My Serious answer: We have 3 Cats and I have only found 2 ways that really work. 1. The layout needs to be in a room that is closed to the cats. 2. The layout is high enough(48" or higher) that the cats cannot jump up to it. You also need to make sure that nothing is around the layout that the cats could use as a jumping off point.
There is an aerosol product available at most pet stores. It used to be called "Cat Away" different name today and my quick recall is in slow mode. On another website we discussed the same problems. At the encouragement of a number of us the OP stopped in at his LPS (Grin) and found an aerosol, that did the trick. So, a trip to the LPS is in order and they should have the answer to your question. Now, how to keep my friend the fire bug away from my new and highly volatile forest.:sweat:
Cat away would work. Maybe a plexiglass "wall" around the edges of the layout high enough to keep them off. Call your layout the Hockey Rink then lol.
Having lived with cats since my birth, I learned that cats jump only as high as they need to achieve the landing surface, no more, no less. I have seen cats land on a surface 6-1/2 feet above the floor, from a stationary start...no running jump for them. Our cats pointed out that dogs, being inferior, need a running start to achieve any surface more than twice their height.
Layout heght in my train room is 54 inches off the floor. Like a previous poster, I have seen cats jump higher than 4 feet. Best preventitive move I have is keeping the door to my train room closed- especially since we now have a new kitten, and I have a lot of stuff in that room for the itty bitty kitty to get into.
Whoa, just got home from work where eight versions of that book was being printed. I never thought I would see it brought up on model train forum.
The only way to keep a cat off your layout is to keep the cat out of the room the layout is in. This is a law of nature.
if you have problems with cats you're probably modeling in the wrong scale. i once was running a long g scale train. 3 dash-9 were heading approx 40 cars. a cat was sitting on the track. was too late even for an emergency stop. poor kitty was beeing pushed down the track before the first engine simply ran over it. ( a g scale dash weighs about 22 pounds...)
I plan on using a 2-foot fold-down section of chicken wire to keep my cat off the layout when I'm not around. Well, I say chicken wire, but I mean 1/2 inch wire mesh. If "Lurch" actually manages to vault over that + 42" table height, I'll angle the mesh out so he has to land on it, collapsing it instantly. Failing that, I'm plugging the mesh into the wall (just kidding)
i prefer to think of the furball as a factor for scene building for final approval with her often pulling up sections she does not approve of.......my wife says there are real natural disasters that railroads contend with....where as mine has a cat
