CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

[Marcel_D]

Register to remove this ad. It's free!

...without destroying the cat?

I was having a good day until I came home and realized there was something wrong with my screen. All along the bottom, mostly on one side, it was full of holes and scratch marks . Lets just say I was pretty pissed off. My method right now is to wait for the cat to attempt it, then give it a good smack in hopes it will associate bad things with sharpening its claws on my screen. Problem is I hardly ever see him doing it. It's not a huge deal, just a sheet of MDF with that blackout material covering it. I'm about to repurchase the material and order some of that Goo paint online but the cat is still troublesome. The basement is open and it basically lives down there with my stuff. He doesn't do it to furniture or anything common like that of course, just projector screens, cardboard boxes, and the occasional speaker grille which has been accidently left sitting on the ground...

[Tom.W]

Get rid of the cat or put a spider on the screen where the cat can see it.

[perisoft]

An attractive alternative might help; some kind of catnipped cardboard scratcherthingy near the screen which makes the cat say, "Screw this white thing; I'm going for the drugs!"

Another option might be to rig up something that makes it uncomfortable for the cat to get to the screen. One of mine hates to walk on soft things, for instance.

If you want to go with consequences, I've heard that water spray bottles work wonders; cats absolutely detest it. If you're using blackout material some water spray shouldn't hurt it if you miss the cat, either.

The ultimate solution is what I do, though: an electric roll-up screen. I got a slightly-beat-up Stewart Ultramatte that I fixed for $120, and then parted out the free projector that came with it for $160. It worked out quite well.

[Curt Palme]

I had a dog that used to run up to the screen and bark any time there was an animal on the screen. It didn't matter what it was, he chased antelope, mice, etc. NEver cared about humans on the screen, but it was always a laugh when I put on COPS when the police dogs were giving chase. He was right there with them.

Fortunately he never pawed the screen..

[Curt Palme]

I had a dog that used to run up to the screen and bark any time there was an animal on the screen. It didn't matter what it was, he chased antelope, mice, etc. NEver cared about humans on the screen, but it was always a laugh when I put on COPS when the police dogs were giving chase. He was right there with them.

Fortunately he never pawed the screen..

[garyfritz]

Get a Designer White screen. The cat shouldn't be able to mark it, or at least not much.

Or rig up a little "electric fence" along the bottom of the screen. You'll never train him by trying to catch him and whack him. He'll just associate it with you, not the screen. Make the *screen* "whack" him and he'll stay away from it.

[rabies_70]

There is also this crazy motion activated device that makes a crap load of noise when the cat gets near its sensor. I saw them on the net somewhere. Scares the crap outta cats. They were touted to keep cats off counters but they said you could use them to keep cats away from anything.

[Tom.W]

The blender defender ?

http://www.plasma2002.com/blenderdefender/

[emdawgz1]

This should stop him...

[AnalogRocks]

Not a cat person John?

[AnalogRocks]

Not a cat person John?

[emdawgz1]

Actually i love cats...

I would start w/ a spray bottle of water...whenever the cat approached the screen...Spritz.... They hate it and it breaks the habit...

But if the cat persists, you might need to escalate....

[Curt Palme]

[Curt Palme]

[TheVerge]

[jkruger]

Spray dog piss on the screen. Cats don't like dog piss.

[emdawgz1]

You could also use Peppermint oil, or citrus , or menthol ...

Any strong smell will keep the cat from that area!

[CIR Engineering]

[CIR Engineering]

I for one believe strongly in de-clawing cats. I know a lot of cat people say this is cruel and awful and what not, but I truly believe the total opposite. The way I see it, when cats use their claws in ways that is natural to them, we we respond with smacking them, spraying them with water, yell at them... If you de-claw the cat the cat will never have to experience this sort of punishment for doing things that the cats sees as natural.

People say that de-clawing is cruel and reduces that cat's quality of life and that is is removing a knuckle and all that garbage. I have de-clawed every cat I have ever owned and not one has shown any sign of a diminished quality of life. All my cats have lived to be more than 20 years old and only the first week or less after the de-claw procedure were they bothered. And I have NEVER had to hit my cats or spray them with water because of clawing.

...now if I could just get them to stop eating my plants and throwing up leaves

craigr

[jkruger]

Uh-huh. It was meant as a joke. Personally I would shoot the cat, but some kind of fragrance will keep the cat away. I like citronella.

[emdawgz1]

[Marcel_D]

Dog piss eh? I'll spray it on real strong and distribute gasmasks to anyone watching a movie. Heck it might even distract them from my noticing shoddy convergence. Double win.

Also we've gone through 4 cats and haven't declawed any yet although looking back, it probably would have been a good idea...one nearly took my eye when I was a kid. That cat was scary.

I think I'm going to put a couple cardboard boxes under the screen. He should prefer those. My cat is unreactive to catnip so I can't even scent anything. Now if that doesn't do it I'll just rig up an elaborate system of pulleys and weights that boot up my computer, projector, and sound system to play some cat terrifying video.

[CIR Engineering]