Anyone here have cats in their shop??  My wife wants to get two for our shop and I was wondering about pros and cons.

 

Can't speak from experience with a shop cat but had a house cat for a while. It kept the creepy things away that the wife can't stand big pro. First and biggest negative to a cat is litter box and it accessories and contents. . . Need I say more?

My wood shop has a cat door. I occasionally find that they have used the pile of sawdust under my table saw as a litter box.

I find our 5 house cats fairly useless for mice. They kill them, but they also like to catch mice outside and bring them inside to play with. They they promptly let them escape in the house to have something to play with when it's raining out, I guess.

I have much better luck in my shop with bar bait/poison.

I think. Part of it for my wife is so she has something to play with when we are in the shop and I am working on something.

We have a bunch of cats and one in particular is my shop cat.  As soon as I'm in the shop he is in the window wanting in.  The only down side is that he often thinks that I'm only in the shop to pay attention to him.  However, once he has had enough attention or I convince him that he isn't going to get any or any more he will settle down and just hang out with me.  He is not bothered by the sound of loud power tools.

On the whole I like the company.  I sometimes talk to him and explain what I'm doing or comment on how things are going.

I'm not sure how good an idea it would be if you are thinking of having cats which just live in the shop.  It gets too cold in Kearney for that.

Also, I have had cats who think the coal box is a big litter box with funny black litter.

Felinely,

George M. 

 

Another thought, they seem fairly safe around heat sources, but they scare the heck out of me around running tools (or tools that are still slowing to a stop as you walk away) They love to grab moving things and stick their paws in machines. I remember an article in some woodworking magazine about a guy who's cat lost a paw in his jointer..

I don't let mine in the shop at all, it stays in the main part of the house and that's it. But mine is a strictly indoor animal, so that choice may not be available to you.

The upside is that cats leaving their sent around discourages mice from moving in. Bait was a twice yearly ritual, first hot weather and first cold weather the critters moved in, three outside cats with access to the crawl space, no more mice. Most shop cats get along just fine. My dad worked for Arizona public service. The human society came in and rounded up all the welding shop cats. One had gotten sick, and the welding supe took it in to the vet. Not only was it old and sick, it (and all the others) was blind. Don't watch the welders, kiddies

george i'm not worried about the cold, the shop is heated by wood and well insulated.  i am more worried about what charles talkes about and that is harm to the cats without knowing you are harming them, not only weilding but sparks and metal filings.  but it would be nice for the company.  they do have two sides to the shop.  

My orange tabby tomcat would rather drink out of the slacktub than his water bowl.  He has the shop "well marked".

Po's "I like cats"

Con's " I can't eat a whole one"

Ours is a indoor cat also.. The outside city feral cats do a decent job on keeping the place rodent free. I've never seen a cat get i the way much at any shop.

My Dad lives in Ga and has a shop armadillo. Told me a few years ago on a visit " don't kill the one with silver spray paint" 

He and the critter had it out when it 1st moved in, seems the only thing the ole man was armed with was a rattle can of silver paint..

He has been feeding it dollar store cat food for a few years now. LOL

And yes he is aware that they can transmit leprosy.

Rich.

 

it would appear winter has arrived

Well would you prefer cats or rattlesnakes?  Where there's food there's something to eat it!

IMHO, cats are nice to have in a shop that rodents can get into. But I do not recommend leaving any of that oil dry stuff laying around for any length of time or unsealed because they will use it, even if its on a spill.

Edited February 26, 201511 yr by norrin_radd

We always kept 2-3 barn cats in the cow barn growing up, nice and warm for them never fed fed them only milk twice a day.  When we switched from cows to Horses the cats moved with us and were content but we had to take food down to them then.  Had a number of cats over the years and at the end of the horses 6 yrs ago the day the last horse left there was only on big Grey Fixed Male left.  When I closed up the barn, turned out the lights for the last time and walked up to the house he was waiting on the back deck, I spoke to him and asked him what he had in mind as I opened the door in he went and Never went back outside just retired behind the kitchen stove, takes care of the mice in the house and has caught a number of Bats.  The bat catching landed him a place with my wife.  He knew right off what the litter box was for.  He's still in the house although has moved to the living room with the pellets stove in the winter.  We figure he is most likely 10 now and we are planning on moving again soon and I guess he's going along on our next adventure. 

 

My workshop is attached to the house (though I forge outside), and my cats have a Pavlovian response to me even turning the light on in my workshop - they immediately scatter to the farthest corner AWAY from the shop.  They don't care for all the noise.  Otherwise, when I'm not working back there or I'm working quietly, they love being in the space, they always come to "inspect" whatever I was making all that noise on.  The workshop also has two very large windows they love to lounge in and try to breach the Invisible Barrier to snag a bird.  

it will be an adventure that is for sure.  i have already made some stepping shelfs for them to move to the higher parts of the shop. they go up the wall to a high shelf for a good look out spot.

There is the old saying about Cats.  They don't have owners they have STAFF.

Which reminds me of a joke:

How are farriers like cats?

 

They don't come when you call,

and they don't come out in the rain.

Picking up the little critters at 1 pm today.  Will post pics if they come out of their crate when we get them to the shop

I had a shop cat once but when I got my first timber wolf they had a talk & the cat move on LOL

now the wolfs play with the mice & rats they throw them up in the air a say run away please ??

short play time mostly -- & most important thing NO!! one come around here without the wolfs knowing  about it & lets me know to most folks ask is that a wolf yep best guard ever !!! 

Why on Earth would anyone burden themselves with a stinking cat ?

 

 

 

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Why on Earth would anyone burden themselves with a stinking cat ?

 

 

 

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That's a good question, why would people do a lot of things they do? Why in the world would a person even try to take up a profession that included heavy, dangerous potentially unhealthy hard physical work when they could get a college degree and work at a nice safe desk instead?

There's just no accounting for taste eh? Or as my Grandmother used to say, "To each his own said the old lady as she kissed the cow." I loved my maternal Grandmother, she was a pistol.

Frosty The Lucky.

Edited February 28, 201511 yr by Frosty

Well sure, ... cows are cool, ... and taste great.

But cats just make you sneeze. 

 

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Nothing's fun if it makes you sneeze.

Frosty The Lucky.