tobereeno Posted April 5, 2005 Posted April 5, 2005 it's been awhile since I've had a cat, and I just got a Balinese kitten. She's pretty much getting into EVERYTHING, much more than any other cat I've had before. I know plenty of you have cats, what sort of precautions should I take with my gear, if any?
sirDaniel Posted April 5, 2005 Posted April 5, 2005 cats are sneaky.if you come home and your Hamer is tuned to open D.... it was the cat.They also open your stomp boxes and turn the batteries around.
bruce919 Posted April 5, 2005 Posted April 5, 2005 My house is a zoo. Don't leave your guitar case open unless you want a cat fur lined case. My cats the moment they see an open empty guitar case they see it as a place to take a nap. Then there is the cats no 1 goal in life , to be on the highest point in the room. On top of your amp after it nice & warm. Other than that my cats don't bother any thing to my gear. My old Border Collie sits down the the door way to the guitar room,watches me play & for the most part keep the cats out of the room at the same time.
bruce919 Posted April 5, 2005 Posted April 5, 2005 Greg, I hope you come back as a mouse in the next life.
polara Posted April 5, 2005 Posted April 5, 2005 My wife and I have six of the critters. They have no interest in sharpening claws in guitars and I've never had one pee on a guitar. They HAVE marked (i.e. peed on) one case though.A cute thing I've seen with two cats is that when I played they became FASCINATED with the sounds, and started pawing at the strings, listening, and even walking on the neck of the guitar. You can get some interesting serialism-avant-garde sounds by letting a kitten play your guitar.
BCR Greg Posted April 5, 2005 Posted April 5, 2005 http://www.deathtoallextremists.com/images...Cat_Herders.mov
tafkathundernotes Posted April 5, 2005 Posted April 5, 2005 If your PA gear or bass amps have any of that black rat-fur covering, it makes the ideal scratching post.
Jeff R Posted April 5, 2005 Posted April 5, 2005 Keep all guitar cases closed at all times. A guitar case is a glorified plush litter box to cats. A good friend in high school learned this the hard way - the smell was not only horrendous and never went away, the Kramer Baretta he stored in it started smelling like piss too. None of us would even touch the guitar after a while.
jjguitarranch Posted April 5, 2005 Posted April 5, 2005 Get a rock stand or hang the guitars on the wall. My cats like to rub on anything they can to mark it. They can easily knock a guitar over on a regular stand.
cmatthes Posted April 5, 2005 Posted April 5, 2005 The last drummer we played with had cats in his house and we practiced there. It took me MONTHS and a few bottles of Febreeze to get the ambient cat stink out of my bass cab, and that was only there for a week.He is a great guy, and in his defense, the cats weren't his, but his (now) wife's. I always felt really bad that he felt the need to apologize for the animals every week but they were bad, and I think he was kind of embarassed by them. It wasn't his fault - I know HE wasn't clawing up the amp covering!I also had a cat spray or pee on a Les Paul case 10-15 years ago. I couldn't GIVE the thing away after that, no matter what I tried.Remember, a dog will never pee on your gear!
silentman Posted April 5, 2005 Posted April 5, 2005 My friend keeps his cat in our practice space. This cat gets to go outdoors, so I don't know if that makes a difference. He's never done anything like scratch up tolex or amp grills. No one leaves cases open. I did find a few claw marks on an amp cover he must have climed on. Edited to add: I hate cats.
straightblues Posted April 5, 2005 Posted April 5, 2005 I just discovered that my cat is using my guitar stands as scratching posts. He is pulling off the foam rubber stuff. Thank God I have the stands that lock in the neck so they haven't fallen over. Now I just lock the room my guitars are in to keep him away.
tobereeno Posted April 5, 2005 Author Posted April 5, 2005 Cats are tasty. lemme know where you get your chinese take out...I'll be sure never to eat there
atquinn Posted April 5, 2005 Posted April 5, 2005 I leave my 3 guitars out on stands and I have 2 non-declawed cats (both neutered). One doesn't care about the guitars at all. The other one rubs against them occasionally and, when he wants attention he'll kind of stretch out on them vertically (no actual scratching though). He also try to pounce on the strings when I change them and he really likes it when I use the trem . Then again, my cats have never displayed any sort of destructive behavior (marking, scratching, etc.) in general. Unless you count hairballs (one of 'ems a long hair). I don't know what kind of satan-cats some of the folks here have dealt with, but mine aren't any trouble at all. Certainly less dangerous to gear than kids . Anyway, since I have an excuse, here's a pic of them before they both got up to 16 lbs: -Austin
virtual Posted April 5, 2005 Posted April 5, 2005 Cases are a given; if you've ever so much as looked at a cat it will be instinct to close them. Cats like to be in things and on things, who knows why?Some breeds are climbers. If yours proves to be, watch guitars on stands near other furniture etc - I've seen my cats try to walk across headstocks! That can take you from laughing to crying in about 9.8 m/s^2.Very true about carpet covered cabinets, cats love the stuff, and even if they don't scratch it, their hair will get interwoven to the point where you'll want to just burn the stuff. I've never seen a cat take interest in tolex, but they do like grillcloth. Condition them with extreme prejudice to stay away from grillcloth or you'll wind up having to keep your cabs facing walls - a big PITA. Grillcloths are the main thing I find myself screaming at cats about. They're starting to get the idea that its just not worth it, thank God.Last time I went on vacation one of my cats expressed his gratitude by vomiting all over one of my favorite guitars. Don't know how he managed it - the guitar was in a stand and he managed to cover the pickups, bridge, everything. Damn good thing I love animals.
BCR Greg Posted April 5, 2005 Posted April 5, 2005 Cats are tasty. lemme know where you get your chinese take out...I'll be sure never to eat there THere are no outside pets near the place. REALLY. I had a buddy who lived near my favorite chinese eatery and he NEVER had animals in his yard, whereas he has lots of them 2 miles down the road at his new place.
tobereeno Posted April 5, 2005 Author Posted April 5, 2005 grillcloth eh? good thing the old Mesa/Boogie steel grill cabs aren't too hard to come by.
Nuclear Wessel Posted April 5, 2005 Posted April 5, 2005 My girlfriend has a cat, and I keep a guitar at her house. The cat is neutered and declawed so I don't have to worry about him peeing, spraying or scratching stuff. I've caught him getting ready to climb in an open guitar case so I don't leave the case open while I'm playing the guitar. She's also warned me that if I leave a guitar out on a stand, if he discovers the strings, he'll want to play with them, especially if the guitar is left laying on a couch and he can get to the ends of the strings at the tuners.Put guitars away in cases. Spay/neuter and declaw your cat(s). Unless the animal is especially obnoxious, in which case the best thing may be to shoot it, you should be fine.
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