Cat owners, what do you do to keep the cats away from audio equipment?

[Robert D]

My daughter is getting a cat this weekend and looking for ideas. She has an amp and receiver I worry about the kitten laying on.
How to keep the kitten off of them? I think the cabinet that everything is in has, the shelves set too far apart to prevent the cat from crawling on top. The shelves are fixed and not adjustable.
I found this web page online with some suggestions.
https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/how-do-i-keep-my-cats-off-my-amplifier

 

[Robert D]

The speakers she's using are really old Definitive towers, so if he scratches them some its not a big loss. Its mainly the receiver and amp I'm worried about. Both of those are brand new and nice.

 

[RCHeliGuy]

Give him a nearby cat tree that has higher areas to hang out and ideally with some sissle rope wrapped supports that the cat can learn to use for it's claws.

I have a scratching post in front of my large subwoofer in the basement and the cats go straight to it and have left the subwoofer alone.

 

[Robert D]

Give him a nearby cat tree that has higher areas to hang out and ideally with some sissle rope wrapped supports that the cat can learn to use for it's claws.

I have a scratching post in front of my large subwoofer in the basement and the cats go straight to it and have left the subwoofer alone.

What do you do about keeping them off the top of the amp and pre-amp or receiver? I know they like the heat. Some suggest a nice heated cat bed to entice them away.
I've got cats but mine are sphynx and have no hair to worry about shedding into the chassis. She's getting a Devon Rex, so his hair is short but he has some. That web page I linked has a guy that lost a channel on his nice amp to hair falling in. I worry about the cat blocking the heat from venting and then burning up the amps.
The cabinet she has the gear in may make it hard to have a shelf close over top of the equipment because the shelves are fixed. Here at home my top shelf is no more than 4 inches from the top of the amps. My cat can't fit in. We'd like to avoid having to buy a new cabinet and swap them out. I've gotta get a look at her setup again. I didn't know she was getting a cat so soon. I'm thinking maybe some boards under the amp and receiver to raise them up a bit.
Thanks for the suggestion. A scratching post is a must.

 

[Robert D]

Here is the little tike. She picks him up Saturday.

 

[Robert D]

My cat.

 

[Russr]

You can try this stuff... it seemed to work for mine
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08YK4QFP5/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[Robert D]

You can try this stuff... it seemed to work for mine
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08YK4QFP5/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Wow, that seems like it could work well. You can lay it on top of amps that get hot? It won't melt? Do you use double sided tape to hold it down, or does it just lay there?

 

[Tmort]

You could simply put something atop the amp to take up the space so there’s no room for an animal. On the other hand a furless cat isn’t going to exactly shed on the amp even if it gets there!

 

[Brandon Hartwick]

This stuff works

 

[Robert D]

This stuff works

Good, that's two members that use it. It's resistant enough to heat that it doesn't melt on an amp? The amp is just a Emotiva 3 channel Basx. I doubt it gets real hot.

 

[Robert D]

The new kitten my daughter picks up on Saturday. He has fur, just short.

 

[RCHeliGuy]

There is another product I've used to train cats to stay away from an area.
Specifically I've put this outside the bedroom door so they don't wake me up beating on the door when I'm sleeping.
After a while they just stopped trying.

https://www.amazon.com/PetSafe-Deterrent-Activated-Repellent-Environmentally/dp/B0721735K9/

 

[Brandon Hartwick]

Good, that's two members that use it. It's resistant enough to heat that it doesn't melt on an amp? The amp is just a Emotiva 3 channel Basx. I doubt it gets real hot.

I don't think any amplifier is going to get hot enough to melt extruded plastic. I keep a square of this stuff installed behind the panels of my ESL's so my cats don't sit there, I don't really care if they sit on my amps lol.

 

[Brandon Hartwick]

I wanna know how you guys stop these monsters from destroying all your furniture. Amps are easy lol

 

[Robert D]

I wanna know how you guys stop these monsters from destroying all your furniture. Amps are easy lol

View attachment 24707

He looks like he has lots of energy! I grew up with a cat that looked just like that. His name was Spooky. He used to climb the curtains and the Christmas tree both! We had two green chairs in the living room that had a whole bunch of stuffing coming out of the front of them. He tore the fabric clean through and got down to the wood, even tore it up. He also tunneled through the wall of the basement stairs. My dad would put him in the basement for the night and he said screw that and started tearing through the drywall. He made it through. My dad had to put up a big sheet of plywood on there to cover it and reinforce it.

 

[Robert D]

I don't think any amplifier is going to get hot enough to melt extruded plastic. I keep a square of this stuff installed behind the panels of my ESL's so my cats don't sit there, I don't really care if they sit on my amps lol.

Yeah, I doubt it will melt. Ive got some on order and it arrives on Tuesday. I will cut some out for on top of the receiver and amp to keep the little guy off of them. It should work I hope. Im just not sure how to attach it. I guess maybe some tape will hold it down so it doesnt scoot off.

 

[RCHeliGuy]

I wanna know how you guys stop these monsters from destroying all your furniture. Amps are easy lol

We have large cat trees all over the house.

And we have blankets covering all the tops of the couches except when we have visitors.
But there is still some wear. My sectional in the basement by the door to the screen room is shredded. I have a cat who immediately starts tearing up that couch when he wants to go out. After 12 years I still haven't convinced him to stop doing that.

 

[Big Dog RJ]

Oh yeah, those snobbish kitties! I was never a cat lover just hated them. Compared to doggies, at least they wagged their tails, ears flapping and appreciated when they were walked! Good boy, woof!
But then we migrated to Aus... and having doggies here is a whole different ball game. So, we decided to try kitties and they're great! The first day we got this one, wifey said it's a musical cat and loves jazz... how dud she know that? So that's the ginger fella, Bagel.
After a few years we got Storm, his original name but renamed the fella Dusty. I call it Snuffles. Bloody annoying but for some reason both don't dare go near tubes! I guess when they see the red glow, they probably think flames and they can sense the heat.

Initially when I got the CLX's, I had to spray Eucalyptus oil around the perimeter of the base of the CLX's. Then I would spray Eucalyptus on cotton balls and strategically place these cotton balls all around the set-up from time to time. As a few months passed by, both learned to stay away from the audio gear, of course apart from the occasional shouting!!!

All other types of previous speakers and gear used, we never had cats. Only doggies, they were much easier to train. Cats only happened after Aus...

So now, very well behaved BUT the sofas... oh forget that! They completely went through a beautiful leather couch, so we got rid of that. Now it's a two piece fabric couch, and the shouting continues but what the heck. At least they don't go near any of the audio gear. Overall it took about a year to train both of them. One gets away with blue murder!

 

[Robert D]

We have large cat trees all over the house.

And we have blankets covering all the tops of the couches except when we have visitors.
But there is still some wear. My sectional in the basement by the door to the screen room is shredded. I have a cat who immediately starts tearing up that couch when he wants to go out. After 12 years I still haven't convinced him to stop doing that.

Sounds just like our cat Spooky when I was growing up.