The Cat Thread

Ha mate mine just sounds like an embarrassing mess now compared to yours! I used some spray adhesive thought that would be the best, clearly not!

I made my cat ladder from drain pipe (£4) and Sisal rope (£95), we could do with a source of cheap Sisal rope.

what glue did you use? I used PVA and it didn't bother him at all and gives out no smell. I have some sewer pipe left over in the garage I think if you want to try again.
I made a wooden brace that fitted inside each end so I had something to attach the bottom and top plate to. Once I'd attached the bottom plate I then ran silicon sealant around the bottom and filled the pipe up a bit with some sand I had around so it weighted the bottom, attached the top, then glued all the bits of old carpet in place with PVA.

If goonz doesn't take up your offer of the pipe, reckon I can? Naturally, that depends on location. I'm not sure who designs cat posts but they've obviously never seen cats before. Most are tiny and ours destroy anything that isn't built to military standards. I'm thinking of DIY'ing a whole host of contraptions for them to annihilate. Might you have any pics of the pole/design by any chance?

I'm based in W London, near Hangar Lane, you're welcome to the pipe if you want to come and get it.

I haven't unfortunately got many useful in progress pics, but I do have the original plans I made for it, which has measurements etc. I've scanned them into a PDF, but its too big to post here, so I've stuck it in my skydrive to download, the link below should work - let me know if not

https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=D0201885E012443A!216&authkey=!AM4orP16z5eShcM&ithint=folder%2c.pdf

The calculations at the top was to work out how much rope I needed, you can adapt them for the length of pipe you have.
The cross brace was the important part, I used some scrap wood and cut it so it would just fit inside the pipe, then cut each piece and glued them together to form a cross piece. I then drilled and screwed the pipe to secure the cross piece in at both ends. (my recent woodwork course helped a lot on this bit)

At the bottom I then got a piece of 30 x 30 ply and drilled that to the cross piece on the bottom- this proved a little tricky when I went to do the top one as you had to do a bit of guessing as to where to drill. If i did it again I would attach the bases to the cross pieces before I secured them into the pipe. Make sure the top board is one of the last things you attach though, as you have to have access to weight it at the bottom.

On the bottom I then secure the smaller base onto a bigger piece of ply 50 x50 I think, and used silicon sealant to seal the pipe to the small board. I then poured some sand into the top to weigh it down - you don't need that much - remember you still want to be able to carry it, I just put enough in so It wouldn't topple over very easily.

Once that was dry, I then painted the whole thing with PVA glue and wound round the rope very tightly, when I got to the top I used speed clamps to keep it there and left it overnight. After I put the top board on I then cut a load of old carpet to size and glued it on, I folded it over the edges at the top and clamped that overnight too - its still going strong.

The only thing I actually bought was the rope and the pipe, the rest I already had - I'm kinda lucky that because we are doing up our house, our garage has become a full workshop, we had quite a lot of offcut wood from replacing various things around the house and I found a load of old carpet in the loft when we bought the place.
If anyone wants to come round for a cat post building session I'm happy to help if you supply rope, pipe and some wood. You could just as easily use MDF or anything you find in a skip to make this. The tools I used were, drill, saw, glue, clamps, screws and a countersink for the screws so the heads didnt stick out. Also it really helps if you draw it out like I did.

oh, and I got the rope on ebay, from this guy. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-SISAL-natural-rope-6mm-8mm-10mm-Strong-U-choose-size-length-cat-post-etc-/121062634762?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&var=&hash=item1c2fe5350a

Any more questions let me know!

Chak you are welcome to the pipe it would be too far for me to go to collect unfortunately. Thanks for the offer though clefty. I will definitely look to creating a better post as soon as this one is on its last legs.

Salvador can't wait for his presents!

Is it normal for cats want to eat more during the cold weather? Her highness fatty has been been wanting to eat all day long. She would demolish her breakfast (85g wet) in no time, then by early afternoon she would also finish her dry food (I usually leave a bowl of between 20-35g out). She has now begging for dinner for the last 30mins. She wasn't like this few weeks ago. The only thing that has changed is the weather...

I'm based in W London, near Hangar Lane, you're welcome to the pipe if you want to come and get it.

That's absolutely perfect The design makes brilliant sense as well, I'll be away from London for the next couple weeks, but I don't actually live far from you (Golders Green) so i'll take you up on that pipe and advise session if you don't mind. I'l message you closer to time.

Is it normal for cats want to eat more during the cold weather? Her highness fatty has been been wanting to eat all day long. She would demolish her breakfast (85g wet) in no time, then by early afternoon she would also finish her dry food (I usually leave a bowl of between 20-35g out). She has now begging for dinner for the last 30mins. She wasn't like this few weeks ago. The only thing that has changed is the weather...

THANK YOU!! exactly what's been going through my head recently. Ours go apeshit the moment one of us opens any cupboard door or touches something crunchy. I think it might be instinctive. As in they fatten up and go through the change due to some biological starvation mode during winter. Scarcity of food in the wild during winter comes to mind. Although Cats are one of the oldest domesticated creatures, i'd image that instinct would take far longer than a few thousand years to eradicate.

I'm no Cat Biologist though!

Can any cat owners out there help me out?

My girlfriend has a cat, who I adore. Normally he lives in Norfolk but because of Christmas and various other things he's been at mine for a month. He seems pretty happy: eating well, playing with me in the evening, all that stuff. He doesn't seem phased by being here, and sees my girlfriend at weekends.

But he wakes up early. Like 4am early. And scratches at my front door, leaving nasty permanent marks. I'll get out of bed and go to him and he'll stop instantly, wait 10 minutes until I'm back asleep and start up again. When I'm working the next day this drives me crazy.

If I scream and shout this will just confuse him, so I try to keep calm, but if I let it continue then he'll drive me loopy. I've tried some spray that's supposed to scare him off but it only lasts a short while. Any other ideas?

He's an indoor cat, never been out. He's never shown much curiosity about the outside world. In fact, he's a breed of cat that's said to be unable to survive outside - his reflexes are slower than mine when we play, for instance.

As soon as I get up in the morning he's sweetness and light, sitting there all regal and calm while I struggle to stay awake long enough to pour coffee down my throat and get out the door for work.

Cats are dicks.

There is no solution.

Well, there are some solutions. For instance, I can build an enormous cushion fort in front of the door by stripping the sofa. That slows him down. But it's not a long-term solution. Only other thing I can think of is to somehow find the cash to buy another flat, move out and leave him to it.

Same experience here at my gf's family's house btw. Cat coming to sit on your face every ten minutes when sleeping, or else will just jump up and down on your feet, scratch around in any noisy bags, try and open the cupboards and will whine at the window if booted outside.

Pain. In. The. Ass.

Reflexes slower than yours? Punch him.

Wait for him to stop scratching, then get up, go for a wee or something. Show him that scratching does not equal attention. Don't give him attention while he scratches. I do this with my cat, she was also a dick. Now she's nice instead.

I think a sound proof box with adequate ventilation holes might be an easier solution. Cat will be fucking pissed in the morning but RSPCA can't say shit.

My girlfriend spent the first couple of weeks thinking it wasn't that bad and that I was just whining. Last night he leaped off the top of the wardrobe and landed on top of her at 3am, scratching her arm. My reaction was 50% sympathy, 50% "SEE!".

Reflexes slower than yours? Punch him.

Wait for him to stop scratching, then get up, go for a wee or something. Show him that scratching does not equal attention. Don't give him attention while he scratches. I do this with my cat, she was also a dick. Now she's nice instead.

I've thought about this, but I'm worried about the neighbours as much as me: I don't want to be the guy who lets his pet scratch away all night and keep them up. Tricky.

Actually my cat Lucy is a dick. Last night she sat on my pillow purring like a randy Mercedes for hours. I was too asleep to do 'owt.

Cat leaves me alone now after leaping at me meowwwwwing from out of the dark and being batted across the room into a dolls house out of my shocked 'what the fuuuuu' reflexes.

Unfortunately this was in front of the whole family who now think that i am both easily startled and a cat puncher.

+1 for cat punching

Can you not shut him in another rooms with all his comforts in there with him? Failing that, spray a shit loads of aftershave/perfume around the carpet and the door (cat-side, obvs). They hate that shit, plus when they scratch or claw at it, they end up recirculating the aftershave/perfume and they go away. Under no circumstances acknowledge the existence of the cat (unless you really MUST punch it), because once they know they can get to you, you're fucked.

Also, try feeding the fuck out of it before bedtime, so it won't be able to bother you cos it'll either be A) too tired, or, in time B) too fat.

I used a "water pistol" (hairdresser type trigger bottle) to squirt a cat whenever it did something that wasn't allowed. Try a wipe of citronella oil on the bottom of your bedroom door.

I looked after my sisters cat for a couple of weeks. On night 1 she was scratching at the bedroom door. I snuck over to the door when I knew she was there and gave it a loud knock with my knuckle. She never did it again.
I've never owned a cat and don't know if this is a good idea but it did the job.

I used a "water pistol" (hairdresser type trigger bottle) to squirt a cat whenever it did something that wasn't allowed. Try a wipe of citronella oil on the bottom of your bedroom door.

Oh yeah, cats hate citrus. Good point.

Get a dog that does not tolerate cats.