My next-door-but-one neighbour is trying (probably successfully) to offload a couple of her cat's kittens onto me... and I thought, there must be loads of NGF-ers who have cats, so how has the cats v train deal worked out for you?
Can I expect my entire miniature empire to be wrecked within minutes of their arrival? Must they be forever separated for their mutual safety? Or will they just want a ride on the 15.36 departure?
Any positive or negative experiences would be gratefully received, so I know what to expect when the fluffy twosome arrive.
Have caught the wife's cat on the layout a couple times... but no harm done. They're really astonishingly delicate animals (cats, that is, not wives).
Our cat is quite old though. Doesn't jump much further than onto the bed. Little to no interest in exploring. Kittens might be different.
Cheers, NeMo
Quote from: GroupC on October 19, 2015, 08:06:26 PM
My next-door-but-one neighbour is trying (probably successfully) to offload a couple of her cat's kittens onto me... and I thought, there must be loads of NGF-ers who have cats, so how has the cats v train deal worked out for you?
Can I expect my entire miniature empire to be wrecked within minutes of their arrival? Must they be forever separated for their mutual safety? Or will they just want a ride on the 15.36 departure?
Any positive or negative experiences would be gratefully received, so I know what to expect when the fluffy twosome arrive.
Make sure that the kittens have stayed with their mother long enough to be house trained (if they're separated too early, they have problems learning it) and get them 'done' as soon as is practical (I think it's once they're 6 months old) otherwise you'll be the one having to find unsuspecting friends and neighbours to give kittens to ;)
Having said that, I've got 3 full grown cats here and they're lovely. Every cat is very different, especially when delicate stuff is involved. Some like chewing things like wiring, most like jumping up on anything high to see what's up there and what they can see and all of them like to look for warm and comfy spots to sleep in. So it'll depend on what your new kittens are like :)
Only one of our cats seems to like jumping up on the layout at the moment (mainly to get to the windowsill, but sometimes he likes sleeping on the forest area it seems). He's a bit of a clumsy one who tends to squash stuff, so as part of the post move layout rebuild I'm going to build a cover for when it's not in use that the cats will like to sunbathe on :)
I have to keep my shed door shut even in the (Summer ) otherwise our cat tries to eat the trees I've made out of copper wire ,but she is not too keen on the electronic track cleaner though , come to think spiders aren't that keen on the track cleaner either they seem to curl up in the middle of the track.
Bob
Our cats are excluded from my modelling room. Past experience has told me that it's safer that way. As has already been said cats are amazingly light on their feet but do like to sleep in the most inconvenient (but comfy to them) places!
Roy
Make sure the kittens are exposed to a lot of people, so they don't hide every time someone visits you ... let them be picked up & fussed.
My lovely cat has never tried to jump onto the layouts but they are set some 44" above floor level. I'm sure he could make it if he wanted to, though. I sometimes pick him up and let him see trains going round and he tracks them with his eyes like he would a mouse - but nothing more than that.
BUT - the only and biggest issue I have with him is he sheds fur all over the place and even if he's not in the mancave I sometimes track it in there myself. Cat hair is awful stuff to try and vacuum off things as it seems to still have a life of it's own and just sits there going :P
Leave a Relco connected, very good deterrent. :-[
I have never had a problem with my cat but my Parrot has a nasty habit of chewing up rolling stock and locos so I have to cover the layout before letting him out.
My small devil loves chasing locos but no real problems. Definitely worth more than any potential problems!
Quote from: Dorsetmike on October 19, 2015, 09:49:25 PM
Leave a Relco connected, very good deterrent. :-[
You obviously don't know my opinion of high frequency track cleaners, Mike :no:
Have two cats and one of them likes to jump up onto my lap and have a stroke while I'm sat at the layout/desk. Lots of hair comes out and I have to make sure I use the brush attachment on the vacuum cleaner before I have a train running session, so much so, I've been looking at getting a handheld vacuum cleaner to make life easier. My layout doesn't have any scenery (in fact it's just Kato track on a table top which is wipe clean) so it's easy to keep clean.
As for cats interruptng running - mine both get confused when a train is running and they have been known to swipe at them. I usually stop play when they jump on the desk - as said before, they are quite careful as they walk over the trains and don't often knock any over.
The bottom line is, if you can afford them and have time for them, get the cats, even if at times they'll knock over and potentially break things!
Grew up with cats and thus I am aware of the issues which can result when mixed with n gauge.
My first ever set was found on the floor after hearing a crash in the front room whilst at the Christmas dinner table a mere few hours after in-wrapping it :doh:
It wasn't really "Tufty" who was at fault as the Farish 56 was on a temporary board which was larger than the coffee table it was sat on. So when he jumped up to have a look he rapidly ended up back on the floor...
Fast forward to my own house and our very own pair of kittens have spent the last year not being allowed in the man cave.
It was an early choice and I am glad as the boy (Nimitz) lives up to his name sake being large and about as manoeuvrable....And Crumble....Well she is a small furry cross between a Ninja and a Velociraptor. Honestly I have never known a cat like her and neither did the two (live) mice she has came home with so far.
Agree with advice about getting them used to company, ours love a fuss and have no issue with multiple visitors. That said, Crumble pushes her luck by "borrowing" things from the various trades we have had in so far. Not a single tool box has been left alone, many screwdrivers carried off across the room and on more than one occasion she has been found trying to stow away in delivery vans....
They are, overall, superb entertainment :thumbsup:
Skyline2uk
We have 11 cats (not a typo). There is always a door separating them from my den where the railway is. Someone would find something to play with... if it was ever seen again it would probably be chewed.
It is true that they are all different personalities. As i type, i have our fearless little tike curled up on my lap.
We have two cats and the layout is in the garage, so it is easy to keep the cats away from the layout. All I have to worry about are mice and chipmunks in the garage causing havoc with the layout (seriously!) - maybe I should rethink my policy and let the cats into the garage so they can clear out the rodents!
HI
Years ago I was befriended by a stray in Birmingham and as expected found best radiator ro sleep on and most comfortable part of layout to sleep on ! - I had a 12mm Narrowa gauge layout and cat would curl up in a valley against a drystone wall embankment - great ground cover - left over fur but he did chew the poly foam walling and the insulators on the telegraph poles.
His discarded whiskers made great ariels for 1/35 tanks and later NRN ariels on Farish 47s.
Yes hair is a real pain and knocking off stock a risk but you do gain a great manager!
In Gauge one at a late friend had a scale "tiger" that would stalk the line for the reducing wildlife but aslo knock off snails and slugs!
Cheers
Robert
Our dearly departed Burmese cat, Coco, used to insist on being with me all the time. When I was at the computer, she would tramp around on the keyboard producing some truly strange results. She was not allowed in my train room however so she never was able to cause any havoc there. We now have a couple of dogs including a 10 month old kelpie who has already managed to wreck a few things within 3' of the ground always when we are not looking. Our previous kelpie was perfectly capable of jumping up on tables and would do so, so she was banned from my train room also. The biggest problem on my train table has been something small nibbling at my scenery - I suspect cockroaches. Liberal application of insect bombs seems to have eliminated the problem at least for now.
Webbo
If you're getting long-haired cats, be prepared for lots of vacuuming up, as they shed all the time (experience). Short-haired ones aren't such a problem (again, experience over several generations of cat). Roger
We have no cats at the moment :'( and I really miss having cats around. We had two with completely different personalities. One roly poly cat went to sleep on the layout and flattened a Ratio cattle dock, she got called 'Catzilla' after that.
Our other more nimble cat used to like very gently batting trains when went round the layout. For that reason and because I might accidentally knock trains onto the floor myself, the layout had a strip of Perspex along the edge.
If you are getting kittens, I wouldn't let them near the the layout to begin with because they are naturally playful and will think you have built it for them. You could always build them their own layout :smiley-laughing:
My cat is quite well behaved, no problem at all. He only stares at the trains as they go and seems to have a really good time doing so. Anyway accidents happen and as I reported here he accidentally dropped a huge pirate ship on the layout making surprisingly little damage! 😊
All
Have 2 cats and mostly dont let them in the railway room they have been on the layout a couple of times without damaging it. I would keep kittens away until they are older
Dave
Many thanks to everyone for your cat tales (or tails, haha) - it seems these cat things are a right entertaining adventure in lots of fun ways so I think I'll be getting them. Just need to bump into my neighbour again, choose a couple (or let them choose me) and come up with some decent names now.
Meow!
Always thought Kfir would be a good name for a kitten . It is Hebrew for lion cub , an Israeli jet fighter and just cay kfir cat.
How about 50027 (or D0260) and 50028?
Canary Wolfed >:D
Our rescue cats are called Odin and Isis - the number of people that ask why we have called a cat after a terrorist organisation is unreal. They came with these names and we decided not to change them. Both were indoor cats when they adopted us and we keep tham as indoor cats - they wouldn't last long as we live near to a very busy road. They both kepp the local spider population down but we often find the spider corpses in odd places. Our previous cat ate the spiders but didn't like their legs - he always hid the legs behind the litter boxes!
When it comes to the railway, Isis just doesn't like the sound of trains running so has never come into the room. Odin on the other hand is extremely curious. When I was running the Dapol 66 with its load of containers, the reaction from Odin was a surprise.
As the train ran towards him, he kept on backing up while hissing very loudly at the train. Eventually he jamp of the baseboard and made a quick exit from the room - maybe he thought it was a snake. Needless to say, he no longer ventures into the room either. That's the only time I've ever seen him back off or hiss at anything.
Good advice to socialise the kittens when they arrive. Getting them 'fixed' is a must!
Our British Blue is a big feller, weighing in at 6.9 kgs but is as nimble and fast as smaller cats we've had.
He currently stays under the (work in progress) layout until I drop something when he then assists by savaging bits of foam and wire. So far he's not attempted to jump on top but is intrigued by the noise a loco makes when I do a test run.
Dave G
I've had some experience of this, and it's generally not great.
For one thing, cats WILL want to sit on whatever is occupying your attention at any given time - laptop, book, newspaper... it becomes their seat as soon it looks like it's getting more attention than the cat.
Secondly, cats will be VERY interested in anything that's small and moves of its own accord. I can't see a healthy adult cat, never mind a kitten, let a model train move around a layout unmolested. At the very least, it'll need checking out, and might be swiped onto the floor, just to be on the safe side. As soon as the cat's decided it's neither a threat or food, it might (or might not) ignore it in future.
Thirdly (and this the most important one) - cat fur. If they're long-haired cats, their fur will get to places where the cat hasn't even been - and it will visit everywhere in the house, especially when they're new. I discovered too late that my long-haired cat had been sleeping on my half-built layout, and sure enough - it co-incided with running problems in a loco that had cat fur wrapped around the axle...
Good luck - they bring great rewards in the long run. They also bring half-eaten pigeons and mice, but you'll find that out all in good time!