[kerrysuz]

This morning I woke up to the smell of gas. We recently renovated our kitchen and moved our stove, apparently to a place that the cats enjoy jumping on. One of them turned on the gas some time last night. We had never considered this something we had to worry about, but just last week in the neighboring town, a house literally exploded when the cats turned on the propane (we have natural gas). Anyway, we have since taken off all the nobs, but are wondering what you all would recommend for keeping them off the stove.

My thought was that if we keep pots on the front burners at all times (not necessarily what I want to look at, but better than being blown to smithereens), the cats won't jump on the stove. And, of course, keeping the nobs off the stove is good, too. Any other ideas? Anyone else had this scary experience?

 

[faile]

eesh, scary. i freaked when my kitty started trying to get on the stove, as mine has pilot lights and kitty has an extremely bushy tail. thankfully, he just didn't try very hard and got bored.

maybe try coating the top of the stove in bitter apple? do they jump from the floor or from a counter? if they can jump to near the back maybe pots wont work. if the jump from the floor then pots is probably a good idea. put the handles so they block the space between burners.

 

[jonsgirl]

Bitter apple spray worked for me to keep Stix out of the Christmas tree! He never even wanted to sit under it after that. As for the gas situation, thank goodness no one was hurt. I think taking off the knobs was a good idea for now, I hope you find something that works.

 

[Seitcorta]

We have a nick name for our black cat, Lumber Jack.

Christmas trees are espeically vonurable to his "Hummm, I wonder what that glittery thing is at the very top" probes.

Haven't had the cat acrossed the stove yet, we have an understanding. They stay off of the counters, and I let them stay in the house.

 

[Piddles]

Could you place some strips of double sided sticky tape here and there for a while on the stove to discourage them? They will get the hint after a few jumps there and get their paws 'stuck'
I have also heard that aluminum foil discourages some kitties - however mine like to mess with is so that never worked here *sigh*

Good luck whatever you try! That must have been very scary :shock:
I shudder to think what the outcome might have been!

 

[drjean]

cats trying to kill?

Double-sided tape is a terrific idea and should work well. A little messy for cooking, perhaps...just replace it often.

You can get covers for the burners at places like Target, but not sure that would do the trick for the knobs.

There is also a product newly available in the US (has been around Canada for quite some time) called "Ssscat." It has an electric eye; when the cat breaks the beam, it makes a noise and squirts a puff of air at them. Really effective from what I hear. http://www.ssscat.com/ Not cheap, but definitely less than replacing a house!

Cheers,
Dr. Jean