I have no cats, but my neighbor has three or four: all outdoor, spayed, females. They are very friendly and seem to have accepted me as the biggest, dumbest, and slowest member of the pack.
Every once in a while one of them deposits a bird or a small rabbit or something on my doorstep. I guess they think that I'm too stupid or too slow to ever catch one on my own.
Robert
LINK to SNSR Blog
Well, this has been rather amusing, espeically to someone who is pretty neutral about pets - no dog or cat in the fight.
My wife had cats for years, I liked them well enough, and they never bothered my trains - the layout is in a deticated room above the detached garage..... But, the workbench is in the basement, also the litter box location via a pet door.
Cats, they are alternate life form adults who let you live with them, as long as you open the cans and clean the box......
Dogs, dogs are for people who like children, not just their own children, but all children. That possibly leaves me out.........
I know I'm self involved, but I have to say, I do prefer to not have to be responseable for the potty habits of others, creatures or humans. I know, that makes me a not so good parent or dog owner.......
But here is what ended cat ownership at our house. The wife typically had two cats, ocasionally replacing an old one with a young one that looked pretty much the same.....
Our cats were allowed outdoors, but seldom left the yard or stayed out all night.
One day the younger one simply disappeared. Exhaustive searching (one trip to the local pound) yielded no results. Cat #1 gone, she never returned.....
Several months later, cat #2, a much older girl, who was having some health issues, thought it would be a good idea to use the grandson's crib as a littler box rather than make the trip down two flights of steps.
The next day, while at work, I received a call from the wife, asking if I could provide the cat with her final trip to the vet that evening. I dutifully complied.
I could not help but wonder as I put her in the cat carrier what she might be thinking? Like maybe "I guess peeing in the baby's bed was not really such a good idea?"
Since then the wife says no more pets, too much trouble.......I just stay quiet.....
Sheldon
TOP 11 WAYS OF KEEPING CATS OFF LAYOUTS11. The sand pit has got to go. You have enough logs for the Shays to haul.10. Install your layout on the ceiling. 9. Make your backdrop a lifesize photo of an attacking rotweiller. 8. Install a throw switch in your track wiring:Layout in use: 12 volts DC Layout unattended: 15,000 volts AC via cattle fence charger.7. Remove basement/attic stairs.6. Install loaded mousetraps on all gondolas.5. Equip crossing gates with razor saws and Exacto knives.4. Hang catnip in tunnel. Cat peeks in one end--- 40 car 2-8-8-2 at full throttle goes in the other. Your cat will never forget this.3. Hook up rail sounds to your son's Marshall guitar amp set to ten. Select "diesel roar" when cat takes first swipe at caboose. Works every time.2. Find your cat sleeping on the layout. Gently place Walkman headphones over its ears and play the Mighty Mouse theme song at full volume. Cats hate the Mighty Mouse theme song and will permanently associate it with the layout.AND THE NUMBER ONE WAY TO KEEP CATS OFF LAYOUTS?1. Convert to Z scale and put the layout in a drawer!
richhotrainOK, here we go again, another anti-feline thread, launched and nurtured by cat haters. And I say that as I sit here with my morning coffee and my beloved cat sitting on my lap as we both read this awful horrible thread. Shame on all of you.
I'm not exactly a cat-hater, Rich, but I must admit to favouring dogs. My remarks were mostly in jest, as I don't particularly like killing animals, even the mice, squirrels, and chipmunks that are destroying my 130 year old garage.
Dog and cat dander isn't very conducive to clean track, though, and even when we had dogs in the house, they weren't allowed in the layout room.We had a couple of cats, too, and fortunately, one moved out with my daughter when she got her own place.The other one we got, as a kitten, for our two younger kids, and while it was okay at first, it became a real menace as it got bigger. The first incident was when it leapt up onto the dining room table, apparently to get a better look at the chandelier. Unfortunately, the kids were roughhousing in the bedroom above, and the jiggling light fixture was apparently too interesting to ignore. We weren't aware of the incident until cat and chandelier crashed to the table, then to the floor.After that, the cat was never the same, and became increasingly aggressive. We eventually confined her to an otherwise un-used small back room, but she apparently sensed my dislike of her and everytime I walked by outside the open, but screened window, she'd be clinging to the screen, screeching and yowling. An uncle with a dairy farm offered to take her, as he needed a barn cat. I manage to get the deranged cat into a very sturdy cardboard box only by throwing an army greatcoat over her to avoid getting clawed or bitten. We then drove over to my wife's parents' house where the uncle was visiting. "Put the box in the trunk of my car.", he said, "I'll be leaving in a couple of minutes."We later heard the rest of the tale: Apparently, somewhere along the drive home, and unbeknowst to the uncle, the cat managed to get out of the box. He told us that when he opened the trunk, the cat, in his words, "burst out of the trunk like a missile leaving its silo!" He never saw it again.
On a more positive note, one of my all-time favourite cartoons is The Cat Came Back.
It's suitable for both cat-lovers and cat-haters.
Wayne
SeeYou190 Welcome to Florida! At least I have yet to encounter an alligator, bear, python, iguana, or gila monster! The mockingbirds and burrowing owls are the worst!
Welcome to Florida! At least I have yet to encounter an alligator, bear, python, iguana, or gila monster! The mockingbirds and burrowing owls are the worst!
Hey, hey, hey! Mockingbirds are the official state bird. I had one that would imitate the cheep-cheep sound of my car when I locked or unlocked the door. I admit they can be a little . . . umm . . . how shall I say . . . agressively territorial, though. I was born in Florida, and for 35 years I lived three blocks from the ocean. That's how I knew about the snakes. Gnats, mosquitoes, horseflies, stink bugs, bed bugs, red bugs, chiggers, fire ants, wasps, hornets, yellow jackets, bumble bees, sweat bees, fierce honey bees, beetles-the-size-of-baseballs, roaches-the-size-of-your-thumb, skunks, jellyfish, poison ivy, poison oak, poison sumac, sand spurs, cactii, yuccas (Spanish bayonettes), briars, etc . . . not to mention tourists . . . plenty of other stuff you've yet to encounter. The Sunshine State. Good luck.
ROBERT PETRICKHave you checked the dryer vent?
.
Thank you for the idea, but the dryer is in the garage, not the living area of the house. All the doors are full perimeter sealed and insulated. An ant would have a hard time getting into this house.
My best thought is that the snake stowed away in a box we had in the garage for the Christmas decorations. When I brought the boxes back in the house to pack up the decorations he might have slthered out of the box and remained hidden for a few weeks.
In the garage I have had rats, snakes, black widows, turtles, and an opossum. Welcome to Florida! At least I have yet to encounter an alligator, bear, python, iguana, or gila monster! The mockingbirds and burrowing owls are the worst!
-Kevin
Living the dream.
SeeYou190 BUT... About a month ago we had a five foot snake in the house! That was a terrifying surprise. No idea how it got in. -Kevin
BUT... About a month ago we had a five foot snake in the house! That was a terrifying surprise. No idea how it got in.
Have you checked the dryer vent?
We have no pets in our house.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVptRtkAM8w
Now that was a scary video. And I don't mean the cats.
Cats visit while assembling cars at the workbench. Murdoch (on lap), Nilla (on shoulders)
Dave
Just be glad you don't have to press "2" for English.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQ_ALEdDUB8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hqFS1GZL4s
http://s73.photobucket.com/user/steemtrayn/media/MovingcoalontheDCM.mp4.html?sort=3&o=27
OK, here we go again, another anti-feline thread, launched and nurtured by cat haters.
And I say that as I sit here with my morning coffee and my beloved cat sitting on my lap as we both read this awful horrible thread. Shame on all of you.
By the way, my cat is allowed in the basement where my layout is located and never goes up on the layout.
I will admit to one instance a few years back where one of my little HO scale fisherman went missing with only the fishing pole left as evidence. That little fisherman has yet to be found and, yes, Gracie is a feline of interest.
Rich
Alton Junction
SouthPenn I'll trump your cats, dogs, and mice with a scared and hungry squirel in the dark running around my layout, for 2 days.
I'll trump your cats, dogs, and mice with a scared and hungry squirel in the dark running around my layout, for 2 days.
If it was rabid, you win.
Ed
Just to keep things in perspective, there's a current news story about Gracie the cat, who pounded on the bedroom door to save a couple from CO poisoning.
Extra can of tuna for that girl!!!
Hello all,
There is no such thing as idiot PROOF!Just idiot resistant!!
Hope this helps.
"Uhh...I didn’t know it was 'impossible' I just made it work...sorry"
Howard ZaneActually the door is cat proof and well designed....just today one of my cats ran under my legs as I was entering...my guess is this is how the culprit pussoid got into the basement last month. HZ
HZ
Cats is sneeky peoples, can sneeky in most everywhere, even give big Lions problems.
George In Midcoast Maine, 'bout halfway up the Rockland branch
oldline1 Never had a cat hump my leg constantly or crap in the train room. Roger Huber
Never had a cat hump my leg constantly or crap in the train room.
Roger Huber
C'mon now - SMH
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
Guy Papillon superbe Just proves once again that dogs are man's best friend. Bob i couldn't have said it better.
superbe Just proves once again that dogs are man's best friend. Bob
Just proves once again that dogs are man's best friend.
Bob
i couldn't have said it better.
I disagree I have two dogs. One dog named Charles he got into my two stock cars ruining one of them and ate several tracks.
Everything is placed high; so he can't get them, but he finds a way.
Amtrak America, 1971-Present.
Guy
Modeling CNR in the 50's
I'll take cats to dogs. Never had a cat hump my leg constantly or crap in the train room. Meows are much preferable to barks.
I use a citrus spray and spray it across the train room threshold. Seems to make the cats not want to enter the room.
Deer Creek Locomotive Works
Stinkbug MIKEY to stinkbug ARTHUR:
Wow! That was THE BEST RIDE EVER! I sure hope that nice human will let us do it again REAL SOON.
Similar experience with stinkbugs and a vacuum. A few years back I vacuumed up with shop vac a solid wall of these bugs. Feeling like a real wiinerr, I put the vac down and congraulated myself on the victory when right before me was a column of twos of these stinkbugs marching out in close formation from the long hose.
Back to cats................
dknelsons. The day before they were supposed to be there I noticed a putrid odor. Somewhere in my very expansive suspended ceiling something had gone to die.
Had a similar problem with my shop vac. Got that bad smell every time I used it. I must have left the open end of the hose laying on the floor. The entire mouse family walked up through the tunnel of love and then fell into the great canyon of death.
dknelson...eventually I found a decomposed mouse...
Usually, when you find one mouse in your home, there will be more...many more if you can't find where they're getting in. Plugging the small hole(s) using steel wool is quite effective.
If, on the other hand, you find a cat anywhere in your house, simply get rid of it. Chances are that somebody unwittingly let it in, not realising the consequences.If you have a non-attached garage and gasoline in your locale is not too expensive, carbon monoxide is apparently very effective and painless, too.
7j43kA mouse in a ceiling. I know someone ON THIS VERY FORUM who can supply an animal to minimize this happening again.
Russell
Howard Zane Actually the door is cat proof and well designed....just today one of my cats ran under my legs as I was entering...my guess is this is how the culprit pussoid got into the basement last month. HZ
Actually the door is cat proof and well designed....just today one of my cats ran under my legs as I was entering...my guess is this is how the culprit pussoid got into the basement last month.
A spray bottle filled with water works quite well..That process stop my daughter's cats from climbing on the kitchen counter and stove.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
Howard Zane I do have what I thought to be a foolproof cat door????
I do have what I thought to be a foolproof cat door????
"A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools." - Douglas Adams
Doesn't exactly fit the situation, but it came immediately to mind.
dknelson It took a while but eventually I found a decomposed mouse. What a mess.
It took a while but eventually I found a decomposed mouse. What a mess.
A mouse in a ceiling.
I know someone ON THIS VERY FORUM who can supply an animal to minimize this happening again.
I was once going to host a group of friends to inspect my layout area, followed by an evening of railroad slides. The day before they were supposed to be there I noticed a putrid odor. Somewhere in my very expansive suspended ceiling something had gone to die. It took a while but eventually I found a decomposed mouse. What a mess. I bombarded the basement with spray de-odorizers but there was no mistaking the aroma when my friends visited. We moved the slide show upstairs by necessity.
Dave Nelson