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How do you keep your cats out of your consoles?

V

Vigilant Gambit

Member
My girlfriend moved in with me not too long ago, bringing her cat with her.

I don't like pets, but I try. I pet it. Until it happily scratched me, I brushed it. I fed it.

In fact, I just fed it today. 10 minutes later, the damn thing was standing on my brand new Xbox One, on a TV stand that I previously had to shove empty boxes into to keep her from casually crawling through the other consoles and all the cables in the back.

I am at my wit's end.

I can't flick water at her or use a spray bottle because it doesn't mix well with electronics. Is the only solution an enclosed stand, which might have ventilation issues or otherwise create problems with plugging in wired controllers?
 
A

Ade

Member
Urinate on them to mark them as yours.

Most problems can be solved by pissing on things.
 
C

Crimsonclaw111

Member
I usually buy bigger cats. Small ones fall into the vents too easily.

Serious answer, just stay persistent and correct the behavior as it happens.
 
Colbert

Colbert

Banned
Provide a empty box, cats love them, you will see the cat will be prefer the box over the Xbox One :)

dgSjLxM.gif

1cRe0s2.jpg
 
T

TomShoe

Banned
Classical conditioning, my man. Every time it touches your console, spray it with a water bottle until it gets off. After enough times, the cat will get the message.

AdyCarter said:
Urinate on them to mark them as yours.

Most problems can be solved by pissing on things.
Click to expand...

This too.
 
SerTapTap

SerTapTap

Member
Don't make it an attractive place to sit. Parker used to crawl into my TV stand's only un-full shelf, but now it's full of games and he can't get in anymore.
 
T

toythatkills

Member
Get a guard dog to sit behind there. If the guard dog becomes problematic, you want to get yourself a lion.

Or really, just get over it. You'll love this cat in a few months and you'll be really annoyed at yourself but you'll love it all the same.
 
K

KJ869

Member
How about just buying chickenwire and making 30cm bigger enclosure than the console around it? Thats the only solution I Can think of thats better than enclosing, it keeps cat away, 30cm shouldbe far enought that the heat does not attract, it still stays ventilated and accessible for cables and the best part, youre GF realy understands youre problem when its permanent eyesore for her, so it turns from youre problem to her problem
 
M

mollipen

Member
The only time my cat gets on something that he shouldn't be on is my desk, which he does to walk over to me and get in my lap. When he does, he never walks on anything that's on the desk, just the actual desk.

So, I guess I do nothing, because my cat is already well mannered!
 
U

UpDownLeftRight

Banned
I know how you feel OP. My cat is a total dick and just claims whatever space it wants whenever it wants. From time to time I get periods where he'll actually sit in an acceptable place, but then out of nowhere he'll suddenly decide that sleeping on top of my PC is fair game and that smashing through my game collection in a tantrum when I move him is a reasonable reaction. Enjoy your new life of constant cat maintenance!
 
K

KiefbladeMaster

Member
I have all four of my consoles laid out under my TV and I have the same problem with my cat. They basically don't listen, ever. Make it uncomfortable for the cat somehow and it won't lay there anymore.
 
Newly Vacant

Newly Vacant

Member
I'll give you a serious answer. My cats do the same thing. They'll find anything that's warm and sleep on it. I had to make tiny risers and set my Xbox One on top of them to make the area around it small enough that my cats couldn't get to it. My wife used double-sided tape on our cable box and that kept the cats off of that, but I don't really want to put tape all over my Xbox.

Edit: KJ869 beat me to it. I think reducing the space around the Xbox is your best option.
 
A

Alcoholikaust

Member
funny-cat-in-computer-picture.jpg
Click to expand...
.

edit:my dickhead cat likes to chew on all things- had to get an elevated TV stand for my consoles before he sank his teeth in. double sided tape on the edge of the entertainment center has dissuaded him from jumping up to it.
 
T

TheSpaceBetween

Member
By not having one.

Anyways, I occasionally house sit for my Aunt and Uncle who have three cats. They aren't the least bit interested in any of my electronics thankfully.
 
V

Violence Jack

Member
I found my girl's cat standing on my 360 one day. I took a canister of air to spray out the dust while it was hovering around, and it's never gone near it since.
 
L

lt519

Member
Make a pssst noise at them when they get near it and when they go on it pick them up by the scruff of the neck and make the same noise. Put them down and sternly look at them, do not yell though. Literally death stare at it. My kittens did this with my TV stand, often wanting to attack things on screen, and all I have to do now is go pssst when they jump up and they immediately get down.

Don't ever spray them with a water bottle if they can see it comes from you, that's when they start acting out towards you. People don't know how to raise cats and then complain when they are assholes later in their life. ):
 
F

Florida_Man_5000

Member
KJ869 said:
How about just buying chickenwire and making 30cm bigger enclosure than the console around it? Thats the only solution I Can think of thats better than enclosing, it keeps cat away, 30cm shouldbe far enought that the heat does not attract, it still stays ventilated and accessible for cables and the best part, youre GF realy understands youre problem when its permanent eyesore for her, so it turns from youre problem to her problem
Click to expand...
This will just make it more interesting to your cat! You need to electrify this fence.
 
M

Mupod

Member
My parents' cat was really bad for this. He used to make a beeline for my TV/consoles as soon as he got in the room, and crawl all over them. So then I used a laser pointer to lure him out of there, which made him think HIDE BEHIND PS3 -> FUN LASER TIME. So he'd run into the room, wedge himself behind the consoles and look out at me expectantly.

Water spraying does nothing to that cat in particular and he actually likes it. Aluminum foil on surfaces I didn't want the cat to walk on worked for a while. Sort of. Until he started knocking things over in order to circumvent the foil. Then I just took a fireplace gate and put it in front of my door whenever it was open, which worked but also made him far more determined to get into the room when it wasn't there. Final solution was moving out (not because of the cat, of course).
 
X

xenorevlis

Member
You can use odor repellent in that general area. Spray it while things are not plugged in and after a while you can reconnect everything and the odor will remain (usually causing the cat to become disinterested in that area).

Whatever you do, don't try to eject a disc in an attempt to "scare" the cat, as it will most likely result in it just becoming far-too motivated to wait for a disc to come out again and attack it.
 
T

theclosetfan

Member
lt519 said:
Make a pssst noise at them when they get near it and when they go on it pick them up by the scruff of the neck and make the same noise. Put them down and sternly look at them, do not yell though. Literally death stare at it. My kittens did this with my TV stand, often wanting to attack things on screen, and all I have to do now is go pssst when they jump up and they immediately get down.

Don't ever spray them with a water bottle if they can see it comes from you, that's when they start acting out towards you. People don't know how to raise cats or children and then complain when they are assholes later in their life. ):
Click to expand...

FTFY.
 
U

UncleCross

Member
Vigilant Gambit said:
10 minutes later, the damn thing was standing on my brand new Xbox One, on a TV stand that I previously had to shove empty boxes into to keep her from casually crawling through the other consoles and all the cables in the back.

I am at my wit's end.
Click to expand...

A small animal standing on a plastic box (not damaging anything) has you at your wit's end? Wow, I hate to see how badly you take it when you are actually faced with some legitimate problems in life.
 
SaberVulcan

SaberVulcan

Member
Same way you train most animals, train it. If its on the XBox, yell at it and say commands such as NO, DOWN and push it off.

My girlfriends cat used to sleep on her computer tower, after 3 weekends of me doing that now it doesnt even go near the thing, whether or not I am around.
 
G

Glitchesarecool

Member
Depends on your living condition, but cats seem to gravitate to warm spots they can sleep on, and there are damn fewer things that get hotter than consoles can after a good gaming session. My cat prefers to sleep over our hot air vent, where we set up a little basket and blanket for him to be comfortable, and just gets in the way on the table when he wants attention. He also enjoys having a little window perch to sleep in the sun on. Try providing some warmer areas in the house.

Tin foil can be a good deterrent. For whatever reason the noise just spooks the hell out of them.
 
Z

Zaku

Member
Cat owner here.

I keep my two cats away from my consoles by having them on a shelf too high and too crowded for them to jump up to even if they could make it.

My consoles are like 5 feet off the ground with no furniture anywhere near the shelf. No cats on the thing at all. It's not really difficult.
 
U

User 479360

Banned
Add a cat tree or some shelving that will interest the cat and make it want to sleep elsewhere.

I have three cats, but they've never shown interest in getting on top of my consoles. There's really no room, but they don't even try.
 
bumpkin

bumpkin

Member
Our youngest cat does that shit and it drives me nuts. I usually just yell at him and shoe him out when he gets really deep and entangled. Someday I'll have an entertainment center that isn't as open, hopefully that'll mitigate some of the problem; right now it's all in a very open metal and glass stand.
 
D

d1ddy

Member
Griddlelol said:
Should have got a PS4. Cats fucking hate PS4s.
Click to expand...

Yeah my cat walks all over my electronics from laptops to standing in front of the TV from time to time. But he does not go around that Playstation and for a little advice I would say flick the cats nose, give him a little love slap off and tell him a word it knows when it does bad things. My cats no word is "f*ck off" best of luck because a bad cat can be the worst enemy you ever had living with you
 
L

lt519

Member
theclosetfan said:
FTFY.
Click to expand...

That'd be funny if it weren't so true... It frustrates me to no end, because cats can actually be really well trained and great pets. Instead most people get cats, are dicks to them when they act out, and then wonder why cats are such assholes. Would you like someone that sprayed you with a water bottle every time you tried to play video games?

SaberVulcan said:
Same way you train most animals, train it. If its on the XBox, yell at it and say commands such as NO, DOWN and push it off.

My girlfriends cat used to sleep on her computer tower, after 3 weekends of me doing that now it doesnt even go near the thing, whether or not I am around.
Click to expand...

...Does it hate you?
 
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