aaaaaah! Mousetraps!

thh20

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First off, let me assure you all that I ever do for/with my pets is *always* done with their best interests in mind. We got tired of always have to look over our shoulder to see if our 5 month old kitten was counter surfing or jumping up on things she shouldn't, so I finally decided to get some mousetraps and "boobietrap" certain areas that she wasn't supposed to be. After snapping myself several times (OW!!), I set some traps, put some thick towels over them (last thing I want is to catch her toes in those things) and waited. Before long, I hear several loud SNAPS! as well as the sound of a cat hitting the ground running, tail puffed up like she just stuck her nail in an electrical outlet. Success! I reset the traps a few times, and she's behaving like an angel now!
 

yayi

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Personally, I would never think of using anything that will potentially hurt my cats.
 

emb_78

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I have to agree with the others! I wouldn't have done it that way!
 

pushylady

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I read that in a cat book once as an idea to keep your cats off things, so I bought a couple traps. After catching my fingers in one and realizing how easily set off they are, I decided against using them.
But hey, if it's working safely for you, then fair enough.
 

girlieq

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A coworker did that, because his cats kept walking on his baby grand, and the oil on their paw pads erodes the finish on the piano. He put a couple around the edges, and the cats learned where they were, and jumped up in different places.

The he bought more and put them all around the edges, and the cats learned to jump into the middle.

Then he bought some to put randomly in the middle, and the cats learned where they were.

Then he decided to just keep the top open.

I couldn't use mouse traps, because the areas that the cats aren't allowed happen to be my most high-traffic areas, my desk top and my counter top. I don't know what I'm going to do, maybe rub the desk with bitter apple, but I don't think I'll use mouse traps, I'm not steady enough to set them, and I hate the sound they make when they snap.
 

AbbysMom

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I have to agree with the others, I wouldn't do this either. Have you tired double stick tape? It works with a lot of cats.
 

mirinae

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I have a hard enough time dealing with the mice I find in the traps we've had to use in the past. Since I've seen the mess traps make of other (admittedly much smaller) creatures, I'd be far too afraid of hurting my cats to try something like that! (And, to be perfectly honest, I doubt Spike would learn from it anyway. He just doesn't retain information well.) As for Oz, he doesn't jump up on things; heck, the couch is almost too much work for him, the lazy beast!
 

gareth

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Sorry, I have to agree with the majority here, seems like a disaster waiting to happen. Can you imagine if you broke one of their legs, so delicate in a kitten anyway.
 

gardenandcats

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I also would never ever think of using a mouse trap. My gosh what happened if kitty did get caught in the trap.
 
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