criterionforum.org

Cash Flagg wrote: Mon Dec 28, 2020 7:49 pm I use the Ford at Fox set to block my cat's access to one side of the entry-way behind my TV set-up, and the Bergman and Fellini sets work in conjunction on the other side. So cumbersome, oversized packaging does have its advantages!

Does you cat chew up cables? I've been asked to adopt a cat and unfortunately she has a habit of chewing through any cable that has the approximate width of an RCA or USB cable. (She even destroyed a MacBook power cable - lucky she wasn't electrocuted, it was bad enough that the cable was sparking.)

Moral of the story, never get a cat.

hearthesilence wrote: Tue Dec 29, 2020 7:43 pm Does you cat chew up cables?

He showed an interest in doing so as a kitten, so I had to use these for a while, but he eventually shifted his focus to cabinet doors (I now have child locks on all of my cat-accessible cabinets) and the sink disposal switch, which is now child/cat-proofed as well! Thankfully I was home all three times he flipped the switch (up!) on the latter, as I shudder to imagine what the damage would have to been to him (images from Rolling Thunder! flashed in my mind!) and/or the disposal itself. The other day I observed him attempting to turn the front door knob...

My wife took in another cat and it started pissing behind the entertainment center. I'm not sure which is worse, chewing cables or pissing on them.

Rough I'd probably take the cat that does its business in the litter box... my kitten chews on cables constantly and it's been an issue (less so this month as he 'matures'), but I've been able to bind most of them together and block his path to one side of the TV. Thankfully, he's so obsessed with the blu-ray player sitting on the other side, and tries to play with it following any instance when I'll open and close it, that he is distracted from the wires until he's ready to move on.

We have two rabbits, so have to accommodate for their chewing habits not just with cords but also books, DVDs etc... which is one reason most of my valuable things are up higher, violating the heavier-shelves-at-the-bottom rule at times (which I am generally careful about, having witnessed a massive and dangerous shelf collapse at the library where I work!).

My cat, while a big troublemaker when he was little (he's retired now, just sleeps all day), has thankfully never expressed interest in cables or DVDs/Blu-rays. Due to limited shelf space I've started putting some Blu-rays on top of my wardrobe, and he's never once touched them despite regularly climbing there. He had a penchant for chewing the edges of painting/poster frames, so I resorted to rubbing spicy pepper on them. And he has, of course, scratched the hell out of half the furniture (and he once tore up my curtains).

I got the new kitten in August and we realized in October that he came with ringworm (they didn't test for it) and so I had to manually wipe down all my blu rays, books, TV, wires, etc. in addition to deep-cleaning the whole apt. One of his primary lesions was on his cheek, which cats use to rub their scent on everything anyways! He still tries to use my blu-rays as scratch posts though

I've never had any problems with either of our two adult cats, but when my second daughter was born, my then 8-year-old chihuahua-terrier mix went through a brief spate of marking every vertical object in the house with urine, and he hit my movie shelf twice. The affected movies were mostly replaceable but he hit my OOP Criterion DVDs of The Third Man and That Obscure Object of Desire. I'm not sure how much those go for now, but circa 2015 they were worth around $600 on ebay.

My older daughter went through a period as a toddler when she just loved knocking movies off my shelves and teething on them. Several of my BD boxes still bear teeth marks. Curiously, her favorite target was Troll 2. "Boo-way" became one of her first 20 or so words just based on how often we told her not to chew blu-rays. These days I keep my collection in cabinets to prevent such incidents...

Our dog and cat (and previous dog and cat) have evidently been well-trained and have never molested any DVD, BluRay, CD or LP in my collection. The cat will almost always watch films with me (sitting between my feet looking at the screen), and on rare occasions (so far they've always been black and white experimental films) has been so fascinated with what she's seen that she'll climb up onto the player and stare into the screen from an inch away.

Our infant goddaughter did once throw orange juice onto my MoC Naruse Vol. 1 set (after it had gone out of print), but fortunately I'd kept the shrinkwrap on 5/6s of it and it was unscathed.

In summary: dogs and cats are better than nasty little humans.

Actually, my wife has probably done more inadvertent damage to DVDs and BluRays over the years than the animals, but I don't think I should pursue that train of though any further.

therewillbeblus wrote: Tue Dec 29, 2020 9:56 pmThankfully, he's so obsessed with the blu-ray player sitting on the other side, and tries to play with it following any instance when I'll open and close it

My cat will invariably rub his cheek vigorously against the exposed tray if he is nearby when I eject a disc, which always freaks me out, as I have no idea if my super-pricey modded Oppo 203 is even replaceable at this point, should he break off the flimsy-seeming tray with his frenzied scent-leaving ! Lately I've been reduced to actually getting up and manually ejecting the disc if he is lurking in the area, in order to cut down on total tray exposure time.

My cat thinks everything is a gesture towards playing with him, so it's futile at this point. When he's cuddling near me and I'm scrolling a page on my computer, he'll swat at the screen thinking it's a game or something.

hearthesilence wrote: Tue Dec 29, 2020 7:43 pm

Cash Flagg wrote: Mon Dec 28, 2020 7:49 pm I use the Ford at Fox set to block my cat's access to one side of the entry-way behind my TV set-up, and the Bergman and Fellini sets work in conjunction on the other side. So cumbersome, oversized packaging does have its advantages!

Does you cat chew up cables? I've been asked to adopt a cat and unfortunately she has a habit of chewing through any cable that has the approximate width of an RCA or USB cable. (She even destroyed a MacBook power cable - lucky she wasn't electrocuted, it was bad enough that the cable was sparking.)

Moral of the story, never get a cat.

Wipe vinegar on the cables. Your mEOWileage may vary, but it dissuaded our toothy little fucker.

The naughtier of my Abyssinian twins regarded my table-top Epson projector as a great place to warm his bum.

Our puppy has demonstrated a fervent wish to chew cables, so I had to run all the wiring to our family room TV through PVC piping she can't chew through. All the remotes need to be out of reach or she'll use those as toys as well. Our two cats have never cared in the least about any AV equipment or discs, aside from occasionally sitting on them if I left a case on the floor.

Sternhalma Weinstein wrote: Thu Dec 31, 2020 6:09 am

hearthesilence wrote: Tue Dec 29, 2020 7:43 pm

Cash Flagg wrote: Mon Dec 28, 2020 7:49 pm I use the Ford at Fox set to block my cat's access to one side of the entry-way behind my TV set-up, and the Bergman and Fellini sets work in conjunction on the other side. So cumbersome, oversized packaging does have its advantages!

Does you cat chew up cables? I've been asked to adopt a cat and unfortunately she has a habit of chewing through any cable that has the approximate width of an RCA or USB cable. (She even destroyed a MacBook power cable - lucky she wasn't electrocuted, it was bad enough that the cable was sparking.)

Moral of the story, never get a cat.

Wipe vinegar on the cables. Your mEOWileage may vary, but it dissuaded our toothy little fucker.

Nice! Thanks for the advice!

I forgot to follow up on this (I should have because I ended up keeping the cat). I actually had no vinegar on hand but I found some "bitter apple" spray designed for pets and bought a bottle through the mail. It seems to have worked because the cat didn't chew anymore cables! I was recently told that she may have been teething (she was still a kitten, less than a year old) and unfortunately cables and wires are common items cats like to chew when that happens. Makes sense because she chewed the hell out of cardboard and even slippers and a plastic mat back then, but she doesn't really chew anything anymore unless it's food.