Pet Stories

We have that rice paper wallpaper (like bamboo) on the walls of our listening room. Our cat, Koko, used to sharpen her claws on the wall paper. I repaired the wallpaper and put plexiglass on the walls up to 4 feet. It was amazing what it did to the sound in the room. Well, she died this past January after a long, wonderful 16 years and we got a kitten in February. We left the plexiglass up and we use a water spray bottle to train him - for everything. It really works on animals that don't like water. (I don't imagine that it would work on say a lab- they'll do anything to get wet!) He doesn't touch any of the furniture, even the corners that are worn from KoKo after a couple sprays and a sharp NO! (consistency is key) Some may want to try this after you get some enzyme eating cleaner to remove the urine odor. They will continue to come back and mark if they still smell it. You can get it at any pet store.
Bwyoung, I liked the bicycle tube idea. If he ever starts on the wiring, that will be first choice.

Our labrador retriever makes a great sound absorber. :-)

Nilthepill...let me just agree with Paul. Stereos and pets can co-exist. Pets are wonderful for children...or anybody else. We consider ours members of the family, and they constantly amuse us and enrich our lives. They do take looking after, of course, and training. It's an excellent way for young people to learn caring and responsibility. My 10 year old daughter loves her cat (Richard) and tells him all her troubles (main trouble in her life - I haven't bought her a horse yet!)

I've read the cat stories with amusement. We've always had neutered male/spayed female kitties and never had any problems. We trained (conditioned?) the cats to not jump on counters, not claw furniture/curtains/in the house and to leave my stereo gear alone. It helps to select a people oriented, friendly kitty, but water spray-bottles and a loud, firm "NO" work wonders. Since we live in the country, Richard even goes outside to do his litterbox chores.

The dogs seem to enjoy the stereo system, though they usually end up asleep between the Maggies. The cat hates rock, but sits on my slap and purrs for classical and acoustic jazz.

I thought that I had heard all the names for pets... but Richard takes the prize... there MUST be a story behind that name

Our five living cats are named: Darryll Cooper, Elliott Ross, Martin Keil-Ross, Eddie Haskell (the neighbor's cat whom we adopted when he moved to NYC, the neighbor that is, as he, Eddie, lived at our place anyway and always had the manners to compliment my wife on her house dress before entering our home on a daily basis to devour every scrap of food in sight) & Shipton (short for Rocket-Ship the Prozac Cat) Ross-Keil. My first cat (no longer with us) was named Pete Keil (after a friend of mine, also deceased) and one of my wife's first was named Todd (AKA Puffy Todd before the days of Rap). Richard is a great name for a cat and it may very well be a "next" in our household (hey, after he's neutered we can call him "Little Dick". Why do people give cats stupid cat names, when they have such distinct personalities.

Right on DeKay! Richard is a fine name.

I had a cat named Richard when I was a teen, named for actor Richard Burton. (The kitty was dark and handsome and was given away by folks whose surname was Welsh). His full brother was named Albert (for Albert Finney, Albert was charming but always over-reacted.). Then there was Fred (short for Frederic Chopin, a kitty that liked to sit on the piano bench and plunk individual keys with one paw)... Deidre, who was sweet and dreamy...Michael J. Katt (named for the person who gave him to us)...Amneris (she was exotic looking)...and of course Bachus & Ariadne (these two kittens were dumped at the farm one Saturday afternoon and guess what the Met broadcast was?)

Dogs: Peabody (yellow lab), Audrey (miniature pinscher), Mozart (mixed breed) Pixie (Australian shepherd) and on and on. You should see the names we give our horses!

Alas none of the above are still with us...pet lives are relatively short. But the next one will be carefully named according to his/her personality and physical attributes. All our critters have been "characters" with strong personalities. And none of them really bothered the gear (We "trained" the cats as well as our dogs. Our four legged family was taught to mind their manners in the house.) It was a near thing with the labrador, however, as lab pups LOVE to chew. And Mike the cat thought he wanted to gnaw on power cords - a little hot pepper sauce changed his mind.

Nilthepill, buy those darling girls a furry friend.