How do you keep Godzilla cat off your layout?

n2BNSF Jun 19, 2012

  1. n2BNSF

    n2BNSF TrainBoard Member

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    I am having a real problem keeping our two cats off my train layout. I'm trying moth balls but it isn't working as well as I would like. If anyone has had success with moth balls, how many did you use, how did you put them out, and how far apart were they? Has anyone had success with any other methods? The only other one I have read that seems feasible is cayan pepper, but I don't want to hurt the cats...yet. (That may change if they eat one more of my models.) All suggestions are welcome and thanks in advance for your input.

    Ron

    Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2
     
  2. FriscoCharlie

    FriscoCharlie Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Click here. :)

    Charlie
     
  3. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Other than not having any cats....

    The layout space cannot be closed off? Otherwise, you'll need to keep trying methods such as already noted.
     
  4. GP30

    GP30 TrainBoard Member

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    Our cats, Buster & Princess, get on top of everything in the house..... tables, book cases, TV, anywhere they can get up higher on. Buster is worse than the female. Spray bottles of water work well to get them off immediately, but they just lick off the water and start climbing again.

    Fortunately, I have a door to my layout room and no cats ever make it in there. However, curiosity slowly kills them and both cats will lay down in front of the door, stick their paws underneath and try to "pry" the door open just whining and meowing like it is the end of the world. (They do this while we are in the bathroom too)

    My recommendation is to get a door, keep it closed and get ear plugs!
     
  5. n2BNSF

    n2BNSF TrainBoard Member

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    I wish I could close it off, but unfortunately my layout is in our family room and it is completely open to the remainder of the house with no way to close it off. We keep the cats closed in our large utility/storage room at night and when we are not home, but we can't keep them in there all of the time and we can't watch them every minute. Water bottles work only as long as you are actually present. As soon as you leave the room they go right back. Ugh!

    Ron
     
  6. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    I hate to say it, but given the situation as described in post #5, chances of resolving this are minimal. Unless you can break their unwanted habits, you're probably stuck as is now.
     
  7. Doug A.

    Doug A. TrainBoard Supporter

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    Ugh, I don't know what is worse....cats or mothballs!

    I'm sure I've posted in some of the other posts from the search link, but when I used to have cats I had good luck with aluminum foil. Obviously you don't want to have it on there all the time or forever, but it should make for some solid cognitive learning for them such that they will eventually equate layout with foil which they don't like. (just lay the foil out loosely so that it will make startling noise and feel uncomfortable under their paws.)
     
  8. Mike VE2TRV

    Mike VE2TRV TrainBoard Member

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    We had a cat when I was a kid, and it only got on the layout once - I fired up an old Cox/Athearn CB&Q GP35 (the ones that growled like a three-ton coffee-grinder -I loved that sound) and that perked its ears up. When it came growling out of the tunnel, the cat arched its back up, hissed and took off like it was on warp drive. It never came back. It seems the animal living in the tunnel wasn't on its menu. :teeth:
     
  9. grumpyoldguy

    grumpyoldguy E-Mail Bounces

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    Ron,

    Good luck...I have your problem...layout in living room. My 22# Main Coon cat is interested in most of the trains but dislikes my Big Boy more than any, reason unknown. I left the room with the Big Boy running and he knocked it off the layout. Luckily the passenger cars all stayed on the tracks. But it broke some pieces off the cast shell, tore up the draw bar & inferred sensor ane bent the linkage and front wheel set to the tender. Wouldn't run at all after I straightend a few things out. Off to Lionel and they were kind to me only $65 for their labor and shipping but a new boiler shell was $200. So for about $300 I'm back running again. I did learn a lesson… I've given up fighting the cat. But I don't leave the room with any of my trains running anymore!

    Jerry
     
  10. bremner

    bremner Staff Member

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    my English Mastiff and St. Bernard keep my cats in line
     
  11. Jeff Powell

    Jeff Powell TrainBoard Member

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    A motion detector with a LOUD horn. Scare the bejesus out of it...Should only take once...lol
     
  12. bremner

    bremner Staff Member

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    you would think...my Bernard likes to bark at my cats...and chase them....I think I have a suicidal cat
     
  13. RCB

    RCB TrainBoard Member

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    I'm building an enclosed layout. One tactic that does work is placing duct tape sticky side up on surfaces you want to keep them off of. The first time they tend to flip out but the second time usually convinces them to stay off... at least for a while.
     
  14. retsignalmtr

    retsignalmtr TrainBoard Member

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    My layout (N) is in a bedroom with a door that remains closed. I do let the cats (2) in the room only when i'm in there to watch them. You could probably build a solid cover over the layout but it may be more trouble than it is worth. I tried the water pistol routine but one of them actually liked getting sprayed after a while and would come back for more. Many years ago I had a cat that liked to sit on top of a 29 gallon fishtank of mine to watch the fish. One day the plastic hinge pin broke and the cat fell in. After he safely got out he never went back on the top again.
     

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  15. warnerj01

    warnerj01 TrainBoard Supporter

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    Get a Dogzilla
     
  16. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    I think we have a winner here!
     
  17. wm-webb

    wm-webb TrainBoard Member

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  18. Mike VE2TRV

    Mike VE2TRV TrainBoard Member

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    If there is one constant about cats, it's that all cats are weird. Each has its quirks.

    Yours are particularly so - the glowing eyes thing is kinda creepy...:wink:
     
  19. Mike Sheridan

    Mike Sheridan TrainBoard Member

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    And give the layout owner a heart attack most days too :)

    There's really no 'cure' for cats. You just have to love them or not have them.
     
  20. Mike Sheridan

    Mike Sheridan TrainBoard Member

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    That's going the way of the old lady who swallowed a fly ...
     

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