Hi,
I know for a fact that at some point in the near future, I am going to have cats living in the same house as my model railroad. I'm aware that a few others have this situation. May I ask for any tips on keeping feline paws off the trains?
Thanks in advance,
tbdanny
The Location: Forests of the Pacific Northwest, OregonThe Year: 1948The Scale: On30The Blog: http://bvlcorr.tumblr.com
All the ones I've heard:-Sound equipped engines-automatic anti-cat spray-dog-animal repelent-screens or lexan/glass plates to prevent them from climbing on the layout
Vincent
Wants: 1. high-quality, sound equipped, SD40-2s, C636s, C30-7s, and F-units in BN. As for ones that don't cost an arm and a leg, that's out of the question....
2. An end to the limited-production and other crap that makes models harder to get and more expensive.
Bob
Photobucket Albums:NPBL - 2008 The BeginningNPBL - 2009 Phase INPBL - 2010 Downtown
Try powering the rails with 110 volts. Hang on your from Australia, you can go to 240 volts.
Rail line, feline its all the same.
http://southcoastrail.blogspot.com/
A very big rotweiler!
Vicks vapor rub !!!! Put it any where on the layout you think they will jump up . It really works and it won't stain your scenery , plus it is real funny to watch a cat get repulsed by the stuff and run the other way never to return .
Popits
You can always put a no-kill animal shelter on your layout. I just did my benchwork and made it 4' off the floor, which eliminates 3 of the 4 cats. I'll put a 1' sheet of Lexan or plexi along the sides to get rid of the smaller one. It's called "Step-stool modeling".
Mine doesn't move.......it's at the station!!!
-Kosmo
"And the sons of Pullman porters and the sons of engineers ride their father's magic carpet made of steel..."
A pellet gun works very nicely as a 22 will ricochet indoors and may hit one of your trains or buildings
My daughter use a spray bottle of water to teach her cats to stay off her furniture and counter tops.Its humane and it works.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
Very simple. My two cats, two neutered old sisters, live upstairs. The door from the kitchen hall to the garage is kept closed at all times, and the door from the garage down to the trainroom is also kept closed, even when I am down there.
Never have a problem. Now that raccoon that got in last spring.............
I guess I'm just lucky. I have a Calico that traipses around on my layout all the time, and she has never disturbed anything. She even laid down on the layout as I was building it, watching what I was doing.
Kittyzilla is a way of life on my layout. Two cats actually. I can't keep them away because the layout must share the basement with their food and, uh, support facilities.
The felines actually walk over (and sit and lie on) the layout quite discreetly. The only problems occur when one will get spooked by a rampaging 4-year-old and scamper away. Even then, the only ill effects I can recall after multiple episodes are two displaced trees and one Blue Box gondola that took the Newtonian Route to the floor.
"I am lapidary but not eristic when I use big words." - William F. Buckley
I haven't been sleeping. I'm afraid I'll dream I'm in a coma and then wake up unconscious. -Stephen Wright
Since I'm owned by two cats, let me give some tips on what I've done.
1. If you can, locate the layout behind a closed door. My layout is in the basement, so by closing the door, the cats can't get down there.
2. Keep a water bottle with a spray nozzle handy. If you see them get up on something that they aren't supposed to, shout "No" or "Down". If they do not comply, a quick squirt of water does the trick. Soon, they'll learn not to get up on things.
3. Get an empty soda can and fill it with some pennies. Place near where the cats are getting up on something or tampering with something. When the can gets knocked off, the noise spooks them, and they learn not to go near it. (This has worked great with my cats' trying to climb the blinds on my living room window.)
4. Get a small battery-operated motion alarm and place it near where they are not supposed to be (ie. on the layout, behind the TV, etc.). They learn quickly not to go near it.
5. Leave out strips of clear packaging tape on the edges of the layout. They don't like things that stick to them. Beware of this though and only do it when you're home. A cat with a strip of tape stuck to its behind will hit mach one is 0.00000325 seconds.
6. Cayenne pepper. Let the cat taste it first. Once it tastes it, it won't even stand the smell. I use a paste of cayenne pepper and water for on electrical cords and that sort of thing. I have tried the sour apple and bitter yuck sprays, but my cats like the taste of those.
7. Scat mats. These are plastic mats that have exposed wires running around them on a 9V battery. When the two wires are touched at the same time, the cat (or human's hand) will get a small shock.
Those are things that I've tried and can think of off the top of my head.
Kevin
http://chatanuga.org/RailPage.html
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Fifty-thousand volts on your power lines usually solves the problem!
From the far, far reaches of the wild, wild west I am: rtpoteet
I just can not believe the cruelty in this thread!!! The only thing to do is keep the cats and give me the trains. That's the only humane thing I can think of.
Pete
I pray every day I break even, Cause I can really use the money!
I started with nothing and still have most of it left!
What cat problem ? Just make it comfortable for them.
Actually he has gotten very good about the layout. He rarely climbs on top and mostly likes to scratch the legs to sharpen his claws.
Engineer Jeff NS Nut Visit my layout at: http://www.thebinks.com/trains/
chatanuga 6. Cayenne pepper. Let the cat taste it first. Once it tastes it, it won't even stand the smell. I use a paste of cayenne pepper and water for on electrical cords and that sort of thing. I have tried the sour apple and bitter yuck sprays, but my cats like the taste of those.
Works with many cats, but some enjoy spicy - I have one cat that can smell a can of hot jalapeño cheese dip being opened across the house, and then run over everyone in her way, trying to get her share.
Just beware"
chatanuga 2. Keep a water bottle with a spray nozzle handy. If you see them get up on something that they aren't supposed to, shout "No" or "Down". If they do not comply, a quick squirt of water does the trick. Soon, they'll learn not to get up on things.
chatanuga 3. Get an empty soda can and fill it with some pennies. Place near where the cats are getting up on something or tampering with something. When the can gets knocked off, the noise spooks them, and they learn not to go near it. (This has worked great with my cats' trying to climb the blinds on my living room window.)
chatanuga 4. Get a small battery-operated motion alarm and place it near where they are not supposed to be (ie. on the layout, behind the TV, etc.). They learn quickly not to go near it.
chatanuga 5. Leave out strips of clear packaging tape on the edges of the layout. They don't like things that stick to them. Beware of this though and only do it when you're home. A cat with a strip of tape stuck to its behind will hit mach one is 0.00000325 seconds.
chatanuga 7. Scat mats. These are plastic mats that have exposed wires running around them on a 9V battery. When the two wires are touched at the same time, the cat (or human's hand) will get a small shock.
I failed miserably with my attempts
but I may have found the solution
Jon
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I assembled some Woodland Scenics trees and while the glue was still wet, I sprinkled some cayenne pepper in the trees. It looks cool and my cat won't touch them.
MILW-RODRChances are the OP is talking about a domesticated pet cat, not a nusciance feline hiding in the barn.
Got it in one. The two Siamese in question belong to my partner. I think that the water bottle, door closed and perspex on the edge of the layout may be the way to go. Thanks for all the replies, everyone.
Get rid of the cat. My wife and I did that nearly 12 years ago. No guilt.
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.
Jon Grant, I about went over backwards when I saw your posted photograph; I, too, have a ginger coated "Torty" identical to the one in your photograph right down to the white on the left rear paw. She is called Feisty and she goes to great length to live up to her name. She is my favorite! Incidentally I also have three other "Tortys" one of which is one of the most beautiful Calicos you have ever seen in your life!
With four leaping cats I am sure that I am going to have to devise some way of keeping mine off my future layout which will be built in the mobile home next door. Terrorizing - I hope the use of that word here is acceptable; awhile back I was using the word "terrorist" in a Barbara Boxer quotation in my signature and got ask by one of the moderators to remove it as some liberal had protested that it was an unacceptable word -- them such as an acquaintance of mine did and which I have told about here on the forum is not really an option in my case. My benchwork will be 54" off the floor and what I am thinking at this moment is using (removable) joists to extend the edges of the platform and stringing bungee cords between the joists; the cats may well be able to surmount that 54" but I doubt seriously if they will try it more than once once they come to realize that those cords do not provide solid footing.
Have fun with your trains
R. T. POTEET Jon Grant, I about went over backwards when I saw your posted photograph; I, too, have a ginger coated "Torty" identical to the one in your photograph right down to the white on the left rear paw. She is called Feisty and she goes to great length to live up to her name.
Jon Grant, I about went over backwards when I saw your posted photograph; I, too, have a ginger coated "Torty" identical to the one in your photograph right down to the white on the left rear paw. She is called Feisty and she goes to great length to live up to her name.
The one in the photo is named Pushkin (my mother's idea) but technically 'she' should be called Pushkina. She is very light-footed and doesn't do any real damage - hence me photographing her in action, rather than shooing her off.
One of my other cats, though, has a taste for the sea foam trees. I'll not tell you what I call her.
richg1998 Get rid of the cat. My wife and I did that nearly 12 years ago. No guilt. Rich
My cat is a straight kick in the crotch to superstition.
Water bottles, dogs,spices,tape, and other things still sound like a lot of trouble. Just let me take care of your trains for you. All I have is a python and he can care less for the trains. I can even let you come over and visit your trains any time you want. Just watch for the snake. He likes to get out some times(JK).
You keep the cats and I will keep the trains. It is a win win situation if I ever saw one.
jon grant
(Pretending to be a HO scale figure)
"OH $@#%!, It's Catzilla! RUN!"
Either way, try these new Popits my friend just showed me: (Edit: I couldn't find a photo and accidentally hit post. They look like small, fuse-less firecrackers, and they are loud!