I just spent the last week and a half hunting pussy...

[N8YX]

Or, "No good deed goes unpunished".

Background:

There are a couple stray cats in the immediate neighborhood, and I set a bit of dry food out for them on cold winter days to help them survive. We also built an insulated cat house for the critters to snooze in should the temps get very low. One of the strays showed definite signs of wanting to adopt us. It came up missing the week before last and we both wondered what became of the little guy.

About a week into our puzzlement, something told me to open up the garage and inspect it...

...and there was said cat. Little muhfugger had made a shambles of my workbench and had knocked over a bunch of bike parts...saddlebags, windshields, storage boxes...and it absolutely refused to come out.

'DSG set up food outside the main doors then opened one up for several hours. We thought it left. WRONG.

Friday revealed the cat to still be ensconced within, I'm getting pissed and the bikes were getting pissed on. Obviously, something had to be done - but what?

We could

A) Take off and nuke the site from orbit;
B) Turn my friend's Jack Russell or Cockapoo loose in the garage and wait for the mutt to emerge with a corpse;
C) Continue to leave the door open and hope the friggin' thing would take a hint;
D) Go after it with a friend's suppressed Ruger 22LR pistol;
E) ???

A few of these would be fun to watch but not all that practical to implement, and then there's the bit of collateral damage.

I opted for E - bought and deployed an APC (Automated Pussy Collector), also known as a Havahart 1085. This trap had one less-than-favorable online review, but the animal which managed to break free of it - a fully-grown boar raccoon - is far stronger than ANY cat I've encountered to date.

The trap was set yesterday at 12PM. By 5 in the evening, it was Trap:1 - Cat:0. Hunger and abandonment of caution did him in.

Once the garage doors were securely closed and the trap was sitting in the driveway I tripped the gate and that sucker flew outta there like a cannon shot, presumably back to whomever owns it - if indeed anyone does. I almost had the critter trusting me enough to get around it when I put food down but I see that trust is probably broken forever now.

I think it got in when I opened the door to check on an antenna for a buddy of mine. Hopefully it won't repeat that mistake; nevertheless, I'm going to bait and check the trap again...

[suddenseer]

I have volunteered a few weekends to round up strays in Dayton. They were caged, sedated, spayed/neutered, released. The real sick strays were put down. I am a firm believer in indoor cats only. The local group has not done a round up in several years. I now support this group. They are the real deal. http://www.feralcatproject.org/

[N8YX]

I am a firm believer in indoor cats only.
Our two indoor toms are neutered, and the indoor/outdoor variant which passed away last year was fixed as well. He stayed around the yard and hung out with two of the neighbors' dogs but that was the extent of his prowling.

If I could settle the new installment down enough to integrate it with the current residents I would bring it inside, but as skitterish as the thing is there would be (ahem) difficulties...

[suddenseer]

Our two indoor toms are neutered, and the indoor/outdoor variant which passed away last year was fixed as well. He stayed around the yard and hung out with two of the neighbors' dogs but that was the extent of his prowling.

If I could settle the new installment down enough to integrate it with the current residents I would bring it inside, but as skitterish as the thing is there would be (ahem) difficulties...The trap still works. The hunger/memory ratio will work in your favor. I have been flirting with a big beautiful calico that comes to the back door. It does eat the dog food I leave out.

[NA4BH]

The answer is "D". If he pissed on your bike, down comes the BANNHAMMER............... BAMM..............

That little sommbitch (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQDU-2qMre0&feature=related)

Oh, wait, the link is to BANN's brother. :lol:

[KA5PIU]

Hello.

I built this as a weapon experiment but it works great on cats and dogs as well as a lot of other wildlife.
This is a pie plate ultrasonic generator.
This is a bunch of Motorola piezo tweeters and a squarewave generator that can do from around 1 kHz all the way to about 45 kHz mounted on a shield.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_weapon
Simply go up in pitch until your cat comes running out.

[kb2vxa]

So did the experiment actually work? Did you test the frequency response of the tweeters with a generator, series load resistor and volt meter or just the amplifier? Just because you can feed them with 45KHz doesn't say you'll get a dB of SPL out so give with the test results and keep conjecture to yourself.

"Simply go up in pitch until your cat comes running out."
A feral cat won't give your experiment a snowball's chance in hell. The moment it detects your presence it takes off like a shot so quick you'll likely not even see it, only hear a rustle as it flashes past. A neighborhood stray being partially socialized and used to human presence is a whole 'nother fur ball, trouble is people who don't live in semi-wilderness areas where feral is more common don't know the difference.

[KA5PIU]

Hello.

Have no idea as to the sound level.
I simply connected a piezo mic to an oscilloscope and went for it.
There was no measurement going on, no need.
This entire design was based on a TAB book.
http://www.alibris.com/booksearch.detail?invid=10119601040&browse=1&qwork=840163&qsort=&page=1
I built the thing after finding the piezo tweeters cheap and like what it does, so I got a bit of plexiglass and machined holes for the speakers, the pie plate was flimsy.
There are also 22 xenon flash units that all fire in sync.
A cheap car remote can trigger any of 3 modes.
Again, something I built and tested, it works well enough to keep me happy.
It WILL give you a splitting headache is it is pointed at you and turned on, from as far away as 500 feet easy.
I have set off glass breakage detectors from over 1000 feet away.
I show glass goblets no mercy and can shatter all of the ones in the racks at a bar in a split second. ;)
Bars are dark, and the second function works well also.
The offer is the same as the stun spurs, I am always looking for guinea hams. ;)

[KG4CGC]

Cat piss on a hot engine at a traffic light. "I smell fishy hot rubber."

[NA4BH]

Hello.

Have no idea as to the sound level.
I simply connected a piezo mic to an oscilloscope and went for it.
There was no measurement going on, no need.
This entire design was based on a TAB book.
http://www.alibris.com/booksearch.detail?invid=10119601040&browse=1&qwork=840163&qsort=&page=1
I built the thing after finding the piezo tweeters cheap and like what it does, so I got a bit of plexiglass and machined holes for the speakers, the pie plate was flimsy.
There are also 22 xenon flash units that all fire in sync.
A cheap car remote can trigger any of 3 modes.
Again, something I built and tested, it works well enough to keep me happy.
It WILL give you a splitting headache is it is pointed at you and turned on, from as far away as 500 feet easy.
I have set off glass breakage detectors from over 1000 feet away.
I show glass goblets no mercy and can shatter all of the ones in the racks at a bar in a split second. ;)
Bars are dark, and the second function works well also.
The offer is the same as the stun spurs, I am always looking for guinea hams. ;)

That works great with avalanche diodes used in a series.

[NQ6U]

That works great with avalanche diodes used in a series.

I prefer cravasse diodes myself. Lower current loss means less chance of a runaway snow-ball effect.

[NQ6U]

I am always looking for guinea hams.

Ahem. Speaking as an amateur radio operator of Italian heritage, I take offense at that remark.

[NA4BH]

I prefer cravasse diodes myself. Lower current loss means less chance of a runaway snow-ball effect.

If you use silver solder, you lessen the effects.

[NQ6U]

If you use silver solder, you lessen the effects.

But only if you have cold joints.

[KG4CGC]

If you use silver solder, you lessen the effects.
Only if you use a tip that has only been used before with silver solder and has been kept clean. Otherwise you take a chance on doping the connection and thus changing the characteristics from a simple joint to that of a random semiconductor.

[W4RLR]

Cat piss on a hot engine at a traffic light. "I smell fishy hot rubber."If the wifoid were to ever smell such an odor, I'm afraid she would accuse me of using the back seat of my truck as a boudoir.

[KG4CGC]

The day before I had just changed out a check valve with a rubber tube that slipped over it. It was about an inch in diameter. I was at the stop light in 90 degree heat ant the end of June or so. Every stop I came to, I kept smelling hot, rubbery fish. I thought for sure that the check valve coat was touching something hot on the engine. Everything ran fine. No gas smell just fish and hot rubber.

A couple of days later I notice spots, clear spots, that looked like they were splattered on. I recognized that pattern. Cat Spray! Female cat spray! Mystery solved. But still, the smell has to "wear off" and with repeated firings from Gubby .............................. lulz

[W1GUH]

'YX said:


A) Take off and nuke the site from orbit;
B) Turn my friend's Jack Russell or Cockapoo loose in the garage and wait for the mutt to emerge with a corpse;
C) Continue to leave the door open and hope the friggin' thing would take a hint;
D) Go after it with a friend's suppressed Ruger 22LR pistol;
E) ???



Re: option "B"...

Turn my friend's Jack Russell or Cockapoo loose in the garage and wait for the mutt and kitty to be curled up together, sleeping peacefully, possibly with the dog "protecting" the cat from anyone wanting to evict it!


BTW, I believe it's been scientifically proven that Cat Piss is the 2nd most toxic substance EVER!

[KG4CGC]

It is immediately corrosive to metal and it takes on a life of its own once in contact with metal.

BTW, I believe it's been scientifically proven that Cat Piss is the 2nd most toxic substance EVER!