Pets and Workbenches

[Berni]

The biggest problem with cats is when you're in the middle of a repair and they spill your carefully organised piles of screws on the floor.

Even keeping the screws in compartmentalised bins doesn't help if the lid's not shut properly.

My cats seam to stay away from that, but that doesn't mean that i haven't  myself accidentally knocked a bunch of screws off the table mid repair by accidentally bumping them.

[SingedFingers]

My 4 year old stole all the screws for my frequency counter and hid them in the sofa when I went for a wee the other week. You think cats are bad?!

[james_s]

My 4 year old stole all the screws for my frequency counter and hid them in the sofa when I went for a wee the other week. You think cats are bad?!

I hid my dad's keys in one of my toys when I was about that age, he didn't find them until almost a month later by which point he'd already got replacements for most of them. Don't ask why I did that, I have no idea.

[Red Squirrel]

My 4 year old stole all the screws for my frequency counter and hid them in the sofa when I went for a wee the other week. You think cats are bad?!

I hid my dad's keys in one of my toys when I was about that age, he didn't find them until almost a month later by which point he'd already got replacements for most of them. Don't ask why I did that, I have no idea.

Kids do the weirdest things, when I was a kid I took all the labels off the cans.  Supper time was a mystery every day.  "ok so today we're having corn, beans and tomato sauce"

[Cubdriver]

Kids do the weirdest things, when I was a kid I took all the labels off the cans.  Supper time was a mystery every day.  "ok so today we're having corn, beans and tomato sauce"

 

-Pat

[mtdoc]

Coyotes are common out here, they're native animals and live in the woods. They usually keep away from humans but I've seen small groups of them wandering the neighborhood a few times when I've been out for a walk at night. They're smaller than wolves and less aggressive, but they are predators and feed on small mammals.

I've lived near wolves and coyotes. You have it backwards. Coyotes are much more aggressive than wolves. Wolves avoid people at all costs and require large isolated areas of wilderness..  Coyotes often live right along side people (although they generally avoid them when possible -  but occassionally have attacked small children). There are several large US urban and suburban areas with large coyote populations which regularly feed on cats. The song birds appreciate that.

[Lord of nothing]

In the Backyard from time to time some Badger, Fox, Cats and other Animals. 

[Rémi]

Their favorite game !

[Berni]

Their favorite game !

I hope that doesn't end up like with cats that like playing with toiler paper rolls. Would hate to find the reels empty and a huge ball of tangled wire on the floor.

[george graves]

Dare we drag Dave into this thread?  I think he hates cats IIRC.

That's ok. Needy, and fuly of problems!

But neither are kids.  My cat is smarter then most people's kids. 

[james_s]

Most people who don't like cats have never taken the time to get to know one. Cats are introverts, it takes a while for them to warm up to someone, I'm the same way. Once a cat gets to know you, they are a loyal companion.

[Lord of nothing]

Once a cat gets to know you, they are a loyal companion.

until the get better food.

[ZeTeX]

Once a cat gets to know you, they are a loyal companion.

until the get better food.

I have a cat, as it turns on, at least 10 more people have my cat as their cat, my cat discovered that if you go to every house every day you get x10 food, now the whole neighborhood knows it.

[Lord of nothing]

[ludzinc]

Dare we drag Dave into this thread?  I think he hates cats IIRC.

That's ok. Needy, and fuly of problems!

But neither are kids.  My cat is smarter then most people's kids.

*than

[P90]

I hate cats.

[Lord of nothing]

I feel sick can someone post more cat videos?

Why do you hate cats the are sssooo cute.

[P90]

Dare we drag Dave into this thread?  I think he hates cats IIRC.

That's ok. Needy, and fuly of problems!

But neither are kids.  My cat is smarter then most people's kids.

*than

exactly.     case closed.

[P90]

I feel sick can someone post more cat videos?

Why do you hate cats the are sssooo cute.

I guess I shouldn't say hate, but I don't care for the little monsters... lol

[P90]

The biggest problem with cats is when you're in the middle of a repair and they spill your carefully organised piles of screws on the floor.

Even keeping the screws in compartmentalised bins doesn't help if the lid's not shut properly.

There's a very simple solution to that... get rid of the cat.

[Electro Detective]

After a couple of 'talk to the boot' admin sessions     with our domesticated stray cats (which some low life certified MOFOS dumped in the neighbourhood),
the cats still have their staff, but now KNOW who is the official 'mob boss' 

An easier less painful way:
Put a couple of carton boxes in the lab (or tech wannabee man/lady/cave), with old towels or whatever inside,

put the cat on the bench and step back,

and voila, the cat/s will jump down, hit those boxes and chill out watching you work.

Repeat that a few times till the cat declares the bench a no go zone with a defiant MEEEE-OWWW !   

Add some dried food and water nearby, and no more CATastrophies   


Repeat as necessary and change boxes when the novelty wears thin   

 

[Berni]

Actually the box trick works really well, for added effect leave the paper packing material inside, they love to lay on it or dug trough to see whats under it.

I found there is no need to change boxes, once my cat finds a box to there liking they keep going in to it.

[Ian.M]

Then there's cats and keyboards -  We had a couple of cats in one of my previous workplaces, and de-catting the keyboard while working was a fr equent occurrence.  As the cat walks over the keyboard, turn your hand palm up, lift cat under the belly, extend your arm sideways past the edge of the desk and drop the cat cleanly to the floor on its feet.  Cat in lap or cat on monitor was generally tolerated even when the cat started fishing over the front of the monitor at what was on the screen.  Cat chasing mouse lead was more problematic as bad timing decatting could lead to said cat pouncing on your hand (though Ginger would do that anyway while you were using the mouse - he liked to play rough). I used a trackball which eliminated the attractive lead wiggle factor

We did have a hotkey combo to bring up a password protected screensaver, which avoided the need to buy PawSense. https://priceonomics.com/the-software-that-detects-when-a-cat-is-messing/