Basement Cat sprays fire

IronWing

No Lifer
Jul 20, 2001
72,821
33,836
136
Impy is such a sweetheart.
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This morning we heard a loud buzzing noise coming from the far end of the house. On the way to investigate we could smell electrical smoke. What we found was a burnt outlet and a puddle of cat piss. Impy decided that it would be fun to hose the outlet this morning. There is a perfectly good litter box a couple feet away but that wouldn't do (yes, the litter box was clean). As my wife went to clean up the puddle, the outlet arced again sending flames shooting a foot out of the wall. Fortunately it is a cinder block wall. We checked Impy over and found singed hair on his tail but that seems to be the extent of harm. The current didn't get to him but the fire did. With the heat damage to the outlet we'll have to get an electrician to look at the wiring to see if there is any damage to the house wiring. I'm guessing we'll be out ~$300. You can't have anything nice when you have pets.
 

blackdogdeek

Lifer
Mar 14, 2003
14,453
10
81
I'm sure this is somehow related to his (and all cats') plans to take over the world.

You know I'm right.
 

SamQuint

Golden Member
Dec 6, 2010
1,155
45
91
odd, cats usually squat when they pee so not sure how it could send a stream of piss up the wall to an electrical outlet.:confused:

Is it a male cat? Maybe it was spraying not peeing?
 

Linflas

Lifer
Jan 30, 2001
15,395
78
91

I should take some pics of the damage our coonhound pup (actually she turned 1 today so I guess she is no longer a pup) is capable of doing.

IMAG0153.jpg


Like this mess she did today. I guess once the treats were gone from the Kongs they weren't as tasty as the plastic junk.
 
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Azraele

Elite Member
Nov 5, 2000
16,524
29
91
If it's an un-neutered male, get him neutered. That should help with spraying. If he's fixed, inappropriate elimination is often a sign of a urinary tract infection, which is an emergency in male cats. Get him to a vet.
 

jwhorfin

Senior member
Aug 13, 2005
231
13
81
Same issue here. It's a black cat thing I think. Minnie is 7 and a clone of Impy. Once a month or so he decides to pull up and piss somewhere out of the box. Luckily we have tile. Before Minnie we had Mush for 16 years...he had same issue. Little bastards!
We also have Sami. He's a Tux and he has a perfect track record. We keep 3 boxes at opposite ends of the house. We like to keep a black around for good luck and because they are such weirdos :)
 

Platypus

Lifer
Apr 26, 2001
31,046
321
136
I should take some pics of the damage our coonhound pup (actually she turned 1 today so I guess she is no longer a pup) is capable of doing.

you can easily train a dog not to do that, none of my cat owner friends have ever had luck training a cat to do anything other than what it wants.
 

Linflas

Lifer
Jan 30, 2001
15,395
78
91
you can easily train a dog not to do that, none of my cat owner friends have ever had luck training a cat to do anything other than what it wants.

Actually cats are just as trainable as dogs in the hands of a trainer that understands the differences motivating them.
 

MongGrel

Lifer
Dec 3, 2013
38,466
3,067
121
Miss my old Black Norwegian Forest cat, we still have these two 16 lbers planning global domination.

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IronWing

No Lifer
Jul 20, 2001
72,821
33,836
136
Two hundred dollars later...

outlets.jpg


The arcing burnt off the connection between the outlet and the house wiring.


Impy1.jpg
 

Ken g6

Programming Moderator, Elite Member
Moderator
Dec 11, 1999
16,694
4,657
75
LOL, they installed a water proof outlet.
I was gonna suggest an arc fault interrupter at the breaker...but that works too. Better, probably.