Cats - FPTV Screens and Speaker Covers (1 Viewer)

[Mike OConnell]

We are considering getting a cat. We will obtaining this cat through the local pet adoption group and it may or may not be declawed. We are not in favor or declawing a cat that still has its claws. That is not the purpose of this discussion, so please do not bring it up.

For those of you with a cat that still has its front claws and also owning a front projection screen and/or floor standing speakers – has the cat had a tendency to want to scratch the screen and/or the speaker covers?

If the speaker covers are removed, do the cats leave the speaker fronts alone?

If the cat leave the objects alone, how have you “trained” the cat?

Thanks,
Mike

 

[Philip_T]

Sorry, I just had to laugh at that. You'll have to let me know how that turns out. My cat gives me the darndest looks when I tried to train her, kinda like, whats the word Im looking for????? Oh yeah, "get outa my face stupid pink giant"

As to your speaker grill question, our cat (who still has all her claws) has never touched my floorspeakers. We give here these to get her scratching fix in. We use the 3rd one down and thats all she ever scratches. She has never come near my speakers or any of the other furniture. Good luck with your new family member. You're sure to get alot of good suggestions on this topic as their are some avid cat lovers lurking here.

 

[Paul_Medenwaldt]

My cats used to jump on top of my Sub when I first hooked it up and would fray the top of the grill. They soon just stopped doing it after yelling at them a few times.

They leave all my other speakers alone.

Now with the screen, this one makes me nervous. My younger cat really likes to watch the screen when there is motion. He really gets happy when I play Tiger Woods and watching the white ball fly. Also we have had a problem the last few days with Lady Bugs, so they seem to fly on the screen and the cat jumps on top of the center speaker and looks up at the bug on the screen. I physically have to get up and toss the cat off the speaker.

I don't believe they have any interest in the screen when there is no picture. I have not seen any scratch marks on the screen.

Paul

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

A water pistol (I prefer the battery-powered ones for greater range and accuracy) is a terrific way of startling a cat and getting it to stop doing something you don't want it to do. Eventually it develops a pavlovian aversion to the behavior. That's about as close to "training" a cat as I can suggest.

Regards, and good luck,

Joe

"Dogs have owners. Cats have staff"

 

[Jan H]

Our 4-month-old kitty Max is a holy terror. But he leaves my speakers and TV alone, which explains why he is still alive. We're gonna get him fixed and declawed within the next couple of weeks (He will soon be an it, and will always be an 'indoor' cat).

 

[Pamela]

My cat doesn't bother with my HT equipment at all. My computer equipment ... well, that's another story. She used to lay on top of my monitor and ruined that. Then there was the time she puked on my $70 keyboard. Since I got the new monitor, she hasn't gone near it. Go figure. Despite it all, l wouldn't trade her for the world!

 

[Johnny Angell]

I feel I should mention that if this decision is a done deal, do it soon. The older the cat when declawed, the greater the chance of introducing a behaviorial problem.

The "behaviorial" problem is usually inappropriate urination outside the litter box. That means you've got a declawed cat that can't be let outside, and doesn't use the litterbox to urinate.

Ask your vet about this. BTW, according to our vet, the latest information indicates that a cat is old enough to be sterilized at 12 weeks (as long as its healthy).

 

[Dave Poehlman]

Cats usually look for something more substantial to dig their claws into. I think they'd prefer furniture fabric or wood over speaker grill cloth.

Supplying the cat with a scratching post might keep them off the furniture and door frames. I'd recommend one covered in sisal rope. It's a really coarse rope my cats seem to like. But as the saying goes: "you can lead a cat to a sisal-covered post... but you can't make him scratch" Don't go with a carpeted one.. they may confuse the fabric with furniture fabric.

It's believed cats scratch not only to keep their claws in working order, but also to mark their territory. Trimming their claws might help... good luck with that, BTW. One of our cats freaks out when we try to trim his claws. The other just sits calmly as if he's receiving a manicure.

Cats are unpredictable... that's part of the charm of owning one, I suppose.

 

[Patrick Sun]

For some reason, one of my cats loves the feel of the carpet mats I use, so I put one on the living room carpet, and my cat goes crazy just on the mat, but doesn't scratch the normal carpet. It's probably because there's less give to the carpet on the mat, while it's more work (more give)on the normal carpet on the floor.

 

[Tony Whalen]

I agree with the sisal-covered post idea. Although my cats also used carpeted posts as much. They took to posts pretty quick.

Joe nailed the main thing... a water gun. Great training tool, and the cats don't blame YOU for getting soaked. Works like a charm.

Now I'm gonna get out of this thread before I start going on about declawing...

 

[Jan H]

This statement makes about as much sense as saying 'I love swimming unless I have to get wet.'

Frankly, I believe declawing a cat is immoral IF you expect him to live outdoors. If you fully intend to keep him inside, he's well-fed, you give him plenty of love and attention, and you also desire to protect your expensive A/V system that you spent years investing in, what is the issue??

 

[Mike OConnell]

Please see the original post - I did not want this post to be a discussion about the virtues and/or sins of declawing. If you want to dicuss that topic - start a different post.



Everyone - thank you for your thoughts and responses.

Mike

 

[Johnny Angell]

Since this is a quote in your original message, I feel its ok to comment on it. One thing you can do is to go to your local humane group and say you want a declawed cat. Even if they don't have one at the moment, they will eventually.

All sorts of cats are surrendered, usually because the novelty of having a cat has worn off or because the "family" has realized having a pet can be inconvenient and cost a few bucks. People just don't think things thru when adopting a pet.

Try www.petfinder.com. You can see picures of cats there and if they are declawed, it will be indicated. I think you can even do a search for declawed cats.

You can get an already declawed cat (you just might to wait), one who behavior is known, and you won't be declawing a cat in the process. And please consider an adult, humane groups have alot of trouble getting adults adopted because everyone wants a kitten.

I'm now stepping off my soapbox.

 

[Jan H]

Just thought I'd give an update on the whole declawing issue. We decided not to declaw Max, in part, because of some of the contributors in this thread. Thanks, guys, for keeping me from subjecting my cat to that kind of torture. To be honest, I didn't know much about the whole process, but I did some research, did the spray bottle thing, got the scratching post, etc. and his (and our new Balinese, Tiki) scratching is not much of an issue. Thanks for the edification.

 

[Jason Harbaugh]

Kinda late to this, but any excuse to post cat pictures is good enough for me.

My front projection screen is full of holes. Luckily no real damage has been done that is noticable from more than 2 feet, plus it is homemade from blackout material, but that doesn't mean I didn't cringe everytime I saw a little critter clinging to my screen. My exgirlfriend's cat had its claws and she was not scratch trained. (the cat, not the girlfriend :b)

I got a kitten and learned this behavior right away. Didn't help that there was a mouse cursor moving around on the screen. She loved to climb the screen though, to the point where it was getting dangerous. She was declawed when she was fixed. She still loves the screen, but of course, no problems now. I had fully intended on getting her declawed anyway, but those first 6 months were fair game to her. Cats and their stubborn yet so cute personalities.

Anyway, she figured out how to get up behind the screen when it was flipped up. Once up, she would climb to the very top (over 9 feet up) and hang over with the screen bouncing and barely staying up. That was the dangerous territory she was heading towards, especially since she is now 20lbs and would buckle that screen tinfoil and there was a table below.

Now doesn't she look like she's mocking me?

 

[Eric_L]

My cats are fine around my 15" Velo, though sometimes they stare at it with cat-curiosity. One likes to sit on top of it like it were a kitty-throne.

The pay no heed to the screen when it is down except when I use the mouse pointer on it. Then they 'attack' the mouse when i run it near the bottom of the screen. Cracks me up... (though I don't dare do it often) I use a laser pointer on the wall for kicks more often, it is really fun to get them running on my tile floor full speed after the red dot then run it up the wall and watch them crash. (I guess that makes me a dog-man afterall)

We have a scratching post which they prefer to our furniture 90% of the time. Though they are indoor cats, I wanted them to have claws not just for the humane sake, but so they can keep our kids in line if they hurt them. Only had one instance when I regretted that - when my six year old fell on top of the cat and got a 12 inch long shallow scratch down his leg when it panicked trying to get out from under him. However, my son is now much more careful around the cat, and the scratch healed.

Good luck.

 

[Brian W. Ralston]

Similar to the water pistol idea...when my cat was a kitten, I used a compressed air can. When ever she was getting into something she should not have been into...I would squirt it in her direction (not really even on her...but it would be air anyway). The noise scared her off. Sooner or later...I only had to pick up the can and she knew. Now that she is grown...she knows where she is not allowed pretty well. On occasion, she gets in a destructive mood and I just make a compressed air can "noise" with my mouth and it makes her stop. I'd say that she is trained pretty well with it.

But in reality...she has trained me well to deal with her curiosity.

 

[Tony Whalen]

Well, if we're posting cat PICS...

Here's my youngest puss... Pixel.







She's the youngest our four fuzzies. Ain't she cute?

 

[Johnny Angell]

Pixel is gourgous.

 

[Brian W. Ralston]

Here is my "Angel". She was about one to two weeks old here. This was two years ago. Her mother abandoned her and a litter mate. We bottle fed and raised angel from about day 2 of her life. When her eyes opened 14 days later...we were the first thing she saw.