OT barking cat problem

OK so she doesn't really "bark."

I have this stray that seems to be someone's house cat that got abandoned during the last economic downturn. She's docile, spayed, and affectionate, lives in my gazebo and has the annoying habit of scratching at the bay window in the mornings. I feed her, but prefer to do it on my schedule not hers.

To keep her from getting to the window from the nearby deck railing, I bought a surplus 800V power supply. ($2) One of those low current gizmos that are used to power cold cathode fluorescent tubes with high frequency. It works on 12 volts, and is connected to some low voltage lighting power supply nearby. I ran the hot electrode to a spray of stainless steel wires (have to get down past the fur before she feels it) and mounted the wires on the railing.

So far it's been working for a year. She did learn how to bat the copper wires down and then step over them, but she hasn't been able to do that with the SS wire. (old fishing leader wire - spring steel)

Reply to
default
Loading thread data ...

If you were local to Portland OR I'd offer to take her on for you.

The only two things keeping me from being a crazy cat lady are (1) my gender, and (2) my wife.

--
Tim Wescott 
Wescott Design Services 
 Click to see the full signature
Reply to
Tim Wescott

Don't go there Tim! I'm not sure if this is true.. it's partly neighbor rumors. But about 10 years ago there was a crazy cat guy who lived in an old house down the road. (Cats everywhere.) One night there was a fire, and the rumor is that it started from spontaneous combustion of the accumulated cat droppings. (Crazy cat guys don't have the cleanliness needed.)

To the OP I would suggest that if you don't want cat's "barking" at your door, then don't feed them.... that tends to work for most animals.

George H.

Reply to
George Herold

I like cats and would part with this stray because it is so obvious that she's gentle and was someone's house cat. I can't walk past her without her flopping on her side assuming a submissive posture. She'd probably be great with kids.

Reply to
default

That assumes a lack of empathy and compassion.

Reply to
default

Ahh OK. We've got two cats at the moment, both strays. There are a lot of "barn cats" in the area, and at least once a year another one will take up residence in our barn for a few weeks... and then move on. I try and train the cats, the cats try and train my wife. (The cats have more success than I do.... but I'm a dog person.)

George H.

Reply to
George Herold

Electrifying the cat doesn't seem very compassionate, though.

Reply to
Cursitor Doom

Agreed. The cat already found ways to circumvent the various physical barriers I tried, so...

Needless to say, I've experienced it a time or two myself. It is unpleasant, but I could hold on to the electrode if it were necessary. If she touches it now, it is because she's still testing it since I went to stiff electrode wires. She just perches on the fence railing in the morning's.

Reply to
default

The picture I have is that the gazebo is a building detached from your house, and that the bottom of the "bay window" is a foot or two from the ground and projects out a foot or two from the house.

I'm guessing that the bay window also has an outdoor sill that the cat sits on to scratch at the window. ( If she's jumping from the ground and batting at the glass panes I'm not sure what to recommend. )

If you're willing to give up viewing through an inch or two of the bottom panes on the window, how about installing a triangular block that fills the sill, such that the cat simply slides off whenever she tries to sit on it?

Jes' a thought...

Frank McKenney McKenney Associates

--
  If youth is the season of hope, it is often so only in the sense that 
  our elders are hopeful about us; for no age is so apt as youth to think 
 Click to see the full signature
Reply to
Frnak McKenney

ElectronDepot website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.