[mythtv-users] Cats and MythTV...

Mike Isely isely at isely.net
Thu Sep 11 19:11:54 UTC 2008


On Thu, 11 Sep 2008, Colin McGregor wrote:

> Recently my cat has decided that the top of my MyhTV box is a great
> place to have a nap... This is a situation I am not happy about, in
> spite of the positives (like noise reduction), I am concerned about
> fur shed and heat trapped. Moving the MythTV box to a place the cat
> wouldn't be able to climb/jump on top of isn't an option. I have tried
> putting a large plastic toy (a piggy bank) on top of the MythTV box,
> but the cat has found she can push that aside...
> 
> So, anything that hurts the cat is NOT an option, on the other hand,
> stopping the cat from napping on the top of that PC case is a a
> priority.
> 
> Suggestions?

I had a problem long ago involving a psycho siamese cat terrorizing a 
hamster.  The cage for the hamster was an aqarium with a wire mesh 
screen top, and the cat would jump on top of the screen.  We solved the 
problem with a strip of burgler foil taped around the outer edge and 220 
volts applied between the screen and the foil.

NO! I do not mean actually 220 volts of line voltage.  We wired two 
doorbell transformers back-to-back to provide isolation, then used a 
resistor/capacitor voltage doubler / rectifier to reach 220 (tried 110 
volts first but it had no effect).  A largish series resistor was used 
to limit the steady-state current to something tiny, and that fed a 
small storage capacitor to provide a short quick, uh, "reminder".  I 
don't remember the exact values, but the overall idea was that the 
series resistor only provided enough current to charge the capacitor 
over time, thus limiting the effect to the discharge time of the 
capacitor.  After roughly 2 incidents the cat learned and the problem 
was solved.

With that said, please don't come after me if you screw up and 
accidentally electrocute the animal.  I'm not giving advice, only 
relating a story of how once 20 years ago I had to solve a similar 
problem!

A good solution might involve spraying an odiferous substance nearby 
that is unpleasant to the cat.  Go to a pet store and see what might be 
available.

I also like the double-sided tape idea elsewhere in the thread.

  -Mike


-- 

Mike Isely
isely @ pobox (dot) com
PGP: 03 54 43 4D 75 E5 CC 92 71 16 01 E2 B5 F5 C1 E8


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