I want a pet dog and/or cat !!!

[agarwalro]

I know a lot of people must have seen the subject and gone, WTF dude? As you read on it will become apparant how this question is related to speakers, even if laterally.

I have been wanting to get a pet dog and/or cat for a long time. I live in a 3 room condo that has a door only on the bedroom and bathroom. How do I keep my speakers safe from the pet ? I dont want to lock them in the bedroom while I am at work, that is just plain inhuman. At the same time I dont want to come home to find my pride and joy speakers ripped to shreads and cables chewed through.

I am open to any suggestions, even if they sound stupid, there has to be something I can do...

 

[MDS]

My suggestion would be don't assume that a dog or cat is going trash your speakers. I've had cats all my life and they just don't destroy things like that, although some will use the couch as a scratching post until they learn that is not allowed. A puppy, on the other hand...you can pretty much kiss everything goodbye until they grow up a little.

 

[cgk]

Cat

My cat lives in the basement with my system. He can't reach the ceiling mounted surrounds, but the front floor standers and stand-mounted center channel speakers are all within his reach and he's never touched them. Cats have an urge to scratch somewhere, and even de-clawed cats do it. I keep his nails trimmed (about twice a month) and since he's been a kitten, I trained him to scratch on his post and nowhere else.

I'd recommend getting a mature animal, rather than a puppy or kitten. That way you'll know what they'll do. Baby animals are too unpredictible. My roommates puppy ate my stethoscope when I was in medical school...

 

[rikmeister]

do not worry about animals kids are even more destructive.

and the older kids get the more they can get into things.

 

[markw]

Keep the speaker grilles on.

that's just a start.

 

[mtrycrafts]

I know a lot of people must have seen the subject and gone, WTF dude? As you read on it will become apparant how this question is related to speakers, even if laterally.

I have been wanting to get a pet dog and/or cat for a long time. I live in a 3 room condo that has a door only on the bedroom and bathroom. How do I keep my speakers safe from the pet ? I dont want to lock them in the bedroom while I am at work, that is just plain inhuman. At the same time I dont want to come home to find my pride and joy speakers ripped to shreads and cables chewed through.

I am open to any suggestions, even if they sound stupid, there has to be something I can do...

Have you considered stuffed pets??? Cheap to feed you can leave them home for any time period, etc
I am not a pet person as you may gather

 

[9f9c7z]

My thought is that right now you should consider getting neither. That you are in a place of “dog OR cat” is a pretty good indication you are not prepared for either. Both critters are very much different in their care needs, very much different in the way they will fit into your life style.

My life style is better suited to dogs. I feel it is irresponsible for anyone to own a dog that is not taken thru FULL dog training when old enough. I know they are cute as puppies but they grow up. And yes, they are fine around people, but they are not people, every dog is an animal with a ‘dominate or be dominated’ temperament. Dog training starts the day you bring the critter home as a puppy. And if done correctly, there is absolutely zero possibility a dog can harm anything in your home, at any time. On the other hand, if you don’t do proper training, a dog can see everything in its environment as a potential chew toy, at any time.

Too often people get a dog for the way it looks. That’s the wrong way to do it. You should start by researching the physical attributes (size) to see if it fits into your life style. Then consider the temperament, intelligence, and maintenance of the various breeds to see which of those attribute fits your life style. Some dogs (Jack Russell terrier, poodles, PWDs) don’t shed, don’t have dander, are pretty much hypo-allergenic. Cats are not. Will you have people visiting that have pet allergies? Other dog breeds shed so much whenever they get up they leave hairballs behind. Mutts can be great dogs but they bring their own special considerations with them. These are the things to consider with a dog. How does all of that fit into your life style? How does it compare with being responsible for a cat? That’s why I suggested you may not be ready for either a dog or a cat. You still have some more researching to do, but for what you wanted to know, pet+spkrs is not a problem if the pet is a dog with proper care.

 

[Rock&Roll Ninja]

Condo = get a cat
Cat = get bookshelf speakers on stands (take the grills off if your paranoid)

 

[Shadow_Ferret]

If it's a dog, crate train it. It isn't cruel to have the dog in a crate during the time you are gone. If it's trained correctly, the dog will simply associate the crate with it's "den" and safety.

 

[ducker]

Yep, that's what I was gonna say... Our puppy is crate trained. When we're gone for a slightly longer period of time we allow her more space, but never the run of the house.

Even with proper training, I'd say there's no way you can 100% proof your house from an animal with a curious mouth, or boredom.

 

[philh]

If it's a dog, crate train it. It isn't cruel to have the dog in a crate during the time you are gone. If it's trained correctly, the dog will simply associate the crate with it's "den" and safety.

I'll second the crate train. One dog will even go into it to sleep when we're home. Each crate has a soft fabric encased closed cell foam pad. One crate has a dog pillow and baby blanket, the other a dog bed and baby blanket. They are extremely comfortable and know that as night-night.

To answer the original question, we had tons of things available to chew to protect the furniture. Speakers were initially blocked, but both puppy's seem to prefer all the chew toys instead. Although the older one (2 yrs old) just chewed an electrical cord. Received quite a surprise! Haven't seen him chew anything like that since he was about 6 months old. Not sure he'll be chewing any more cords.

 

[JohnA]

I've got two cats, and only had one issue, and that was when it was a kitten. They will always want to check out the moving black circle that is making noise, but, you can train cats. When they do something bad, correct them (this will take more time and "force" than it would with a dog, cats are self-centered, and self-seeking, they don't want to please you like a dog does); when they do good reward. I only have to tell my cats no and they stop, heck one is trained almost as good as a dog, you call for him when he is outside and he comes in, not too bad for a cat.

With my old dog...man was he smart...anyway, proper training will keep the dog in line. We never had a problem with him, he would never chew anything or get into anything, he would wait until you told him it was ok for something (i.e. we would wrap dog treats in tissue paper for Christmas for him, he knew which ones were his and which ones were not, he would just sit by the tree and wait until we said "OK", then he would go and pick out one present.) it is all in the training.

 

[Jmoney715]

im all for crate training, if it wasnt for the crate he would have literally torn the house apart, i bought a german shepherd puppy and those little boogers baby teeth can rip apart drywall, wooden desk, SPEAKERS, and shoes.... a couple of tips i aquired when using a crate, put a towel to cover the gate area so it makes it dark, put some kind of chew toy to make their time go by faster, and if their really young, you need to take them out every hour to let them do their business, and as they grow up you can extend their time in there...

 

[racquetman]

Dog training starts the day you bring the critter home as a puppy. And if done correctly, there is absolutely zero possibility a dog can harm anything in your home, at any time.

Zero possibility? You may be exaggerating slightly

Accidents can always happen, especially if you have a large dog. I've seen very well trained large dogs accidently bump into things and their weight is more than enough to knock a speaker off a stand. This is especially possible in a smaller environment. The size of the animal will play a roll in the possibility of something accidentally happening.

 

[Doug917]

My 2 cats are not allowed in the main home theater room without supervision. The carpeted wall is just too tempting for them and my equipment is too important too me. I have had no problems with my living room se-up or any of the furniture in there. The trick is to get them plenty of scratching posts and toys and they will leave your furniture and speakers alone. And...WHATEVER you do, DON'T let them become addicted to catnip. My boy's still going through rehab.

 

[j_garcia]

Zero possibility? You may be exaggerating slightly

Accidents can always happen, especially if you have a large dog. I've seen very well trained large dogs accidently bump into things and their weight is more than enough to knock a speaker off a stand. This is especially possible in a smaller environment. The size of the animal will play a roll in the possibility of something accidentally happening.

That's what blu-tack is for. It will keep your speakers from being easily knocked off. My stands weigh 26lbs unfilled and my speakers are 38lbs ea, so they aren't going anywhere. My cats don't bother my equipment at all, though I have restricted rear access to the cable/wire area behind my system from them as a precaution anyway.

 

[agarwalro]

Awesome response for relatively dumb question

I really appreciate everones help in this matter. The response was tremendously better than I expected. Now I have a ton of suggestions to work on.

9f9c7z, the reason I said dog and/or cat is, I want a dog, my better half wants a cat. We will most probably end up getting one each. That way they will have something to distract them from the HT too ;-).

Once again, thanks everyone.

 

[jaxvon]

I would opt for stand mounted speakers. This will keep them away from the cat/dog. Use blue tack, along with heavy stands to avoid having your speakers take a spill (wall mounted works too, of course). For wiring, I would get some abrasion resistant TechFlex if you're worried about your animals chewing through and run your cables through techflex tubes.

 

[9f9c7z]

Zero possibility? You may be exaggerating slightly

Accidents can always happen, especially if you have a large dog. I've seen very well trained large dogs accidently bump into things and their weight is more than enough to knock a speaker off a stand. This is especially possible in a smaller environment. The size of the animal will play a roll in the possibility of something accidentally happening.

No exaggeration. If properly trained, there is no chance whatsoever a dog will damage anything in your home. As was mentioned by others, crates are part of the training, but only part of it. And no, there are never any ‘accidents’, only lapses in the trainer’s attention.

 

[Tempest]

I had to deal with a kitten that loved to claw speaker grills and actually reached under my old subwoofer and totaled the passive radiator. He also chewed up my subwoofer cable.

I got a bottle of this stuff (don’t know it’s name) that you spray on things you don’t want kitty near. It worked and eventually we got him to use a scratch post and chew things for his aggressions.