot of the discussions that have happend in the past on this subject. Some you will like, some are funny and some were going to be reported to the ASPCA.
Get a dog!
Teditor
Build it high and get a fat cat. At 58" the cat never bothered the layout. She couldn’t jump that high and I didn’t leave anything around to help her.
Enjoy
Paul
Donate the cats to a shelter and hope they are readopted for good homes.
Our two were. We told them that these two were inseperatable and either are adopted or put to sleep together. Fortunately the new owners enjoy learning how they team up together and go raiding.
We may or may not have pets again in the future and that train room door is shut always. But with no pets, it is not necessary.
Love em or kill em. We don’t care. Just do the same to both![(-D][(-D]
This sprinkled on the layout for when you not there:
…and this for when you are there;
Works wonders…
They would team up sometimes. If one went into a hunt mode and the other followed suit I knew then we have something intruding into the home.
Wires, widgets and other things are nothing more than a past time to them. Punishment was administered properly and correctly every time… but still they cannot resist the lure of this wonderful something. Ive had to hiss at them before they would back off.
Now that is scary.
The thing I find works best is Vicks Vapor Rub . Put some where ever he likes to jump up ,cats hate it , if you can put some around the door way to the layout or put some down low in front of the layout . It is great to watch the cat when they smell it , the look of surprise and disgust are priceless .
The water gun works GREAT. and it’s fun too…[}:)]
Dear Sir,
This amazing offer won’t last long.get yours today!!! A nature predator of many poor vermin.This cat destroyer know no fear,can leap a four foot high fence,run at the speed of sound. And if you act now as a bonus!!! I’ll send you a amazing smokeless ashtray!!!
The one the only…Rowdy the incredible Jack Russel terror…uh I mean jack russel Terrier
I can send you my Jack russel terrier. Rowdy loves to play with cats ! As a matter of fact,send no money today,will ship one JRT free of charge to your residents.
Sorry couldn’t help myself…LOL.
Just kidding…all I can tell you is keep the door closed and pray for the best. I had the same problem with my wifes cat “Loki”. Had to build a shed to house my trains a problem no more.
Patrick
Beaufort,SC
Dragon River Steel Corp {DRSC}
I LIKE cats.
They taste just like chicken…
Get a big dog. I have one, when we got it, the cat stayed away from the layout.
We havethe dog, but the cat ran off before Hurricane Ivan hit.
my layout is in a room with a door that keeps my two cats out when i’m not in there. when they do come in they are not destructive and only come up on the layout to look out the window that the layout passes in front of. on the other hand when my dog was a puppy she got hold of some of my freight cars and chewed them up. now i use them as wreck loads on some flat cars so it wasn’t a total loss.
I had several and never did find a way. The night I brought home a brand new 1975 Mercury Marquis he used it to get to the rafters in the garage and knocked half the stuff on to the hood where forever I had dents until I got rid of it. The look from my wife was one of don’t you even think of harming one hair. Then one night I was lying in bed and heard this strange noise from the basement. He was on my deck grider bridge with a five foot clearance to the floor knocking hoppers off one at a time and watching the pieces fly when they hit the concrete. I don’t think there is a way. You don;t own a cat. they own you.
Yes the cats consider you property.
Our two were quite dominant but we raised them from kittens to stay off the counters etc. Wherever they would be that is ok with us, they never heard or got hassled. Other areas, punishment was instantly administered.
Eventually they stayed in hassle free areas to do whatever they wanted. And they know the words “NO, OUT and GIT” When those three run out the throwing, beatings or water sprays start.
Once in a while we do something bad and they punish US for it. For example the store was out of regular food and we had to get the cheep… I mean cheep crap in a box.
They simply sniffed the food, eyed us and took one paw and dumped the dish all over the floor.
And yes we catch em on the counter once or twice. They know durn well better too.
As others have said, the simplest thing to do is close the door on the train room. This works very well and my two cats haven’t touched the layout since last year (unfortunately, I haven’t either![swg]). The weird thing is they are always trying to get into my room/train room.
Another thing to do is NEVER LET AN OVERWEIGHT CAT ON THE LAYOUT. Last time that happened, I could hear it cracking on one side (because it was only styrofoam sheets). Everytime she jumped off, it was like a 7.5 on the rictor (sp) scale.
Some humourous things to do:
Get a dog
Get a vicious dog
Put barbed wire around the layout
Install security glass
Install water sprinklers (triggered by cat)
[(-D][(-D][:D][(-D][(-D]
I had a cat for 19 1/2 years and never had a problem with the cat/layout. My layout is 48" off the floor. Sometimes when I was working on the layout I would pick the cat up and set him on the layout. He looked around a figured that his food was better than anything I had for him to eat on the layout. He was well fed and probably figured there was nothing worth the effort to jump up on the layout. He was put down last year due to failing health. I like cats, however the wife hates them (I had the cat before the wife.) so no more cats.
My wife does support my model railroad hobby, so I can live without a cat!
JIM
[#ditto] discussion over!