How do we make our TV and cat compatible?

October 11, 2007 6:53 AM

How do we stop the cat from jumping on top of the new plasma TV?

Our female 1yr old cat loves to jump up on things and sit in high places. One of her favourite places is the top of the shower cubicle!

We also recently bought a new plasma, just to see her approach it tonight and try and jump on top of it! We are concerned she will scratch the screen or knock it over. We've never had much success stopping her jumping on top of things.

How do we make our TV and cat compatible?

posted by ranglin to pets & animals (20 comments total)

I use a spray of air form one of those cans of air used to blow dust off your keyboard. Whenever the cat gets near the TV, blow her and she will learn not to go near. Keep the can near the TV and she will see it and avoid it.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 6:58 AM on October 11, 2007

You get something like this: Tattle Tale Alarm

It will sense vibration from the cat jumping on the TV, which will scare it off and alert you to the incident.

If you don't like the idea of a sensor attached to your pretty new plasma, there are also sprays that you can use that will deter the cat from getting near it.

If you go the spray route, make sure it won't damage the TV in any way.
posted by doomtop at 6:58 AM on October 11, 2007

Also, I agree with JohnnyGunn. Training her to steer clear with canned air, water spray bottle, or the like would be effective as well. But you will need to be vigilant!
posted by doomtop at 7:00 AM on October 11, 2007

Using carpet tape, which is basically doublesided duct tape, attach a row of spiky things across the top, not dangerous stuff, but maybe chopsticks, chunks of styro from the packaging, whatever will make it an uncomfortable spot. A couple of unsuccessful tries will teach her not to perch there. Or a piece of cardboard that will feel precarious. Even the tape alone across the top might be unpleasant enough to discourage her. A squirtgun is also an effective enforcer, just don't fry the electronics. And you might want to check out the vendor's insurance option, usually a bad deal, but perhaps a better deal for you.

Make sure she has some other really great perch that is warm.
posted by theora55 at 7:03 AM on October 11, 2007

Can of air (don't tip it, you'll freezer burn your cat) and a soda can with a handful of pennies inside. If your cat does that little "I'm gonna jump" haunches wiggle thing, shake the can, scream like a loony and spray it with air.

This will stop it from jumping when you are there. I'd also see about some additional support for when the cat sneaks up when you aren't there.

I had some luck with those sticky sheets from the lint roller. Had trouble with cat knocking bric-a-brac off the top of the bookcase, so I put those sticky sheets along the edge. They aren't sticky enough to damage clothes or cats, but the cats hate anything stuck to their paws, so they jump down and freak out a bit before shaking them off. Masking tape might work, put press it to your shirt a few times first to tone down the stickiness.

Another option is to put an even more desirable perch in the same room, preferably high, near a window, and heated or under a vent/sunbeam.
posted by JeremiahBritt at 7:06 AM on October 11, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

Mousetraps, upside down. When stepped on or nudged, they'll snap loudly and jump in the air and generally scare the bejeezus out of the cat. It doesn't take long to learn to stay away from that spot.
posted by cmiller at 7:06 AM on October 11, 2007

Using carpet tape, which is basically doublesided duct tape, attach a row of spiky things across the top, not dangerous stuff, but maybe chopsticks, chunks of styro from the packaging, whatever will make it an uncomfortable spot.

You don't even need to do that. Just put strips of carpet tape on a sheet of paper and put it in the cat's landing spot. Cats HATE having stuff stuck to their feet. There's an overly-specific tape sold at Petco just for this (called "Stickypaws") but any double-sided tape (or even one-sided tape laid on its back in the cat's landing spot atop the TV) will quickly teach kitty that the top of the TV is (harmless) torture.
posted by Mayor Curley at 7:11 AM on October 11, 2007

Seconding the double-sided sticky tape. It keeps our cats off the railings in our loft.
posted by desjardins at 7:25 AM on October 11, 2007

We've got her trained to be scared of the spray bottle, but the problem is that the cats stay out in the lounge area at night, so she'd have 8+ hours to try and jump on it when we're in bed! She also doesn't seem to put the two together ie. jumping on bench = getting sprayed.. Rather, she just goes 'oh, spray bottle bad' when we brandish it.

The alarm sounds like a good idea though and the most foolproof.... Still would love to hear more ideas!
posted by ranglin at 7:28 AM on October 11, 2007

Yep, tape with sticky side out. Bonus is that you don't have to be around to enforce. Some kitties are of the opinion that they don't do things only if the humans are around to enforce, so the passive tape always being there is great.
posted by mightshould at 7:38 AM on October 11, 2007

For the spray bottle to work like this the spray needs to seemingly come from nowhere instead of from a bottle in your hand.
posted by doomtop at 7:50 AM on October 11, 2007

Make a little cover so that the top of your TV is, instead of a flat surface, an angle rising to the wall. I would use black construction paper covering foam angles for this, but your living room might be classier than that, so instead you could put some pictures up there, or whatever.

To minimize the damage after you do that, I'd put a perch nearby that's got a good view of how she plain old can't land on it.

Alternatively, you could just put a shelf above it that she could safely land on.
posted by anaelith at 7:55 AM on October 11, 2007

Aluminum foil. She'll jump up once, not like the noise and feeling, and promptly get back down. Bonus: you can convince your friends you're doing it to prevent the government from knowing what you're watching.
posted by sephira at 8:01 AM on October 11, 2007

when I had a cat I had the same problem with him jumping on the counter. He despised that water bottle so much that as long as the water bottle was even in sight on the on the counter he wouldn't come near it. If your cat already knows about the air spray or water bottle maybe if it were sitting near the tv he would stay away, after time I was able take the bottle away and he still avoided the counter.
posted by meeshell at 8:04 AM on October 11, 2007

Cats HATE having stuff stuck to their feet.

Not universally. Our cat laughs off the sticky-side-out tape. Or at least he did until we sprinkled some cayenne pepper on it - now he won't go near it.
posted by pdb at 8:28 AM on October 11, 2007

I'd put a big honking shelf with carpet on it, too close to the plasma for the cat to get in between, and maybe add a catpole or a couple of small step shelves leading to it.
My theory is the cat likes the position, not the object, and whatever that's convenient in the same vantage point is preferable to something hard to sit on/get to in the similar position.
/used to have a front door with carpet nailed down the inside of it for climbing fun, and the cat spent every summer watching while sitting on the top of the door.
posted by unrepentanthippie at 9:20 AM on October 11, 2007

Taser?
posted by baphomet at 10:49 AM on October 11, 2007

Scat Mats and Strips

I swear by Scat Mats. I used them to keep my herd of cats (four sweet pooties) away from and off of lots of things - Christmas trees, my bedroom door, trash cans, etc.

The strip size seems like it is just what you need.

Caution: Make sure your tv is very stable! You definitely don't want the tv to topple while you are resolving this issue!
posted by Corky at 1:10 PM on October 11, 2007

The Tattle Tale, mentioned above, successfully kept a dog off our couch. One drawback: if we slammed the door too hard, or bumped the couch, the 2-second alarm would go off then too. But it has two sensitivity settings to mitigate such issues.

Tape + cayenne! Great idea pdb. That just might stop some neighborhood squirrels from gnawing at those tasty spots on my rafters.
posted by quinoa at 5:25 PM on October 11, 2007

Anyone know where we can get the tattle tale or similar in Australia?

(I've just realised that if I buy one, I can also attach it to the christmas tree this year, bonus!)
posted by ranglin at 6:43 PM on October 11, 2007