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      02-12-2012, 01:03 PM   #1
grnbean
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Cat On Car Hood = Fml

There are three stray cats that some of my neighbors feed. I live in a condo, so we have a semiunderground gated lot.

every night these cats come out of the shadows and start sitting on different car hoods. My car not being an exception. They seem to love sitting on my hood especially when's its freshly waxed.

the problem: they are leaving very fine scratches visible under a flashlight.

I did some research and found that many people have used cayenne pepper, mothballs, and citrus around the car.




Despite having a car that now has a suspicious red ring around it along with an extremely strong stench of moth balls, I came out this morning and I found paw prints on my hood again...




YES, I have a car cover.
NO, It is not a sustainable solution.

Last edited by grnbean; 02-12-2012 at 01:37 PM..
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      02-12-2012, 01:23 PM   #2
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3 words...quality car cover..

Pleaseant dreams
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      02-12-2012, 01:28 PM   #3
grnbean
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thanks but I have one..
thanks for your obvious solution though..

I don't want to take it on and off everyday causing further scratches

no 'pleaseant' dreams yet
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      02-12-2012, 01:33 PM   #4
tibra1
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Quote:
Originally Posted by grnbean View Post
thanks but I have one..
thanks for your obvious solution though..

I don't want to take it on and off everyday causing further scratches
What?????..I have been using car covers for 10 yrs taking them on and off doesnt cause any scratches..: unless your are packing the lining of the cover with brillo pads or smthing..

Obvious solution that works..GL
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      02-12-2012, 06:37 PM   #5
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Trap the cats and re-locate them to some other part of town....
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      02-24-2012, 09:12 PM   #6
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Full hood clear bra.
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      02-25-2012, 05:24 AM   #7
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If the car is not perfectly clean the dirt will cause scratching when putting the cover on. A clear bra would work although they could scratch that.
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      02-25-2012, 06:07 AM   #8
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIbkLjjlMV8

Probably your best bet.
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      02-25-2012, 06:12 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pro-tect mobile View Post
If the car is not perfectly clean the dirt will cause scratching when putting the cover on. A clear bra would work although they could scratch that.
They make new clear bras that are self healing with hot water, I don't recall who is making them but my friend just had one installed on his new mini JCW coupe
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      02-25-2012, 06:13 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by robackja View Post


Probably your best bet.
Fixed
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      02-25-2012, 06:14 AM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SchnellM3 View Post
Trap the cats and KILL them....
Fixed that.
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      02-25-2012, 06:26 AM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SchnellM3 View Post
Fixed
This would have solve the problem if the water nozzle had been replaced with a .22
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      02-25-2012, 06:44 AM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave IV View Post
Fixed that.

IMG-20110923-00036 by SchnellM3, on Flickr
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      02-25-2012, 10:19 AM   #14
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Trapping cats is actually pretty easy. You get a long cage at a tractor supply store, hardware store, or hunting store. Buy one can of cat food, smash up in back behind the pressure mechanism for the door so the cat must step on the mechanism to eat the food. Cover the cage with a blanket and wait. Along a wall where the cat has been seen is a good location to leave it. You will catch them.

You can either release them somewhere else or soak them with a hose and release them. Chances are they will not come back after you blast them with a hose. Your local municipality may also pick them up for the pound - depends on the local gov. Also be aware that they will go ballistic if you take the blanket off because cats can't deal with being trapped. So if you are an animal lover, handle with care...
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      02-25-2012, 03:11 PM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Singletrack View Post
Trapping cats is actually pretty easy. You get a long cage at a tractor supply store, hardware store, or hunting store. Buy one can of cat food, smash up in back behind the pressure mechanism for the door so the cat must step on the mechanism to eat the food. Cover the cage with a blanket and wait. Along a wall where the cat has been seen is a good location to leave it. You will catch them.

You can either release them somewhere else or soak them with a hose and release them. Chances are they will not come back after you blast them with a hose. Your local municipality may also pick them up for the pound - depends on the local gov. Also be aware that they will go ballistic if you take the blanket off because cats can't deal with being trapped. So if you are an animal lover, handle with care...
Drop them off at a Merc. or Audi Dealership...
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      02-25-2012, 03:37 PM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SchnellM3
Quote:
Originally Posted by robackja View Post


Probably your best bet.
Fixed
Funny!!!

Obviously, do not harm the cats.

I'd suggest a thick blanket over the hood in the meantime. Can you park elsewhere? Have you tried a NO CATS ALLOWED sign?
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      02-25-2012, 05:04 PM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Pauldramos View Post
Funny!!!

Obviously, do not harm the cats.

I'd suggest a thick blanket over the hood in the meantime. Can you park elsewhere? Have you tried a NO CATS ALLOWED sign?
LOL I don't think the cats can read that
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      02-26-2012, 12:08 AM   #18
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SchnellM3 View Post
They make new clear bras that are self healing with hot water, I don't recall who is making them but my friend just had one installed on his new mini JCW coupe
its Xpel Ultimate. I install it. But I will tell you the self healing top coat is only half a mil thick. so anything that goes through that will permanantly scratch the film. I used the same brass wire brush they did in the video and had much different results. The scratches did not fully heal.... only the really really light scratches. You can take heat to Ventureshield Ultra and it will heal fine scratches too.
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      02-26-2012, 12:15 AM   #19
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Open a chinese food take out
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      03-03-2012, 04:49 AM   #20
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That video cracked me up.

I think you should let 1000 mice loose in the parking garage and the cats will be occupied
and not have time to sleep on the hood.

Or....

Stop driving the car so it's cold and they won't want to sleep on the hood.

I kid

I have two cats so they don't bug me as pets but the last place I lived at, the neighborhood cats would pee all over the front door and on my wheels - so I feel your pain. Mothballs and all of the remedies never worked for me.

I ended up sticking an old sony dv camera (the ones with night vision) in my car so I could see what was happening overnight. A friend then built a shield that he attached to an Arduino that would emit a high pitch ultrasonic sound that would irritate the cat.

While cool in theory, it kind of worked, but it drove my neighbors dogs ape shit as a side effect so it wasn't a great solution. I ended up moving (not because of the cats) so we never played with the Arduino solution further and he ended up using it for something else.

One thing that would be beneficial is seeing exactly what the cats are doing, once you know that - you could start planning a decent solution. We toyed with using the arduino to trigger predatory sound efx (dog growls and such) through a speaker but never built it.

OP it sucks you've got to deal with this and it's going to be a tough problem to solve, even if you went the inhumane route and tried to 'end' the cats, another would just take its place.

Good Luck Man
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