Cats and other "Family Members"

John R.

Our two cats and dog are part of the family, and keeping them out of the lab is not totally desirable, or practical for that matter. I have one cat that even after several successive (12 is the record before I give up...) grabbing the cat and dumping her on the floor actions, will still insist on trying to help me out.

Short of a barbed wire barrier, does anyone have any thoughts on how to deter the friendly little guys and gals from trying to learn what this stuff is all about? I'm all for education, but as smart as they are, I don't think they're learning much, and as my grandfather used to say "they make a better door than a window".

Hissing at the cats used to work, but now they just laugh at me and come and rub my chin.

For a couple weeks, the new dog was a big help, now the cats just laugh at her.

Bonus points for anyone with a solution to cat hair (the insistent one is a long haired "princess").

Causing harm or injury is not an option, not only from my viewpoint, but if I did harm the kitties, that would lead to my wife removing body parts that I would rather keep.

While somewhat "tongue in cheek", I am curious if anyone has any possible solutions.

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John R.
Click here to see my Nomad Build Log

xanatos

Sorry, I feel for you, but it's a losing battle. Just give up, give in, and adjust your workspace accordingly! One thing I find is that when my cats are up on my workbenches/desks/computer keyboards/etc., they are trying to be at the center of my attention, and usually they are appeased by being placed in my lap. That said, however, there's usually only room for one there.

I do keep my workshop and office doors closed at night to keep the cats from playing hockey with my basic stamps, etc.

If I am doing work that could be a danger to the cats, however, I work with the doors closed (etching PC boards, welding, testing particle beams, etc)

I have had cats all my life and have never discovered anything that could deter their interest for long. They are persistent and patient, and so, like water over the eons, they eventually get their way!

Good luck and let the rest of us know if you ever DO find anything useful!

Dave X

sylvie369

When I brought my cat ("Sylvie", for whom I name myself on these forums) home, I decided that she'd have the run of the house, except for my bedroom, where I'd keep all of the delicate stuff. So I closed the bedroom door when I left for work. When I came home, the door was open and she was calmly sleeping on my bed. I decided I must not have closed it tightly, so I did so the next time I left. When I came home, it was open, and she was sleeping calmly on my bed.

So I tried putting stuff in front of the door so she couldn't open it. When I came home, she was sleeping calmly on my bed. So I hung a barbell by a rope from the doorknob, and slung it over something in the room here outside, so she'd have to lift the barbell and open the door to get in. Same result. I never saw how she did it, but every time I came home, no matter what precautions I'd taken, I'd find her sleeping calmly on my bed.

So like Dave, I gave up. She never disturbs my things, and has had full run of the house for about 16 years since then.

P.S. - If I had a solution to cat hair, I'd be so rich that Sylvie would have her own house.

John R.

The inability to stop a cat from getting where they want to is kind of what I meant by "practical for that matter". They always find a way. I suspect in Sylvie's case, it involves removal and replacement of a section of drywall, or something equally bizarre that non-cat owners (I think "ownees" is more accurate) cannot fully appreciate.

My real problem isn't with what happens while I'm gong, it's that they really want to help when I'm working, and without opposing thumbs, they really are not all that helpful.

Taking a break and offering brushing services or the like for a bit seems to satisfy them just long enough so that by the time I'm back "in the flow", they are back.

Yes, this thread is half humor, half serious...

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John R.
Click here to see my Nomad Build Log

Uber-Cool Kid

My dog always messes with my stuff, so what I recommend doing is giving the cats and dog treats or something to play with.

Or you could find a friend who will hold them for you.

Steph Lindsay

There is a nontoxic cat-deterrent spray that smells lightly of cilantro that you might put on a hand towel and lay across the threshold and maybe under the desk, to see if they lose interest in hanging out with you. Once upon a time I managed to keep an entire aparment complex worth of cats out of my son's sandbox this way, by spraying the fence and the rocks around the perimeter of the sandbox.

Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)

I can certainly sympathize. My cat, Browser, used to jump up onto a counter in my shop to sit in front of the window behind it. In doing so, he'd invariably knock stuff off. I came in one day to find an entire drawerful of #4 fasteners strewn across the floor. I think the resulting clatter must've scared him, as he's not been up there since.

Cats like high places. Browser used to jump up on my bench and over the top of my scanner to gain access to some shelving, which he'd climb to reach the top shelf. There, he would spend a good part of the day sleeping in a cardboard mail tray. So I built him a ramp against the garage door so he can get up there without disturbing my workbench. It's worked out great, and I can now trust him to be alone in the shop while I'm tending to errands.

All the really dangerous stuff (e.g. machine tools, soldering station) is in another room, blocked by a spring-closing door. He's simply not allowed back there and can't get there on his own.

The cat hair thing is another matter. Everytime I vacuum the house and empty the canister, I mutter to myself, "How can that cat possibly have any fur left?!!"

-Phil

mctrivia

There is a solution to the cat hair issue(and dust)

Pressurize your house.

If you can increase the air pressure inside your house just a bit dust, and cat hair(except on some fabrics) will leave the house.

Works great on dust. Can't promise you can make the cat hair leave in a pressure you will like to live in.

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icepuck

One day I was running a sonar test on my Hero1 robot and noticed that when it was running the test my shelties would run upstairs and hide. After a while I noticed they would go hide any time hero said "Ready" when powered on or reset without running the sonar at all.
-dan

Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)

mctrivia said...
There is a solution to the cat hair issue(and dust) Pressurize your house.

Oh, great. Have you ever tried to pressurize a sieve? (Seriously, I'm sure homes in Calgary have to be a lot tighter than the ones around here.)

Besides, the hair sticks to anything it comes in contact with. It's not like it's floating in the air.

-Phil

John R.

My personal experience with pressurized spaces (from test labs in a "previous life", as well as "differential pressure" purposely put in place between the shop and office space (slightly higher in the office)) is that it works great for keeping (or helping to keep) dust and contaminates out, but doesn't really do much to "exhale" dust.

The cilantro and ultransonics sound interesting. I'll have to see what I can find.

PhiPi: It doesn't take much pressure, only an inch or so of water. If I were to seriously try this, I'd just have my shop dust collector fan suck air from outside and blow it inside with all the windows closed. Yes, a lot would leak, but it just takes a wee bit of pressure to make the "keep the stuff out" thing work. In fact too much, and you can't open the doors without some serious muscle. (36" x 78" door = 2808 sq in - it doesn't take that much pressure with that much area to create an immovable object)

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John R.
Click here to see my Nomad Build Log

mctrivia

This is why you need rotating doors(air presure is equal on both incoming and outgoing door.). I have been in a stadium that used a slightly higher air pressure to keep the roof up and dust out. had 6 massive turbines just to pressurize it a fraction of an inch of water.

yes this will not remove the dust and hair already in the room. Just future stuff.

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LoopyByteloose

When dealing with a cat, communicate like a cat. If you shout at a cat, it will just wonder what you are doing. But if you hiss at a cat, it will immediately get the message. If one is crowding you, just blow a puff of air in their face or ears. The discomfort will easily translate into a 'Get lost' message.

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Ain't gadetry a wonderful thing?

aka G. Herzog [noparse][[/noparse] 黃鶴 ] in Taiwan

davejames

Hmmm, how about installing two IR sensors across the door to the lab; one positioned at your chest height, the other at your animal's body height. Also install an ultrasonic emitter down in the path of the animal and set at the appropriately irritating frequency.

If you walk through, both IR beams are interrupted; if one of your animals enter, only one beam is broken.

Two beams broken, it's you and don't turn on the ultrasonics. One beam broken, it's an animal and turn on the ultrasonics until the lower beam is interrupted again indicating that the animal has left the room.

DJ

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Instead of:

"Those who can, do.· Those who can't, teach." (Shaw)
I prefer:
"Those who know, do.· Those who understand, teach." (Aristotle)
·

John Bond

Hey Herzog, I’d love to introduce your Doberman to the wild cat that own me. He eats snakes, ·bats, ·rabbits and even huge toads. I’m sure he’d love to try dogs. Blow in his face and he’d assume you were showing affection. Hiss at him and he will bite you. Be late with his food and he’ll beat you up real bad.
·
But as I said in an earlier post, he hates ultrasonic noise. He vanishes for the day. Trouble is he is so angry when he comes back that you wonder if it was worth it. I’m single so I don’t know these things but I am told wives can be a bit like that…
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Kind regards from the Dark Continent.

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SRLM

Google "Blender Defender".... It's a classic.

Philldapill

You could always grab a PING))) sensor, and run it on repeat. If they can't hear it, just get any other speaker, and feed it a 20kHz square wave on maximum amplitude. I doubt they'll like that too much.

mctrivia

you may not here that 20kHz square wave but it will still make you go deaf if to load.

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LoopyByteloose

@John Bond
Exactly how large is your feral cat? Lion, panther, bobcat ??? In Africa, one begins to wonder. I'd prefer not to have a pet that occasionally ponders whether I would be better as dinner than what I offered it for dinner.

Obviously ultrasonics have a negative side for pet lovers and may offer too much.

My dog isn't a Doberman, though the photo may be a bit misleading. He is a native Taiwan mutt and more physically like a black German Shepard. He does hate cats but is a complete coward when they show any tendency to fight back. Mainly he just loves to scare them and then eat their food if they run away.

He has quite a sense of humor and loves to confuse people. His general attitude is mischievous independence. If he doesn't like someone, he pees on their leg. If he likes you, he prances around to say hello. And he viciously attacks house flies.

Hiss will always get a cat's attention, but maybe not the desired reaction without some further discipline. Some cats can get quite vindictive about the discipline. I knew a girl in college whose cat would (expletive) in her cowboy boots if disciplined harshly. It always amazed me how the cat managed to physically position itself to make its deposit in a standing cowboy boot - little brain, huge grudge.

So becareful with offending cats. I still can't figure out why Egyptians worshiped them.

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Ain't gadetry a wonderful thing?

aka G. Herzog [noparse][[/noparse] 黃鶴 ] in Taiwan

John Bond

Hi Herzog and others

My cat is a cross between wild feral and house cat, about the size of a small dog. He has unusual black and white markings and tufts of hair out his ears. He loves dogs and they love him, even the wild dogs that kill and eat other cats. These wild dogs occasionally stop by to play with him on the front lawn during their nocturnal hunting. When first I was woken at 03:00 am by the noise and looked out the window, I thought the dogs were trying to kill him. Now I just hear the sound and roll over.

Your dog sounds just like the typical South African domesticated dog, a bit loopy but more intelligent than you think. Cats seem to have a mean streak that dogs lack. I would love to have a big dog but I am concerned he would become someone or some animal’s dinner. There is no lion, elephant, or hippo left round here. I often see a pair of reed buck and an occasional bush pig. There are supposed to be crocodiles in the rivers but no one has been killed by a crock in the last couple of years. The most dangerous animal locally is the Zulu. We have a dozen murders in our 100 000 community every month. I’m told we are 20 times more likely to be murdered than someone living in Harlem (New York’s most violent precinct/suburb)

Ultrasonic sound at 40 KHz seems to cause Lucky the cat, considerable pain, even at very low aptitudes, less than 1 watt. He can even hear it from an adjacent room. I don’t know how that works because I had thought ultrasonic sound was very directional and didn’t go round corners. Maybe he can hear the reflected sound or maybe he can hear a harmonic.

Lucky the cat enjoys playing with his live food but he quickly kills bats before playing with them. Could that be because of their powerful ultrasonic screech.

I love that liquidiser and strobe light used to keep the cats out the kitchen.

Kind regards from Kwa Dukuza - birthplace of the violent Zulu nation...

John

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