Pets vs. LEGO

[vynsane]

So, we have four cats (yeah, I know, it's nuts), the youngest of which is still a kitten that we found abandoned on our neighbor's side-yard mere days old - umbilicus still attached, even.

The three older cats will, every so often, jump up and knock stuff over by mistake which can usually be easily fixed, but the kitten has been systematically attacking my minifigures and stealing their hair - particularly the rubberized pieces like the anime hair or the 'skull twins' helmets, and sometimes tearing them up to mashed-up bunches of rubber only recognizable by the color and which figure might have gone bald over-night.

Basically, I just wanted to know if anyone else has pets that terrorize their LEGO people, in order to commiserate.

[legitimatealex]

When I was younger my cat loved to chew the plant pieces, since they had softer plastic. The only thing you can do is to keep them away from your LEGO.

[ncbarrett]

put them behind glass/plastic,
or install a forcefield.

[hatcher]

My cat once peed on a box of pieces I had sorted out to make a MOC. My wife (who's cat it is) somehow was able to rationalize this as being my fault ("You must have made the cat mad at you" or "You didn't clean the cat box well enough"). Whatever.

Seriously, the cat could try to take over the world and my wife would excuse its behaviour. :)

Regardless, I now have to keep all my lego behind a closed door to keep the cat away from it.

[Mantisking]

I've got two cats and, while they might knock over pieces by accident, they've never maliciously attacked any of my Lego pieces.

[ncbarrett]

I've got two cats and, while they might knock over pieces by accident, they've never maliciously attacked any of my Lego pieces.

That you know of. :twisted:

[Opus]

We used to have a cat that liked to explore high shelves at night. We lost a couple of crystal vases before we learned to move everything off the top shelves - nothing like being awakened in the middle of the night to the sound of glass shattering! I did find the occasional Lego model in pieces on the floor too. In my mind, this always happened after my wife and I had an argument, but that may just be my imagination.

The cat never did chew on them, though, like our new puppy does. So far we've lost 4 Mars astronauts, 2 power miners rock monsters and 2 space policemen. Darn puppy love to chew on the minifigs for some reason. I try to be vigilant for minifigs on the floor but my 7-year old son is not so careful.

[ncbarrett]

...So far we've lost 4 Mars astronauts, 2 power miners rock monsters and 2 space policemen...

May we have a moment of silence for the fallen minifigures....



...

[legitimatealex]

...

Silence noted. Really the only thing you can do to keep the pets away is to put them in some sort of box or high up on an unreachable shelf or in some sort of bin. I don't have any pets at the moment (although I totally would if my living arrangement allowed it), but all of my LEGO are kept in plastic drawers and bins regardless.

[dr_spock]

My cat would find a Lego piece in the middle of the night. Put it in his mouth and meow in ecstasy all night... Until I get up and take it away from him.

[Opus]

That cats got issues, dr_spock...

[dr_spock]

That cats got issues, dr_spock...

He's a strange one. He won't hunt mice in the house. But I'll take meowing over peeing in a Lego tub of 1000 bricks which his sister did.

[koromo]

The cats in the house were not an issue regarding legos, even younger siblings were not part of the fray. No my friends the Arch villian in regards to legos was the dreaded vacuum cleaner :twisted: (or hoover if you perfer).

[dr_spock]

The cats in the house were not an issue regarding legos, even younger siblings were not part of the fray. No my friends the Arch villian in regards to legos was the dreaded vacuum cleaner :twisted: (or hoover if you perfer).

I do all the vacuuming at my house so every Lego brick is safe and saved. No brick will suffer a sucky fate with my Hoover. :)

[koromo]

The cats in the house were not an issue regarding legos, even younger siblings were not part of the fray. No my friends the Arch villian in regards to legos was the dreaded vacuum cleaner :twisted: (or hoover if you perfer).

I do all the vacuuming at my house so every Lego brick is safe and saved. No brick will suffer a sucky fate with my Hoover. :)

Well when you are 5 your parents are the usual operator of the vacuum. Lets just say I had rescued a few (not all) parts several times from the vacuum bags. Legos have a particular jingle when they get hit by the beater brushes then the tubing.

[legohunter]

Kill them :twisted: and you could stay out of trouble

[possum]

My wife's dog is 14 (thousand!) yrs old, but my cat is almost 3. I had the assembled Neptune Carrier on the floor for a couple weeks and he would sniff it & bat at the missiles on occasion. I got the Death Star for christmas though, & he's been a little more interested. The more I build the more he seems to try to get on the kitchen table with it. I've got all but the last layer on now & he keeps poking around the superlaser in particular. I guess the trans neon green bricks do it for him, as there is a lot of that on the Neptune as well. He's not declawed or anything, but he doesn't take any frustrations out on any of my Lego by claw or tooth. Curious yes, but not destructive.

[Mantisking]

I was sorting Lego on top of a blanket on the couch this afternoon. My male cat came and sat on the, admittedly small, pile.

[Luciant]

I've got two cats and, while they might knock over pieces by accident, they've never maliciously attacked any of my Lego pieces.

That you know of. :twisted:

Exactly... while the people are away.... the cats will play.... cat's are BERRY BERRY SNEAKY.

[Luciant]

My wife's dog is 14 (thousand!) yrs old, but my cat is almost 3. I had the assembled Neptune He's not declawed or anything, but he doesn't take any frustrations out on any of my Lego by claw or tooth. Curious yes, but not destructive.

Not YET. You know what they say about curiosity and cats...

I personally think cat's have some kind of repressed desire to be able to get back at humans, and this is the way they vent it.

Oh, and easy way to fix the Lego Vacuum problem: Get a Vacuum that the contents go into a cycling container that you dump regularly (so you can sift through if one happens to get caught).