keeping cats off the top of the cage

I'll be blunt and to the point :

cats , no matter how sweet and smoogy and gentle they behave around people , are NEVER TO THE TRUSTED if you have small animals as pet or even visitors in / about the home , CATS ARE HARD WIRED SADISTIC KILLERS WHO TORTURE SMALLER ANIMALS BECAUSE TO THEM IT IS FUN.... cat lovers call this "PLAYING" with the captured animal, IT IS NOT, it's TORTURE using their claws and fans.

DO NOT LET YOUR CATS ANYWHERE NEAR YOUR PET LIZARDS OR THEIR TANKS EVER - it's only a matter of time before puss attacks . .

Cats are known to break into mesh topped / even wire mesh topped tanks to get at the defenseless reptile inside , once in, it's going to end bloodily and badly for the reptile who can not escape.

If you have cats and lizards, use the stuff between your ears PLEASE and keep the cats away from the lizard. Puss must never be allowed in the same room as the pet lizard , or even the room it's tank is in EVER .

And the only good outside cat is a dead one. PERIOD.

Hello,

While most would agree that keeping cats at bay is always a good practice. There are
many cat lovers on here which would be pretty offended by those harsh remarks. Please
try to keep the tone down out of respect for other animal lovers.


Tracie

Drache613":3xdsjyso said:

Hello,

While most would agree that keeping cats at bay is always a good practice. There are
many cat lovers on here which would be pretty offended by those harsh remarks. Please
try to keep the tone down out of respect for other animal lovers.


Tracie

Click to expand...

Though I agree the words were harsh, sometimes they are needed to protect other animals too.
Sometime s Kingofnobbys and I disagree on some things but, I understand his point due to the losses he has suffered from ferrel cats and, neighbors cats. I think he means well but gets a little blunt at times.
He and I share a love for these small creatures and, we have to protect them. We are all entitled to our opinions. I probably would have left that last sentence out.
It is hard to put enough emphasis on how dangerous cats really are without being blunt because everyone thinks "My cat ain't going to do that" and they need to understand the dangers cats pose!

If I were a breeder - one of the first questions I'd be asking would be "is there a cat in the household ?"

if they said yes - I'd be very bluntly tell them "go away , I'll not sell a reptile to a person who has a cat".

There are cat lovers who are so thick and so convinced their cat is "harmless, sweet & gentle" that the only way to get through to them is to shock them.
If I have been upsetting catlovers who bring vulnerable defenseless reptiles into the home and haven't the common sense to keep their darned cats away from these reptiles and even insist their reptiles are safe when puss is around - so be it.

If no else is willing to read the riot act to catlovers who are exposing their reptiles to their cat/s , because they are scared of upsetting them , then I will.

I have 2 cats, neither of them try to attack my beardie. However the do like to lay on top of her cage and I am scared that the mesh top will collapse. I am unsure how reinforce the top though. It is a mesh top, that is removable, on a 55 gallon tank. I have 4 lights on her tank, 1 is a night light, 1 heat only bulb, 1 uv bulb, and 1 just light. To me at first it seemed like an excessive amount, however she seems very content with the set up, however that is 4 seperate lights on tope of the mesh cover. We have not been able to figure out how to set her tank up with out using this many lights. Her tank is half in front of a window due to space for her big cage but also so she can have natural light. We keep a blanket covering part of the top of the cage so extra fur doesn’t get in her cage. Sorry for the long explanation, but I am looking for advice and opinions on how to better her cage. I don’t need someone telling me to keep the cats out of the same room, their litter box is in our master bathroom and our bedroom door stays open, so that is not an option, and I can’t keep them off of it while we are at work during the day and asleep at night. No, they do not bother Mushu, she actually does not get upset or anything while the are on top of her cage. Yes, I would like to keep them from getting up there but I can’t just put stuff on top of the cage.

Wow.. um.. hehe.. okay so I don't want to step on toes, offend people or spread negativity but some of that up there was just plain foul and very biased. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions though, and I will do my best to respect them.

Behavior modification is a real thing and it works on cats just like it does on anything else. I would agree that most cat owners don't practice this (and most have probably never heard of a cat trainer) but it's a real thing and more should educate themselves on it because you don't have to enable the bad behavior that gives cats a bad name. I have in the past and currently use motion sensor air cans, clickers with positive reinforcement and ultrasonic remote trainers to keep my cats off and away from desired places, to teach them how to behave and to do tricks.

So, this works for me now because they already know where they can and can't go and Bubb's tank is small and on top of a dresser. I also placed sensor cans at the bottom of the dresser on the floor for extra protection so if the cats curiosity got the better of them and they got near, they got blasted. The new bigger tank might have to go on the floor though and so my plan is just to continue with monitoring and using deterrents and clicker/positive reinforcement for desired behavior.

Also, when I leave my home, which I admitt isn't often, I crate the cats in their safe spot which is my bedroom closet, so no what-if-worries.

So, yeah, my advice would be love all the animals you want, commit to training them and definitely buy some of those motion sensor cans. But if not, it's best to keep them totally separated.

Foil around the top or sides works great for pur 4 cats, we have 3 beardies, 2 55 gallon tanks and foil is your best friend. Someone also said double sided tape, which also works well. Avoid areas that make it easy for them to get on the tanks also. Ours are on high stands with no ledges for sitting and nothing around them for sitters. They enjoy watching them from afar and we know...(because of indoor cameras) they watch them but never bother them. We also have 3 fish tanks that are left alone and 2 dogs who leave everything also. (Yes small village of pets). There are some harsh opinions about cats on this thread which is fine, to each their own...but honestly putting things on top is not super smart, cats love a good game of "knock it off" you will have to try different methods till you find out what works (if this works for you great) If nothing keeps them away then yes... separation is your only sure fire way to keep the peace. Good luck!!

I'm a bit late but here a picture of how I made my tank Cat topper safe, until I built my new tank out of wood![

It's technically a wire shelf from Lowe's that I cut to size and replaced my screen topper with!

-added bonus is it let's in way more uvb that screen toppers!!!

That's a very clever method I've never seen that! I like that a lot better than the mesh screens! :mrgreen:
Kudos to you!

-Brandon

Rschasch":h172sin6 said:

I'm a bit late but here a picture of how I made my tank Cat topper safe, until I built my new tank out of wood![

It's technically a wire shelf from Lowe's that I cut to size and replaced my screen topper with!

-added bonus is it let's in way more uvb that screen toppers!!!

Click to expand...

That's a very good solution.

Thanks guys! It actually worked extremely well and was strong enough to hold both my cats! (Although we discouraged them from that every time they tried)

Yeah, wow, what an excellent idea! Even if it's not for cat proofing, it's a great option for having a sturdy top to hold lighting while allowing plenty of heat and UVB to pass through.