One of my cats would sleep between mountains on my layout. Another would chew on telephone poles. For the most part no real damage. You can not get your layout high enough to stop them. I had a cat that would lay on the top of a door that was only a couple inches wide. He would jump flat footed to the top and lay there. Another of my cats as soon as the den door was opened it was like a sonic boom and she would be in there laying on the couch. Many cats want to be involved in your life so I would suggest dealing with it. I look at my issues as natural disasters that happen along the rails.
RMax
You make a good point. I appreciate all the suggestions about putting a door in, but the way the house is configured that would be a lot of work. I found out I can get a spray from the pet store to deter chewing on the trees. Its funny you mentioned about the cat laying on top of a narrow door. Our cats have the habit of laying on a narrow half wall and even sleep on it. I found out from our vet the more you try to deter them the more they become determined to get involved. I am hoping to keep the trees to a minimum.
Why not just put out some extra trees on the floor for the cat to chew on? Once it gets its fill, it may no longer bother the ones on the layout. It might be the glue used to assemble the trees that is attractive to a cat.
At our HO scale club, we have a quite different problem -- a large lizard known as a Chuckwalla lives in the clubhouse and chews on the trees. But it keeps all the other creepy-crawly creatures at bay so it's perfectly welcome to munch on trees.
Never forget the three 'B's of cat ownership: a bag, a brick, and a bridge.
Mrrroww!! (splash)
Streamlined steam, oh, what a dream!!
Ever seen the damage a 27 lb cat can do? Male Maine Coon cats are huge. Three feet long. The tail alone wipes out stuff.
Rich
If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.
richg1998 Ever seen the damage a 27 lb cat can do? Male Maine Coon cats are huge. Three feet long. The tail alone wipes out stuff. Rich
Some Maine Coons are good around trains. My late Chessie loved to sit or curl up on the basement stairs and watch me and the trains. He also loved to trot alongside my Lionel that I had going around the perimeter of my living room when I got him. He'd trot along next to it, and when it went behind the couch, he'd run around to the other end to wait for it.
Kevin
http://chatanuga.org/RailPage.html
http://chatanuga.org/WLMR.html
Maine Coons can be huge. My cat was 3 foot long and bushy. Trees were no match for him. RIP Simon.
Thanks for the cat pics. Guess I should try and have a perch where they can watch from a distance.
Thats a big big cat. Our girls are Turkish Vans and at a year old nearly 13 pounds...so we can expect them to be big
Actually after talking with my wife, I think I might get the trees that have no leaves on them so I can do a winter scene. The advantage I think is that the cat won't chew on just a branch. But until I build it, I wont know for sure. I found out there is a spray that adds a bitter taste which cats don't like. So I might use that as well.
I can picture our cat Sarah watching the trains though...she seems to be fascinated with anything mechanical. Whenever I print something, she runs to the printer then stands on top watching there paper come out. It so cute. I fear with the train though she will stand on the track and have a collision.
I'm with Randy, Cats and trains should not mix.
SIMPLE SOLUTION >>> Install a door and keep it closed.
Johnboy out.................... Now if I can just get into the train room without that darn cat seeing me.
from Saskatchewan, in the Great White North..
We have met the enemy, and he is us............ (Pogo)
Joe Staten Island West
Have two hairy cats; they do not know the house has a basement. We will keep it that way.
Bob
Rastafarr Never forget the three 'B's of cat ownership: a bag, a brick, and a bridge. Mrrroww!! (splash)
I gotta say, I almost lost bladder control over this one.
Here's a small list of things I've discovered over the years that can (and some have) "persuaded" cats to leave your stuff alone.
orange peels (or anything citric)
ammonia
vinnigar
cayenne pepper
hot mustard
air-soft pellet guns
large snake
or as Rastafarr has mentioned, the 3 Bs
I guess another option is to close your newly installed door, but where's the fun in that?
Lorne
We have 5 cats.... only one of them has been a problem to the point, as written above, maybe I can make it in there witout him seeing me? As soon as the door opens, there he is! I've "made" "gates", gotten mad, everything. I can't stand being in there with the door closed but have done that too.
However, I have been in there a lot the last couple of months, and the room seems to have lost its fasciination for the cat(s). No longer do I have a gate or anything. I am working in there wide open and the cats some by, look in the door and move on. Ocassionally one comes in, but a quick "tssk!" sends them out. I guess it was more a "what's behind this door" case. Even so, I won't walk away for a period of time without shutting the door behind me
Duane
Well, I do always close the layout room door after me. But then it is in a classroom above the library two buildings over, and we do not lock any of our buildings in the day time, and while the library and the church are locked at night, the rest of our house is not. The doors do not even have locks on them. My room is not locked either, although my offices (The Computer/network server office and the Nurse's office) are of course locked. The Wine Cellar and wine warehouse of course are locked all of the time.
The cats stay out doors. Thoughts upon miss Tillie, she is 17 years old and looks like she is near the end of the line.
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
Thats so true..our vet said when a cat sees a closed door they feel the need to see whats behind it and conquer it. I might just go without door initially and see how things go. The first step is to make the benchwork once it gets a bit warmer so kitty can get used to it
chelbe00 Duane Thats so true..our vet said when a cat sees a closed door they feel the need to see whats behind it and conquer it. I might just go without door initially and see how things go. The first step is to make the benchwork once it gets a bit warmer so kitty can get used to it
When one of them would get accidentally locked in there for a while, they would normally lounge against the back wall on some level area. Thankfully that area, as well as most of the rest then, was in a plaster cloth stage, with nothing sceneried yet, though rolling stock would be knocked off the track inside the tunnels (they like to jump through the access holes).
I sent my Shay on it's route for the first time in a while about a month ago. I vacuumed all the track and all that, but somehow I was not surprised when it came out of it's first tunnel opening with a large ball of fur!
No cats in the train room is our rule. Meow...
Says Who?.....
LION'S RULE!
A lot of these methods sound like they'd work great. Personally, I'd try the "slight shock mat" placed in the doorway or just inside so that the cats can't get into the room without stepping on the mat. After the first few tries to get in, the cats will get the idea. It probably won't be necessary to turn it on after that so it is no threat to your guests or beverages. If I were you, I'd make sure I was always wearing shoes when entering the train room, whether or not the mat is turned on (better to be safe than sorry.)
Modeling the Pennsy and loving it!
A Winchester 30-06 or a rabid pit bull will keep the cat population down, thankfully in my town we can still shoot free-roaming cats. Cats kill 500,000,000 songbirds every year, think about it.
Dogs............ Get lots and lots of Dogs..........
ENJOY !
Mobilman44
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central
Get the BIGGEST dog that you can find, and I'll get the biggest cat that I can find.
You animal will not stand a chance!
Cats have a musculature that dogs just do not have.