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02/28/10, 02:49 PM
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Join Date: May 2004
Location: Hill Country, Texas
Posts: 4,649
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I Positively HATE @#$%^&! CATS.
Several cats have decided to make my attic their home and they are destroying my flex ducting system. Have been heating the county the last month. I have open soffits for the extra ventilation. The cats are getting on my metal porch roof that I have recently put all of the way around the house. From the roof they just hop right into the attic. WELL WE ARE GONNA HAVE CATS ON A HOT TIN ROOF by the end of the week. I plan to run a hot wire and a return wire where they have to hit them if they try to go into the attic. I purchased a small size, but still strong powered electric fencer to hook the system to. Just wait until the first one hits the wires while standing on the metal roof - ZAP ZAP ZAP. Betcha my attic stays cat free and I'll bet after a week or so I can turn the system off.
I wonder what would happen if I were to ground the porch roof to the ground of the fencer.
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02/28/10, 03:16 PM
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Moderator
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Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Mountains of Vermont, Zone 3
Posts: 8,878
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I recommend against this. You may end up burning down your house.
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SugarMtnFarm.com -- Pastured Pigs, Poultry, Sheep, Dogs and Kids
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02/28/10, 03:31 PM
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Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: lat 38° 23' 25" lon -84° 17' 38"
Posts: 3,051
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"I Positively HATE @#$%^&! CATS"
You need more ketchup is all.
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"Only the rocks [and really embarassing moments] live forever"
"When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands..." tick-tick-tick
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02/28/10, 03:33 PM
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Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Finally!! TN
Posts: 2,233
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Kung Pow Kitty is tasty :-)
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02/28/10, 04:26 PM
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Join Date: Jan 2010
Posts: 418
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trap em, get em out and then blcok up all the acess points.
not sure id risk a hot wire with the house and all due to the whole fire thing...
ya know...just in case.
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02/28/10, 04:42 PM
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Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: S.E. Iowa
Posts: 2,530
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Electric fencer won't cause a fire. Nor will it charge your metal roof. It will be grounded out.
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02/28/10, 06:42 PM
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Moderator
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Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Mountains of Vermont, Zone 3
Posts: 8,878
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An electric fencer delivers 10,000 volts at a low amperage. This can jump a spark gap. If there is a flammable material near the spark gap then it can ignite. The ignited material's flame can spread to other materials in the home's structure burning down the house. I would suggest not doing this.
If the metal roof is a perfect connection and grounded then it will ground. Most are not. Most metal roofs are made up of sheets of metal that are loosely connected on the scale of electrical wiring. Most metal roofs are not grounded. Connecting a metal roof to a electric fence charger is a good way to start a fire. Or perhaps I should phrase that, a bad way but one that can work. I would not suggest doing this.
If you want to use an electric fencer then setup proper insulators, grounding system, etc. This is not a real solution to the problem and a dangerous way to go which could easily cause a home fire.
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SugarMtnFarm.com -- Pastured Pigs, Poultry, Sheep, Dogs and Kids
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02/28/10, 07:25 PM
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Join Date: May 2002
Location: Texas
Posts: 5,408
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Why not cover the opening with chicken or rabbit wire. It's not the cats fault. They are just trying to get warm.
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A good time to keep your mouth shut is when you're in deep water.
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02/28/10, 08:35 PM
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Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: MS
Posts: 24,572
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Be glad the cats are getting in there. They're probably killing all the rats, mice, squirrels, birds, etc. that are getting in there.
Maybe you should do like Ruby suggested and put some screening over the soffits.
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02/28/10, 09:26 PM
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Join Date: May 2002
Location: north central Pennsylvania
Posts: 3,681
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How many cats are we actually talking about..millions..?? Block their way in and get humane traps from the animal society and catch them. Can't you see or hear them in the attic and get them out with food for bait or the smell of your dog...??
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02/28/10, 09:45 PM
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Suburban Homesteader
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Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Phoenix, Arizona
Posts: 2,559
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Just a story explaining why I wouldn't want cats in my attic, good mousers or not.
We had neighbors who fed all the stray cats. I don't know if they removed the louver over the opening to the attic or if it fell out on its own, but the cats used to pretty much live in the attic.
The people moved and another family took their place. I was talking to their next door neighbor and asked if the new people had cats. He said definitely not, they had to remove the insulation because the cats had not only used the attic as a home, they used the insulation as a huge litter box and the smell permeated the house. Although I didn't have the experience personally, I have enough experience cleaning our kitties' litter box to figure I wouldn't want to deal with that smell wafting down from the attic.
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Ever tried? Ever failed? No Matter, try again, fail again. Fail better.
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02/28/10, 10:22 PM
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Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: MS
Posts: 24,572
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MariaAZ...squirrels, bats, mice, rats, etc. will do the same in the attic. Best to fix it so NOTHING can get in. By the way, if cats can get in there, they're probably after mice. If mice are in there, you'll have snakes in there in warm weather.
Ask me how I know!
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03/01/10, 12:15 AM
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Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Cold Mtn, W NC
Posts: 4,016
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Need to screen so nothing can get in (after you humanely remove the cats of course), you don't want any type critters living in your attic.
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03/01/10, 10:30 AM
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Join Date: May 2002
Posts: 7,692
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Yea, screen wire isnt going to even marginally block air flow unless you have some sort of super duper power fan system. If you need more ventilation, make more vents! And screen them to keep out bugs, mice, rats, snakes, cats, and the occasional irrelevant elephant.
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"What would you do with a brain if you had one?" -Dorothy
"Well, then ignore what I have to say and go with what works for you." -Eliot Coleman
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03/01/10, 11:08 AM
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Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 16,308
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yep, by and large, I aint got no use for cats other, but I have 6. 2 are pets, the rest are a pain, but I havnt seen a mouse or rat, OR a snake for years, sooooo its all OK
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03/01/10, 04:53 PM
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Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 19,807
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Hmm... Wonder why Oggie hasn't weighed in on this with some helpful hints...
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03/02/10, 11:34 AM
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Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Carthage, Texas
Posts: 12,261
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A wolverine in the attic would probably take care of the cat problem... or maybe a mongoose... a large python would put a temporary damper on the problem...
If I didn't have any extra large vicious predators around, I'd probably just staple some hardware cloth over the vents.
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Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Seneca
Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival. W. Edwards Deming
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03/02/10, 02:25 PM
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Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Maine
Posts: 1,397
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Excessive stray cats ain't the problem, it's the irresponsible humans who let them breed and then let them go! Gather them people up and let em' dance on a hot grid I say!
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03/02/10, 02:45 PM
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Join Date: Jan 2009
Posts: 731
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jokarva
Need to screen so nothing can get in (after you humanely remove the cats of course), you don't want any type critters living in your attic.
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I agree. And please, if you catch or drive away any adult females, please check your attic for kittens!
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03/02/10, 03:27 PM
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Waste of bandwidth
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Join Date: May 2003
Location: OK
Posts: 10,618
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Pony
Hmm... Wonder why Oggie hasn't weighed in on this with some helpful hints...
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We are still doing research to see if cats can absorb the shock of the electric fencing system and harness it for their own evil means.
So far, the experiment has been set up, but we've only been able to shock one cat. We're still waiting for it to come back down before we can make any measurements.
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