Cat and TV

[Elmorton]

DH is super excited because his Xmas gift this year is a flat screen, so I''ve been hearing about all his research (must be what he thinks when I talk about jewelry!). During all of it, I have one thought: how are the cats going to do with the TV? Our TV is in front of a small window and next to the fireplace, so our cats use the tv as a springboard to the mantle or as a perch to watch out the window. Since the new flat screens are pretty light, I think the first time they do this, the TV is going to go flying.

Anybody have any first hand experience with this?

 

[LtlFirecracker]

My cats have realized that the flat screen will not support their weight. Hopefully yours will too. However, I would provide an alternate way for them to get up to the window so that they will be less tempted to try.

BTW. My cats love the plasma. The especially love the mircat show on animal planet. They try to catch them!

 

[Brown.Eyed.Girl]

Ours haven''t tried to jump onto our plasma...yet. They could do it - the desk chair is pretty close to the TV and they regularly leap to the top of the chair.

Dante, however, likes to sit directly in front of the TV and look at it, and sometimes will try to stand up and lean on the screen ... we discourage that though!

 

[MishB]

I agree, provide some sort of alternative means of getting to the window to save the tv.

Our male cat particularly likes to watch motor sport for some reason.

 

[purrfectpear]

Either you''re buying a small flatscreen or your cat must be a whopper. My 37" weighs somewhere around 50# and the 46" is at least 70#

 

[Octavia]

When we got our flatscreen, our cat used it like a tightrope. I was worried, so I took a long piece of packing tape and turned the ends over, and stuck it so the sticky part was facing up along the length of the top of the TV. Cats generally hate sticky stuff on their paws, so it only took him about twice before he realized that walking on the TV was NOT fun...I haven''t seen him do it since, and the tape has been gone for months. Easy and highly recommended!

 

[that_someone_special]

I see what you are saying... even though the tv''s are heavy, my one heavy cat makes me nervous when he''s prancing around it. They have learned that it won''t hold them though.. unless they play "theory of tight-rope walking" while we are gone

 

[Elmorton]

PP, he''s thinking about a 37 lcd, so I think he''s said that they''re between 30-50lbs, and both our cats are big boys at about 13lbs - but when they''re flying around the room at night chasing each other, you''d be shocked at what can tip or topple. I read somewhere else that someone suggested drilling holes in the base and putting screws in the base to the entertainment center, which I thought was a great idea, but DH said it would probably nullify the warranty.

They can hop from the mantle directly to the window, or from a ledge to the window, so they can definitely modify their own path - I''m just worried about the first couple of times.

The tape is something I''ve read online - also tin foil? Anyone tried that? I''ve tried tape before on a wider surface, and it was somewhat unsuccessful - but that''s when they were kittens, and I had to make a grid of tape, so they somehow figured out how to tiptoe. Maybe I should try it again.