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How to thwart cats

A question for cat owners: I just had to send my BAT VK-300x integrated amp back to BAT for what I assumed was a warranty repair after having it for 3 months--it had begun spitting out white noise and then sent sparks out the top grill. It turns out in fact that it was full of cat hair and--putting it as discreetly as possible--other cat-related material, which had caused it to short out. The cats have long used my audio gear as a sort of large, centrally heated cat bed, but those days have now ended. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to keep cats off your gear?

I keep the VK in a rack , with about 4" of clearance from the shelf above--it would be easy enough to add a piece of nonresonant material underneath it to reduce the clearance and thereby catproof it, but I'm wondering about the other components too.

Any thoughts? And no, throttling the cat responsible is not an option.
bradgregg
richmon
252 posts
 
Put some balloons near your components. When the cats are hanging around the 'off limits' area, pop the balloon(s). They'll make the connection and avoid the area. You might have to repeat the lesson. My cat avoided the area like the plague, but sometimes you might have to leave a balloon around the amp to refresh their memory, depends on the cat.
Simple + cheap, just like me.
clio09
3,360 posts
 
Funny, my cats never mess with my gear and I never had a problem with them clawing at my speaker cloth.

On the other hand, I was at Dusty Vawter's house once doing an audition of his gear and watched his cat actually climb his speakers on a few occasions.
Ag insider logo xs@2x
jgiacalo
446 posts
 
I have three cats. One never bothers the stereo since he hates R&R so I suggest playing cat-ear-hurting music to annoy and negatively reinforce him/her to the stereo. Of the other two the lighter, more agile one likes to lay on the tube gear when it is on and the other is too morbidly obese to jump up on anything. Soooo, I'd suggest overfeeding the cat in question and hopefully the problem will eventually go away.
Or, maybe spray some CatBegone stuff near the gear to repell the little heat-loving sweetie.

Good luck.
imin2u
392 posts
 
The family moaned for a kitten when ours died last summer after being with us 20 yrs. I resisted for a year but guess what? I brought home two kittens. They have proceded to piss me off and climb the planars. I've tried everything to no avail. The socks are ruined and I've basically given up. Anyone with real hope out there?
rives
953 posts
 
First--I like animals and have had a cat that enjoyed music and liked to listen and never was a problem with any of the gear. But this might be a solution for some of you with problems.
(I am kidding of course)
Cat Solution
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