Cat-scratch-car-experiment.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=2916991182448

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=2915638988644

A photo of claw of Rocket taken shortly after the video clip. http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/5742/clawofrocket.jpg

http://www.flippyscatpage.com/carpaint.html

The quick answer is that car duco - if its in half decent condition - is extremely hard (its baked for at least half an hour at over 300º since it has to withstand road gravel hitting it etc). And cats claws are the same hardness as our fingernails. So unless you can scratch off the paint with your fingernail, there is *no way* a cat can scratch the *paint* of the surface of a car that's in a fairly good condition. (Paint does weather though and if its in a really bad state, it can be scratched, but if its that bad it should be a funny colour of white and be in the junk yard).

However, if the car has been *waxed*, the cat's claws (and your fingernails) can remove some of the wax, leaving what looks likes scratches in the paint, but are in fact just places where the surface of the wax has been removed. But then again a cat just walking across a car doesn't *use* claws, so the only way that the cat could scratch the car is if it was trying to somehow get traction on the surface, by either falling off or (dare I say) running for its life.
The worst a cat can do to in normal circumstances is leave cute little muddy cat prints - annoying but not inherently damaging.
This article is Copyright © Victoria Chapman, BSc, Paint Technologist

Cats can't scratch cars!

Cats can't scratch cars!

Sep 22, '10 5:01 AM for everyone

Dawn fell off the fridge yesterday. My fault, because I disturbed her by opened the freezer door. She got up and placed her back paw where the door was supposed to be... lost her balance and started sliding down back first and desperately trying to cling to the top of the fridge with her front paws. Her claws are long and sharp.. not trimmed!

Out of curiosity I checked the fridge... not a single scratch in the smooth and shiny surface! So don't tell me cats can scratch cars!

By the way, Dawn is fine. I managed to slow her slide a little by pressing my body against her... could probably have grabbed her by the front paws but that might have injured her as she is a heavyweight!

Cars and Cats

Car Owner to Town Council: "I want you to pay for the damages caused by these twigs and branches!"
Town Council to Car Owner: " You siow and gila har! You park in public area at your own risk wat!"

Car Owner to Town Council: "I want you to remove these bloody cats in case they scratch my brand new 40-grand car!"
Town Council to Car Owner: "Okie dokie, no problem. Will give some work to the cleaning supervisor who is also a pest controller!"

Electronic Cat Deterrents

http://www.cat-repellant.info/html/ultrasonic-deterrents.htm

The "CatScram" This device uses a 9-volt alkaline battery or is adaptable to 9-volt adapter operation . It uses minimal power and indicates when the battery is low. The CatScram will guard a 6-foot range on the floor or flat surfaces and up to a 15-foot range or more when elevated or tilted The Contech "CatStop" The CatStop has a detection range up to 20 feet and will protect an area up to 330 square feet. The unit can be expected to operate for up to nine months on one standard 9 volt battery (based upon 4900 activations spread over 245 days at an average of 20 per day) The Lentek "Yard Contro+" This system uses ultrasonic and audible sounds combined with a startling, pulsating strobe light to deter animals from entering the coverage area. The Lentek "Yard Contro+" features a weatherproof design & easy operation. It is activated by motion within a 360°, 30 ft. radius and operates on four “D” batteries The Weitech "0051" The 0051 Yard and Garden Protector uses multiple frequencies. This means that you can customize the settings to repel specific common yard pests. A built-in motion detector activates the unit when the unwanted pest enters the protected area. The unit is easy to surface or pole mount with the included mounting brackets. The Model 0051 is powered by 4 "D" cell batteries.

Cats can't scratch an Ipad

http://www.flippyscatpage.com/carpaint.html

Cats and Car-Paint

The quick answer is that car duco - if its in half decent condition - is extremely hard (its baked for at least half an hour at over 300º since it has to withstand road gravel hitting it etc). And cats claws are the same hardness as our fingernails. So unless you can scratch off the paint with your fingernail, there is *no way* a cat can scratch the *paint* of the surface of a car that's in a fairly good condition. (Paint does weather though and if its in a really bad state, it can be scratched, but if its that bad it should be a funny colour of white and be in the junk yard).

However, if the car has been *waxed*, the cat's claws (and your fingernails) can remove some of the wax, leaving what looks likes scratches in the paint, but are in fact just places where the surface of the wax has been removed. But then again a cat just walking across a car doesn't *use* claws, so the only way that the cat could scratch the car is if it was trying to somehow get traction on the surface, by either falling off or (dare I say) running for its life.

The worst a cat can do to in normal circumstances is leave cute little muddy cat prints - annoying but not inherently damaging.

This article is Copyright © Victoria Chapman, BSc, Paint Technologist,
and printed with permission of the author.

Tom-King and a Merc

This car belongs to a elderly Chinese gentleman in his 70s. Every morning even before the sun brightens the sky, he and his wife will be cleaning the car, in and out, keeping it in mint condition. On a few occasions, he was upset when his car was vandalised with horizontal scratches on the side and he would send the car to the workshop for spray painting.

Yet, surprisingly, he was ok with cats sleeping on his car. There used to be two cats in the car park but now there is only one left, a neutered male named Tom-King. This morning, he said that he saw Tom-King curled up on top of the boot of the car on a few nights. He said the cat fitted nicely on it.

I hope it is really Tom-King and not a "new" cat as I have always seen him sleeping under cars and hence he often has dirty "sooty" coat.

However Tom-King was meowing around the Merc this morning and this man said, in Hokkien, "si zhi chia ngeow." ("it is this cat").

There is not a single flaw on the top of the boot of the Merc where Tom-King has slept.

Cats and Car-Paint

The quick answer is that car duco - if its in half decent condition - is extremely hard (its baked for at least half an hour at over 300º since it has to withstand road gravel hitting it etc). And cats claws are the same hardness as our fingernails. So unless you can scratch off the paint with your fingernail, there is *no way* a cat can scratch the *paint* of the surface of a car that's in a fairly good condition. (Paint does weather though and if its in a really bad state, it can be scratched, but if its that bad it should be a funny colour of white and be in the junk yard).

However, if the car has been *waxed*, the cat's claws (and your fingernails) can remove some of the wax, leaving what looks likes scratches in the paint, but are in fact just places where the surface of the wax has been removed. But then again a cat just walking across a car doesn't *use* claws, so the only way that the cat could scratch the car is if it was trying to somehow get traction on the surface, by either falling off or (dare I say) running for its life.

The worst a cat can do to in normal circumstances is leave cute little muddy cat prints - annoying but not inherently damaging.

This article is Copyright © Victoria Chapman, BSc, Paint Technologist,

Cats are not a traffic hazard

The Electric New Paper :

Cats are not a traffic hazard

SEVERAL cat carers who are involved with the community cats in Jalan Pemimpin have sent e-mail messages expressing their distress with the coverage of the traffic situation along this road (‘Cars along Jalan Pemimpin swerve dangerously to dodge cats’, The New Paper on Sunday, 20 Jul).

27 July 2008

SEVERAL cat carers who are involved with the community cats in Jalan Pemimpin have sent e-mail messages expressing their distress with the coverage of the traffic situation along this road (’Cars along Jalan Pemimpin swerve dangerously to dodge cats’, The New Paper on Sunday, 20 Jul). I thought the coverage of the benefits of sterilisation programmes in which cats are neutered and then returned to their community was good (however, it was negated by the ‘catch-a-cat’ programme mentioned by the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority). At any rate, no one should be going so quickly down any street that they cannot keep a proper lookout and react to whatever comes into their path. It could be a cat or a child or an old person or someone who has tripped over something in the pathway or a bicyclist. Cats are not a traffic hazard. Inattentive drivers are. And while no one can predict what they can do in any given situation, we must adopt a defensive attitude. Don’t think ‘if’ – think ‘when’. Joanna Hughes

Bird poo on a car

Join Facebook's Appeal to Car Owners NOT to KILL Cats over Alleged Scratches

Will car owners ask the town council to "cull" these kids?

Irritating youngsters with irritating habit of lying on top of others' cars

STOMPer Arvin came across photos of some youngsters on the Internet, who apparently had made a habit of lying on people's cars and posting their photos online.

Arvin said in his email:

"I came this blog particular blog while I was doing my blogshopping for clothes.

"These very irritating youngsters were lying down on someone's car, thinking that it belongs to them.

"It was stated on the photos: 'LOLS, let's see those inconsiderate people. - rong yu and ben...lying down on ppl's car, as if it's their father one. LOL.'

"It was obviously someone else's car, I hope someone will take action on them, as they might hurt themselves or damage someone's property."

CLICK FOR LARGER IMAGE:

Ridiculous claim by Mr Lee Chiu San, "(cats') claw sharpening on the rubber surrounds of windscreens"

The Electric New Paper :

CALL FOR TOWN COUNCIL TO CULL CATS
Ease ban on cats in HDB flats instead
10 June 2009

IN HIS letter, 'Why kill a cat over scratches on car?' (The New Paper, 6 Jun), Dr Tan Chek Wee trivialised a woman's demands for the town council to cull cats that could scratch her car.

Dr Tan said 'the car has no feelings' and belittled the fears of the proud owner of the expensive new vehicle.

Cats and cars are not always compatible, though I love both.

I fully understand why the woman rejected the offer of a free car cover from the Cat Welfare Society.

I speak from experience in saying that while cats make only superficial scratches on paintwork, their claw sharpening on the rubber surrounds of windscreens can cause damage costing several hundred dollars.

If those claws go through the fabric top of a European convertible, the bill can run into five figures.

To protect one of our cars from our own cats, my wife has to cover it every time after use. This job is tough.

To prevent car covers from sticking to paintwork, you have to wait for the engine to cool. To avoid the accumulation of sand that causes scratches, covers should not touch the ground. Handling these unwieldy expanses of fabric is best done by two people, with space to walk round the vehicle. Covers also require laundering, and space to be hung to dry.

We go through this trouble only because we are retired, love cats and seldom use that car.

Can you imagine someone indifferent towards cats, whose car is used daily, wanting to do this?

Dr Tan concluded by saying that the solution is obvious for reconciling people's love for their possessions with understanding that cats are living beings too.

Practical solution

Rather than pondering the vague abstractions of anti-materialism, forgiveness and respect for life, Singaporeans should try to achieve one practical solution towards these ideals.

Persuade the HDB to repeal the archaic rule banning the keeping of cats in its flats.

Easing the ban will immediately resolve many conflicts.

Those claiming to love cats will then have to accept the responsibility of keeping them at home. This will confine the problems of food messes, urination, defecation and damage to property within their own premises.

The National Environment Agency, Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority and town council staff will have far fewer complaints to attend to.

More cat lovers should let the HDB know their feelings now.

FROM READER LEE CHIU SAN







Cousin of Mr Tan Tuan Khoon - the notorious "Seletar Serial Cat Culler"

Why kill a cat over scratches on car?

AsiaOne


Why kill a cat over scratches on car?

Worried about possible scratches from the few cats in the carpark, a new car owner complained for the removal of the cats.

Mon, Jun 08, 2009
AsiaOne

ONE of the common conflicts between humans and cats in an increasingly dense urban setting arises from our increasing attachment to material things.

The more expensive the item, the stronger the attachment. The stronger the attachment, the more intense is emotional suffering from losing them.

A highly educated woman, who recently acquired a brand new car that cost "40 grand" was so worried about possible scratches from the few cats in the carpark that she complained to the Cat Welfare Society and the town council for the removal of the cats.

As far as the town council is concerned, that means activating the pest controllers for the cats to be killed at the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA).

Rejecting an offer of a free car cover from the Cat Welfare Society, the woman threatened to claim damages against the town council if she could capture the video footage of feline "culprits" with a camera installed in the car.

She said that even cats should not escape being punished.

Paint on a car is manufactured to withstand the tremendous force of the gravel missiles as it speeds along the road, otherwise every car will be pitted all over as it speeds along the highway!

A paint technologist on this website (www.flippyscatpage.com/carpaint.html) wrote: "The worst a cat can do to in normal circumstances is leave cute little muddy cat prints - annoying but not inherently damaging."

High ground

Cats, by nature, like to rest on "safe" high ground or seek the warmth radiating through the car bonnet.

Being animals, cats don't know that it is "wrong" to do so.

A friend of mine, who grew up in the US, told me that when her brother drove home a brand new car, her father "christened" it with some scratches.

The father had the wisdom to save his son from "future sufferings" from inevitable scratches and dents.

The car has no feelings, no matter how badly scratched it is, but it is we human beings who feel the pain because we define our happiness in terms of material possessions.

Attachment, and not the cats, is the cause of our anger and therefore our wish to take revenge on the cats by wanting them killed.

The solution is obvious but has eluded many of us.

Reader Dr Tan Chek Wee

"If [man] is not to stifle his human feelings, he must practice kindness towards animals, for he who is cruel to animals becomes hard also in his dealings with men. We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals."
--Immanuel Kant (German philosopher).

"Our worth is determined by the good deeds we do, rather than by the fine emotions we feel."
-- Elias L, Magoon

"How can we speak of right and justice if we take an innocent creature and shed its blood".
- Richard Schwartz

Why kill a cat over scratches on car?

"Man...is a tame or civilized animal; never the less, he requires proper instruction and a fortunate nature, and then of all animals he becomes the most divine and most civilized; but if he be insufficiently or ill- educated he is the most savage of earthly creatures."
Plato























The Electric New Paper :
Why kill a cat over scratches on car?
07 June 2009

ONE of the common conflicts between humans and cats in an increasingly dense urban setting arises from our increasing attachment to material things.

The more expensive the item, the stronger the attachment. The stronger the attachment, the more intense is emotional suffering from losing them.

A highly educated woman, who recently acquired a brand new car that cost '40 grand' was so worried about possible scratches from the few cats in the carpark that she complained to the Cat Welfare Society and the town council for the removal of the cats.

As far as the town council is concerned, that means activating the pest controllers for the cats to be killed at the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA).

Rejecting an offer of a free car cover from the Cat Welfare Society, the woman threatened to claim damages against the town council if she could capture the video footage of feline 'culprits' with a camera installed in the car.

She said that even cats should not escape being punished.

Paint on a car is manufactured to withstand the tremendous force of the gravel missiles as it speeds along the road, otherwise every car will be pitted all over as it speeds along the highway!

A paint technologist on this website (www.flippyscatpage.com/carpaint.html) wrote: 'The worst a cat can do to in normal circumstances is leave cute little muddy cat prints - annoying but not inherently damaging.'

High ground

Cats, by nature, like to rest on 'safe' high ground or seek the warmth radiating through the car bonnet.

Being animals, cats don't know that it is 'wrong' to do so.

A friend of mine, who grew up in the US, told me that when her brother drove home a brand new car, her father 'christened' it with some scratches.

The father had the wisdom to save his son from 'future sufferings' from inevitable scratches and dents.

The car has no feelings, no matter how badly scratched it is, but it is we human beings who feel the pain because we define our happiness in terms of material possessions.

Attachment, and not the cats, is the cause of our anger and therefore our wish to take revenge on the cats by wanting them killed.

The solution is obvious but has eluded many of us.

READER DR TAN CHEK WEE

If car owners are so attached to their cars, get a car cover!

Stop killing the cats over alleged scratches!

Can car owners ask for the trees to be "culled"?

Fri, Apr 10, 2009
AsiaOne

Minutes after parking car, a tree fell on it

He had just parked his car and walked into Singapore Pools to place a soccer bet when a huge tree fell - onto his car.

The incident happened at about 6pm yesterday, near block 74 at Commonwealth Drive.

David Zhang, 50, a shopowner, told Shin Min Daily that he was in his shop when he heard a loud crack that sounded like thunder.

When he looked up, he saw a large tree in front of his shop crash and fall squarely on two cars parked under the tree. The trunk had split near the middle.

According to David, the tree was about 40 years old and a few branches had fallen off in the past few days after heavy rain. Fortunately, no one was hurt.

One of the car owners, 53-year-old Mr Xu, said that he had just stepped out of the car to place a soccer bet. Before he could place his bet, he heard the crack, and saw the tree trunk fall and land on his car.

Shin Min reports that the bonnets on both cars were seriously dented, and their windshields were shattered.

Photo: A tree fell on two cars near Commonwealth Drive, Shin Min Daily

In addition, the tree was near a playground but fortunately no children were there when the tree fell.

Home › Blogs › litin's blog ›

Another Cat Claws vs Car Paint Issue

Submitted by litin on Sat, 02/28/2009 - 21:39

Replicated here, is an excerpt of an email that I have sent in response to a complainant.

"I have checked with a vet and our conclusion that cats are not able to make such deep scratches with their claws - which are actually the same hardness as human fingernails.

We have tried to scratch the paint off my own car but no mark could be made at all.

Here are 2 links on YouTube that shows that cat claws are unable to scratch car paint.
#1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omumunklRfA >>> showing a cat walking and then jumping off a silver car, leaving no marks
#2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqini0B7hIQ >>> showing a cat trying very hard to scratch a car windscreen but the claws just kept sliding off, but also left no marks. It also shows how a cat scratches (with straight and short strokes, in one direction usually).

This link http://www.flippyscatpage.com/carpaint.html >>> is also consistent with our views that, car paint has been baked and etc, so should be able to withstand gravel hitting the car during road driving (which happens at higher speed and G-forces at work).

The marks on your car paint are irregular and originate from different directions, 1 scratch at a time (a cat is unable to extend just 1 claw, unlike humans who can extend our individual fingers). The scratches are also too deep for the regular street cat which weighs under 5kg.

We sincerely concluded that the deep scratches on your car has been caused by a sharp metal object, like car keys or the like.

Lastly, parking our cars at a public HDB carpark means that it is down to "Park at your own risk", I am also exasperated for people opening their car doors and banging into my car, leaving dents.

Nevertheless, I would still like to offer you a car cover which may prevent future issues like this. If you are willing to accept the car cover, I am willing to meet you up.

Thank you for your great patience and understanding for this matter."

What else can I say? Of course, it is still POSSIBLE that cats might scratch your car, but it is highly unlikely, given the paint quality of cars nowadays. Now, that is a tricky issue.

Trackback URL for this post:

http://www.catwelfare.org/trackback/904

Cars and cats again

Thursday, November 02, 2006

Cars and cats again

This topic just keeps coming up over and over. I think one reason is really that in Singapore cars are just so overpriced. If you are overseas, and your brand new car costs $10,000, I think people are a lot less uptight. I know for example, an American friend of mine thinks it's really funny that Singaporeans get so uptight that their bumpers get scratched. He looked at me and said that bumpers were there to be bumped into so your CAR doesn't get damaged. And I am always taken aback with how people back into a space and bump the cars a little to make space for your car when parallel parking.

Here's the thing though - cars do cost a lot of money here and no one likes to see their cars scratched, but why do people always blame the cats? If you see a cat on your car, why do people immediately deduce the cat must be scratching their car? Most people with some knowledge of cats know for example, that cats don't scratch on smooth surfaces. Also, cats have retractable claws and their claws aren't strong enough to scrape off paint in general (just as your fingernails aren't able to). Now I know that this is something that most people with no knowledge of cats don't know, but it's worrying that people are asking for cats to be removed just because the cat is in the vicinity. So the cat who is on the car for a bit of warmth gets hauled off and killed because the owner of the car happens to have noticed a scratch on his or her car. Or maybe not even THAT cat - because it's not as if most people have any idea which cat it is. In fact it's not as if most people even see the cat cause the scratch. Short of sitting there with your eye trained on the car 24 hours a day how can you be sure it was the cat or any cat for that matter? So let's just grab ALL the cats in the carpark to be safe and kill them all, so that we don't have the sliver of a chance that a cat MIGHT be sitting on your car and hence POSSIBLY scratching your car.

But it doesn't work that way.

New cats move in due to the vacuum effect. The car owner is still unhappy. The caregivers get discouraged and wonder why they are trying to keep the population in check through sterilisation and often give up sterilising so in fact now there are more cats then ever before.

It doesn't mean if you're a car owner, there is no solution. Caregivers are always willing to work with you to solve the problem. The cat may be moved away from the area if we know which cat it is. I have bought car covers and given them to people even in cases where there was no proof it WAS the cat. If the car is covered, the cat cannot scratch it. But again, this is too difficult for some people to do, or they don't want people to think they're putting on airs. Either the car means a lot to you (in which case why be embarrassed about it?) so use the cover, or it doesn't because you can't be bothered to use the cover, in which case why are the scratches bothering you so much?

We live in a city. We drive with other cars on the road. There are BOUND to be scratches, scrapes and even dents or bang ups. Last year in an incident which I blogged about, I came back to see a car that had been really badly dented by a van driver who happily drove off even though I am fairly certain he knew what had happened (the police later called me up for my statement because I waited for the car owner to come back and told him what happened).

So what should we do? Ban vans? Ban every car on the road? Ban other drivers? Because that's the only way to ensure that a car is 'safe'.

At the end of the day, it's a car. The minute you drive it out of the showroom, it's already dropping rapidly in value. In a few years, it's just worth scrap metal, if you're lucky. Who are we preserving this car for by ensuring its in pristine condition? For the next owner after you? For the scrap metal yard? To show off to other people?

Things get old. Things get used and they're not shiny or pretty any more. But for a thing to be worth more than a life - that's just sad.

posted by Dawn @ 3:31 PM