Pets & expensive equipment

Just how bad an idea is this? If you have high end equipment set up or lying around ?

 

Animals shed and CHEW.

Good luck.

 

It's better to have a happy cat than a shinny rack.

 

Fish are fine.

 

My rabid wolverine Mr. Chompers is a constant problem.
.

 

My conure (parrot) has landed on my tone arm twice. Both times the LP and cartridge were ruined.

 

2 dogs, 2 cats, never had any issues.

 

Several cats and no problems. However turntable is protected at all times when I’m not present! I had custom covers made for my B&W 804’s but when I replaced them with the 803’s I never did. So far no problems.

 

We've always had 2 or 3 dogs, never an issue.

 

My wife and I have always had one or two rescue cats, and for thirty years they were absolutely no problem-- showing not the least interest in anything audio. Last year we adopted a bonded pair and they are hellions. The grill cloths in the LR are shredded, and I have to keep the door to my study/man cave closed at all times as they both view any surface as a stepping stone to the next highest surface. Fortunately the turntable has a plexi dust cover. Once in a while when I'm listening in study, the big one will kick her way in and roll around on the rug, eyeing the rack and speakers, eventually curling up on the guest chair for the duration. Still, I keep the dustcover down during these rare visits and try to anticipate her actions.

Vigilance is my watchword. But it's worth it for cute kitties and awesome tunes.

 

One of my cats once jumped on a record as it was spinning. The record received only a slight scratch. The cartridge seemed fine. But I nearly had a heart attack.

That was the day I learned to use my dust cover during playback.

 

Its why I own a Rega with dust cover. And I use it.

 

I'm fortunate enough to have a dedicated listening room. The cats and dog are allowed in there while I'm in there, and they do behave nicely. But it's very nice to be able to close the door at the end of a session and know that everything is safe.

 

My cat is completely deaf....she has a klaxonic voice. I can hear her above Hendrix.

 

I got a kitten last year and her favorite thing to do was climb up my Magnepan 3.6's. Fortunately the only damage was cosmetic, and I was able to buy new socks from Magnepan. Now that she's a young adult her craziness has died down a lot. Still, I'm going to wait another year before I replace the fabric. I got custom covers for my new Heresy III's before I even unboxed them. I love my cats. They've never gone near the turntable which has a dust cover.

 

I have a device that senses cat movements near my rack and emits a painful high pitched noise only cats and dogs can hear and they quickly do an about face away from that rack. 9v battery powered doodad called Cataway or some such thing.

 

I have a little schnoodle dog that moved in recently. I can't think of a more gear-friendly furry friend. She is completely oblivious to the gear and hardly sheds at all. Nor does she climb on furniture or go into chew mode when home alone. I especially like that she chases cats off my porch.

 

Warning, your dog is not a trustworthy second-opinion when it comes to turntable sibilance, so don't make buying decisions based on their indifference to Pink Floyd records. And I had a dog that made me go through three different DACs, before I realized he was just enamored with the taste of the interconects. To his credit, he also howled when I turned the Sirius/XM on in the car, and he was right...FLAC on a thumb drive is the only way to go!

 

My havanese is not shedding type, so I am good with that. I was afraid that he would chew on my "not really audiophile but still expensive" cables, but he expressed zero interest in those. He never touched speakers as well.
The only issue arises when records have animal and sounds, he go nuts on Pink Floyd "Seamus" and some parts of Aphrodite Child 666.
He also believes that I am wasting my time listening and not playing with him, so now and then he insists I stop the music and play (run) with him for 10 minutes.
Bad for music listening, good for my health.

 

I have a Mastiff, a Bullmastiff, a Labrador and 2 mutt cats, and I dust my equipment off at least once a week. Every now and again a slinger of drool ends up on a piece of equipment and I use a damp rag to get it off. When a 190lb Mastiff shakes her head, run!!!

 

Not only that, but mine are trained to stand guard to keep the little human rug rats at bay.

 

Loads of people have pets with their hifi. I figured if I can train my dog stay off the couch and bed, it wouldn't be an issue to teach him to give the system some space. It hasn't ever been an issue. Sweeping and vacuuming needs to be pretty constant though. That's probably the biggest downside.

Also, this is fun: #dogswithhifi hashtag on Instagram • Photos and Videos

 

My Focal 1027be speakers have these goofy magnetic covers over their expensive-ass beryllium tweeters. Cat kept knocking them off and finally poked a hole in one of the tweeters.
$1K to replace.
Cat is still alive.
Wish I’d known about the Cataway product the previous poster mentioned.

 

Never had a problem with my cats and my stereo. Lots of my friends also have pets and I never heard them complaining of any issues.