Indoor Cats.... curious at hatch time?

[mandelyn]

This is my first time incubating while being the patient owner of an indoor cat. Usually I incubate on the kitchen counter or down in the basement, but both spots have been too cold and drafty. So it's set up on the pub-height dining table that's in a corner of the room, that is draft free and near a power outlet. It's the only spot in the whole house that has power without a draft.

I have this mental image of Bubba-Chunk, great cat that he is, hearing the peeps at lockdown time, grabbing the power cord in frustration, because he can't jump on the table to have a look-see. He's declawed, so his leaps are limited.

As a precaution I'm going to duct tape the power cord to the table leg. My dogs don't do anything but look at the box with a crooked ear. But the cat.. how curious will he get? He is a mighty cricket hunter in the basement and cries to be let down there. Do you think he'd cry for these peepers?

We're still getting to know this cat, he's a 5 year old pound kitty we got just a couple months ago. He's a love... but he's still a cat.

When he's tired of the dogs he sits under the table inside the circle of chairs. He'll hear peeping for sure.

What's your experience in how cats react to the noise? I have this thought that I'll come down one morning to eggs all over the floor where he's gotten into the incubator. I'm going to leave all the chairs pushed in so that he shouldn't be able to get a way up. They're straight backed and fit the table snugly.

 

[Fly Be Free]

my cats have been raised around my pets. That makes a huge difference. I had 7 cats when I started with chicks and they just watched them. Once I let one out (stayed close) and the cats really could've cared less. LOL BUT because you don't know this cat I'd be careful.

Once you do this hatch introduce him to the chicks and see how he acts. Telling him NO will only be affective when you're around. Otherwise as soon as your gone if he has a notion to get to the chicks he will.

I'd try to somehow tape/ attatch the bator to the top of the table. The taping of the cord will help too.

are you SURE he can't jump up there?

 

[mandelyn]

He has a hard time just getting to our lap on a chair, let alone the table. I threw his favorite toy on the table in the heat of a game, and he was SO mad! He sat, squished himself down to jump, and then thought better of it. So.. fairly sure he won't/can't.

If I duct tape the bator to the table at lockdown, that'll keep me out of it too!

The chicks will be in the basement covered all around with wood and 1/4 in wire. He can watch all he wants. He'll have training on it and supervision of course. We've been treating him like a dog... he knows what "no" means from when he's tried walking on the coffee table and begging for food. Someone has spoiled him rotten.

Once I had brought a hen in to wash her and dry her out, she was sitting on my lap when the cat walked in. He froze. She cackled. She hopped down off my lap and walked towards him. He ran and hid in the bathroom. Hilarious! That particular hen isn't flighty at all, she was a good training aide for cat and dogs.

Chicks will be different, they'll be just the right size for him. He has a "thing" for noise makers.. bells, jingles, squeeks... so that's what got me thinking we'll have to watch him close.

 

[Fly Be Free]

LOL!!! I've got a couple of fatties too. If not for their front claws then they'd be screwed for getting up on the couch.

I'd just put some tape under the bator, you know how you roll it so that you have double sticky sides? Then that will help to keep it from sliding around any.

I think you've got a pretty good take on your rotund fuzzbutt. Sounds like your upcoming peeps have a good momma.

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

My cats love to sleep on top of the warm incubator (and later the brooder). They don't seem to mess anything up, so I generally let them. They were very curious the first time I had peeps hatch, but I do so much of it that they pretty much ignore it now. All three are mighty hunters, so I am careful to keep the chicks were they can't get to them post hatch. The loud cheeping that chicks do right after hatch interests them, but since they can't get into the bator they all mostly ignore it now.

Now eggs left on the counter are a whole other story...