Protecting layout from cats

[Anonymous]

Hi Everyone,

Having moved, I am now working on my new layout. Have the track laid and wiring done. General positioning of buildings is also accomplished. BUT now I need to investigate how to protect the thing from Cat-zillas. The cats get locked in the basement each evening...which is wear the layout is. Needless to say, they like perching on it. This won't work well for scenery buildings and so forth.

Does anyone have ways or ideas that might work to protect the layout (other than shooting the cats...just kidding) Hopefully, it will be easy to implement, affordable and reasonable. I have thought about putting up some window screening...the fiberglass, not metal around the layout as one option.

Anybody else have any others

Thanks.

JB[:D]

[hoscalelarry]

My layout will be in a room with a door on it :) Only other idea is something called "cat off" [I think]. It's in a spray bottle and after spraying it on -- cats stay off furniture -- not sure if it'll work on layout. Good Luck :)

Larry

[Leon Silverman]

Whatever physical barrier you use, it will have to be high. Cats have extremely strong hind legs which gives them extraodinary jumping capability. They can do damage to your trains as well. Cats are nocturnal creatures, meaning they are still active at night. If they decide to have a kitty war, your trains could be collateral damage.
If floor to ceiling barriers are impractical, I used 3 inch wide strips of plexiglass as see-through barriers around the perimeter of my layout. It did not stop the cats from perching on the layout, but if a train (HO gauge) was knocked over, it could not fall to the floor. The plexiglass was position by slots formed by 4 inch screws. The screwheads were left high enough so that the screw head would not scratch a model if it happened to slide past it.

[orsonroy]

The most straightforward thing would be to add walls and doors to the layout room. If that's not possible, the simplest thing would be to add a simple barrier of 8mil plastic sheeting over the layout. Added to a 1x2 frame, it'll keep the cats off the layout, and will have the added bonus of keeping dust off as well.

[Leon Silverman]

Ray:
That 8 mil plastic barrier will work only if the cats are declawed. Also, the plastic would preclude scenery or building with sharp points on top.

[RMax1]

Our pride are avid railfans. The have their areas to go and are well behaved. The trainroom door is locked at night and they are not allowed access unless one of us is in the room. When and if they do get on the table they very seldom damage anything. I'll be missing a telephone pole or something and that is about it. Most of the time they like to lounge underneath the layout or up on the shelving near the ceiling. We have a couch with raised legs that they lay on the back of. When the train is running they stay off the layout and usually only get on it when wanting a little attention. Cats and model railroads no problem in our house.

RMax

[rrinker]

Keep the cats out of the layout area? If you just HAVE to lock the cats in the basement with the layout, find something they are afraid of - for example, our cat is deathly afraid of helium balloons. Especially the mylar ones. Go figure. All have to do is tie a balloon near some area he is not supposed to pass, and it usually works. One balloon in a room can keep it cat-free for days.
Keep in mind, much as you want to believe otherwise, it's the cats who tolerate you, not the other way around. Tick them off by locking them in the basement or doing other things they are not fond of, and they WILL get revenge. No matter how cruel and unsavory some criminal might be, a cat could teach them a thing or two about how to be vindictive.

--Randy

[Jacktal]

It is fairly easy to convince a dog that he is part of your world and thus abide by your rules.However,the cat thinks it is the other way around and will do whatever he wants to do,given it is physically possible for him to do so.This is his nature and there's nothing that can change this.

I've tried spraying a special "stuff" to keep my cat away from windows and it simply didn't work.Although annoyed by the scent,it still climbed to peek outside every now and then.She probably suffered from this but it's urge to take a peek overcame the inconvenient I guess.

When she died a few years ago,I already had modeling plans in mind so I elected to not replace her.Layouts and cats don't go together and I had to make a choice.And since my lady wasn't too hot about having another cat anyway,it wasn't too hard.

If you can't have a dedicated layout room with doors and so on,and still want your cats locked downstairs during the night,you may arrange them a very comfortable night cage.Believe me,they'll hate it as hell and pretty soon you'll have to search them before bedtime as cats are no dummies...but then you could try to convince them it is for the welfare of your layout...good luck!!!

[Anonymous]

You could construct a frame out of 2" x 2" that are attached to the corners of the layout and then a 2" x2" board acrossthe top to each corner. Then attach a tarp to the top on each side. To raise the sides up you could use old window blinds hardware. You might also want to attach a 1' x 2' board at the bottom of each side. The bottom board would give it some weight to keep the cats off the tarp an gives the window blinds somewhere to attach without ripping the tarp.

I saw someone use a similar contraption to keep their cats and dogs out their "office area" in a basement.

[rrinker]

Oh yeah, I once had a cat who liked to climb the Xmas tree. I tried that scent stuff - it did not faze the cat one bit, however the odor WAS offensive to us humans. YCMV (Your Cat May Vary)

[:D][:D]

--Randy

[dknelson]

One suggestion I read years ago is to set up mouse traps -- the old kind with the metal spring that people will beat a path to the door of the guy who builds a better one variety -- and cover those traps with a layer of newspaper. What the cat walks on the layout the traps will spring and make noise but hopefully the newspaper prevents the paw from getting caught in the trap. Presumably the idea is that the cat associates the layout with unpleasant noise. I have not tried this idea mind you. My cat is fortunately frightened of my layout because he got frightened of the noisy power drill I used to build it .... He might be a special case because he is also terrified of cat treats!
Dave Nelson

[Anonymous]

I dont think chemicals dont work too well. While I have two cats, my workbench and wall for the railroad is in a spare room. The door is closed all the time. That is "my" space.

Once a friend had a ferret that made a boo boo in a corner. He sprayed the corner with "stink off" or something like it. The ferret sniffed and decided that he needed to turn around and back in like a semi-trailer truck and deposit his boo boo. A week later there were no animals in the place.

Cats and Trains dont go well.. at least for me.

[Anonymous]

I would just shoot the damn cats!

[rvanparys]

If you have animals, why are they locked in your railroad space?. Our cat, who has lived in several countries is most content with sleeping on our bed... I can't say that I completely agree... but then a cat is a cat is a cat....
Bottom line: If you cannot live with a feline then I suggest you find another compatible home, either for your layout or your cat.

[bogp40]

Some railfaning German Shepards will always do the trick.

[Anonymous]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for the quick replies. I may investigate the window blind idea. Having redone window treatments, there are some extras laying about. Using them on the layout will certainly flip-out my wife. (She's constantly amazed at what i find uses for.)

Again, thanks for the replies

JB163

[d714]

I've tried the cat "stuff", didn't phase her a bit. I read this tip on yahoo, tried it and it works great. Might be worth a try.
The citrus odor in lemon furniture polish is usually offensive to cats. This polish, applied to wood on furniture, frequently discourages the cat from climbing or sleeping on the furniture that is "off limits."

[rrinker]

Interesting, I will have to try that on the dining room table. We seldom use it, but every time we go to prepare it, there are paw prints all over. Seems like BOTH cats like to explore it, as there are usually black and white hairs around.

--Randy

[Anonymous]

Cats and trains do not mix
mine are not allowed in the train room
there is no keeping cats off of layouts and or away from trains

[grayfox1119]

I have owned cats for years, they are very curious animals by nature. When I designed my 1st layout, under construction now, I made sure it was in a seperate room in the basement WITH A DOOR !!! That is the only failsafe way to make sure the cats stay OUT. Now if it is impossible for you to install a wall around your layout with a door, then there is one thing that cats absolutely HATE..............WATER !!! I have seen some ingenious ways designed to keep cats away from areas in homes. One guy actually set up a simple motion detector that blanketed the area he wanted to control. At night he would turn it ON, and when the cat/s broke the beam, he had a pressure spray that would let the cat/s HAVE IT. They got the message!!!
Now if you don't want to use water, you can have the sensor trigger a tape recorder that has the sounds of a vicious dog on the attack. You want to see cats take off? Try THAT one. Funnier than hell. Good luck,

[n2mopac]

I had a similar situation. I spent dozens of hours painting figures and building an N scale little league baseball diamond with game in progress. My can destroyed the field and ate--yes ate--half of the figures. How she survived I do not know.

Ron

[csxengineer98]

shot the cat...
lol
csx engineer

[dano99a]

My cats like to watch me work onmy layout. Kind funny but they do. One of them though is a tornado fomr time to time. Unless your going to put up walls and a door I'd say keep anything you value away from the edge of the layout. buildings and scenery are easy to fix. A loco on the floor is not.

Happy building

[dano99a]

My cats like to watch me work onmy layout. Kind funny but they do. One of them though is a tornado fomr time to time. Unless your going to put up walls and a door I'd say keep anything you value away from the edge of the layout. buildings and scenery are easy to fix. A loco on the floor is not.

Happy building

[Anonymous]

My layout is in my room and my cats tend to like to sleep in there. My cat has found that the interesting stuff called ground foam makes a nice bed and she has a tendancy to, every once in a while, climb up onto the layout and sleep the night through. She knows that I don't like her up there, but every now and then there is just that urge...
Reed

[RMax1]

Well this is real simple. If you guys would quit using catnip for ground cover there would be no problem. :)

RMax

[jkeaton]

There was a cartoon in MR years ago (probably about 1980) showing what happened to a cat who liked to sleep in model railway tunnels when the owner ran his new rotary snowplough (with operating blade) around the layout for the first time...

Probably this approach works better in O than in HO or N.

Jim

[jwar]

Keeping cats and running trains is like vinegar and oil..have to be alert to shake them up..sort of speaking.

Isolate them is the secret. But in a since I have the same problem. My wife leaves the train room door open every time she touches the door knob. So keeping peace as I now think Cats are easier to train ( bet I get flamed over this one LOL ) . I use the ole shop vac approach, A soundly sleeping cat and a sneakey older kat slipping the vac hose over its tail, giving another meaning to the term "That Sucks" instently the varmit heads to further and higher places in the house.

It now only peeks around the door, eyeing the shop vac is enough of a deterent for it to walk away, if not I touch the switch and she rather hastiley heads for some dark closet or under the bed. Now all I have to do is touch the switch and she is gone. However it does bring me a bit of rath from the CEO.

Perhaps if my wife ever gets another cat I hope its a kitten. Wonder if a person put two leashes on it, threading one through a short tunnel, then briskley swishing it to and fro, naaah... would be like unleashing a buzz saw....At least with the shop vac I can still say " sorry Hon... didnt see the cat....just cleaning up a bit..." Hey it works for me.
Lots of luck.

[CP5415]

The best thing I did to protect my layout from my cat was to get a puppy.
Molson (puppy dog) follows me up to the layout room & Molly (kitty kat) stays out.
Not that I had a problem with Molly, she'd usually sit under the benchwork to watch the trains, occasionally becoming Molly, attack cat agains't my F Units

Gordon

[Anonymous]

Even though I have a door on my train room, my cat can open every door in the house.