My cats like all my cars, and the boat, I don't mind at all, they climbed on my XKE for years with no scratches, they thought the hood louvers were cat heaters in the winter, if I put the cover on they think it's for their comfort, and they like my Mini just as much, and they do keep the mice away.
but these are my cats and I get pleasure from them, strays would be another issue. my dog used to scratch my van up but he was excited to see me pull in the driveway, I didn't have the heart to whack him, eventually he stopped and I had the door repainted.
Maybe eat a LOT of garlic, drink a LOT of Ouzo and go out at night and pee around the area, might need a few applications

 

Has the cat actually left scratches? I have allowed cats to roam on my cars for years with no problems, they won't scratch metal on purpose! I do think the owner has a bad attitude; please take any anger out on her and not the innocent cat.

The worse one of my cars ever got scratched was when I went to a person's house and her husky totally demolished my driver's door (my dog was in my car and hers was trying to get at him) and she didn't even offer to pay for the damages!


This reminds me of a story. I bought my first ever car in 1994 with my own money; I was 19. It was a 1979 Trans Am with only 29,000 miles, a beautiful car. I was quite proud of it. My boyfriend at the time knew how much I loved cats and asked me if there was a cat in the road and avoiding it meant putting the Trans Am in the ditch which would I choose; I didn't hesitate and said put the car in the ditch. He couldn't believe I would sacrifice my car for a cat (one reason I dumped his a$$ shortly after). I love my car, but not at the expense of an animal's life. Cars can be fixed.

Please don't hurt the cat!

 

I had no idea a specie of Coleus could deter cats and foxes. Could be quite aesthetic to festoon the carport with planters (at each upright between the parking spaces and hanging baskets/boxes where possible--such as on a back wall) and propagate Coleus canina. It is a shade-loving plant and should grow indoors as well. The management should spring for the materials but tenants could participate in installation and maintenance. No more cats and foxes.

 

"neighborhood cat that 9 days out of 10 has been laying on top of the Mini overnight, and I can't get it to stop! I've parked way over from where I usually do, I've cought it a few times, lifted it off - swatted the hell out of it and yelled...but most of the time it's somewhere between 2am and 5am"

Kaelaria, I just read the entirety of this post and I'm amazed, what with all the experienced modders on this forum, that no one has realized the source of your problem - it's obvious that you have one of the only really effective "cat back" systems. If you change your exhaust back to stock, the cat will likely not come back.

 

 

I love cats too, but shoot...I could never take a ditch and risk injury to myself to save an animal. I hope animal lovers do always head for the ditch instead of into my lane though...

 

My wife is an animal lover. So I had to come up with another solution. Being the front of the Mini is the only area cats can get on easily. I came up with the cat guard PVC conduit some zip ties,pipe insulation and garden mesh. About 50.00 worth of parts.

The cat guard

Of course the cat had to get into the picture.

 

GOOOOOOAAAAAAAALLLLLLLL!!!!!!!

 

You should edit your post and use the attatchment feature - your server is slow as molases - it took over 20 seconds on broadband to show your pics. What are you serving off of a dial-up connection?

 

I love this photo, and I was hoping it would show up in this thread!

 

Minirox: That is astounding. Definitely scored a goal there.

 

The faster our computers get the more impatient we become. I am a copy and paste kinda guy. Which is probably the wrong way to do it. I'll work on it. K

 

Get you some moth *****. Place a few around the car and a few in a small butter container, poke a few holes in the lid, and place it on the hood. It may take a few days, but the cat will learn.

 

How about one of those fake owls. Wouldn't a cat be afraid of those?

 

How about a Pelican ?,



Or you could just shoot it !


Or get a hired gun to do it,


Or just get a cat of your own, and chain him to your car at night


This is Ginger's XKE with guard kitty.

 

According to Wagnbat this may lead to Ghetto Princess living next to Ghetto Fabulous.

 

Yea the audacity of you trying to help with your convaluted ways of posting. Teach you to help!

 

Well, I just read this entire thread and thoroughly enjoyed it. Some very useful and practical solutions along with some very amusing pictures!
Anyway, I came up with this solution a few years back. Being an avid observer of cats and their likes and dislikes I am forever being asked by friends, neighbors and family members about dealing with stray,feral and just plain annoying neighborhood cats. Since I am a true cat lover (and dogs, too for that matter) I try to come up with "peaceful" solutions.
A few years back my husband spent weeks trying to tame a wild male cat that had been left behind when the owners moved away (jerks!!). The cat had been getting into the dog food supply we keep at our dog training kennel on the lower half of our property. My husband couldn't stand the fact that winter was coming and that "Mac" would probably starve to death since we would be moving the training stuff indoors for the winter. My husband finally convinced Mac to join our family and we have since been feeding him with his own food dish in our garage. The by-product being that he chose my PT Cruiser as his favorite napping spot. I wanted to come up with something to stop him from getting on the car in the first place as opposed to doing some thing to freak him out once he got on the car, thus scratching it to bits when he took off in a panic.
I went to the grocery store and bought 4 Mylar balloons and had them filled with helium. Then at night I would tie them around the car at varying heights so that Mac could see them before he tried to jump on the car. I did this every night for about a week and he hasn't been on my PT since. With cats, once they find a nice spot they just keep going back to it. Once I broke his habit he found a new spot and is just as happy with it. He now sleeps on the shelf on the workbench, which he is just fine with. I don't know if this would work in an apartment complex, but maybe no one will mess with the balloons long enough for it to work for you.
Good luck,
Annette

 

You guys with hard tops just have to deal with scratchs. Us cabrio guys will have to deal with LEAKS if the damn cats get up there!!! At first I started just wetting the top every night. That worked until the weather got too warm and dried the top. The thing about them breaking the habit just isn't true.

I tried amonia soaked rags in containers. That didn't work.

I finally gave up, I paid a hell of a lot more for my car than any cat is worth. I love dogs but cats are the evil spawn from hell. I just got out my old trusty BB gun. It won't hurt the top if I aimed a little low and it won't hurt the cat but for a few minutes. Three or four times of that and I had no cat problem.

Oh, and before all that I asked the owner to take care of the problem. All I got was a shoulder shrug and the "I'm a student and it's an outside cat. What do you want me to do?". The scum graduated and left the cat.

 

?????????????????????????????????????????????????? ??????????????????????

 

Lessee....I've had a cat shred a set a Harmon Kardon speaker covers. Shred the front of a leather couch. Scratch the hood of a newly painted 280Z. And what do you hear from the owners, ALL women? But it's JUST A CAT!!!

No, when the darned things start paying my bills THEN they can have a say so.

 

Geesh. Have a beer. This kind of anger isn't healthy.


Are cats your problem or women?

(seriously, i am completely kidding. don't get excited.)

 

Heck I'm not angry. Just recounting experiences. All the cats and women, are long gone.

My sanity remains.

 

Weird. I didn't know that all cat owners were women. Learn something every day here on NAM.

 

There are many male cat lovers out there. I have caught more than one guy cuddling with a kitten! Many of them hide in some sort of macho shame, but they are there.

We have three cats and not one of them has shredded anything traumatic (nothing other than tissue type stuff). We trim the nails and give them appropriate things to shred. Maybe we are lucky?
:smile: