Table Runners.
 

I'm going to make a table runner this week. Hopefully get it started today since my pinwheels and I are having issues with each other.

So here's my odd question. For those that use table runners and have cats. Do you find table runners not being worth the hassle because they turn into beds for kitties to lounge on?

All my cats are nerds and heaven forbid something be on my table that isn't for them to claim as their own. I do not use table cloths or table runners so this will be an experience I'm sure lol. My gut says that as soon as this is done and on my table it will stop being a cute Halloween decoration and become a comfy bed for my sun bathing fur monsters. Do I allow my love for my cats to take over or start kicking some furry behind when they try to sleep on it lol.

Well you can knock yourself out trying to keep them off but you know they will win that battle.:D

How many cats do you have? Can you block their access to the kitchen? I don't have any cats or dogs in my house so I'm no help. I do have a friend with two cats and she has had to build a barrier to one of her rooms to keep them from getting in and destroying her quilting.

Lol I know the battle is already lost.

All five of my cats are rescues. All but one I found as babies. I don't have the heart to ban them from much. Just the baby's room and my sewing tables while I'm using them. Usually my youngest boy sleeps under my table while I work and my middle female sleeps under my machine table while I work.

I know if they turn the table runner into their sleeping spot I will just end up washing it with my weekly laundry to keep the fur balls down lol. Or use my sticky thinger.

The good thing is the table I'm making it for is one they don't sleep on. They use the one with major sunlight access. This one doesn't allow for the sunbathing like my other one.

I am afraid you are right it just goes with the package.

Depends on the cat. The last two I had used the table top, with or without table cloth or runner. I think because the table was up against windows in the wall to look outside. The cat I have no does not use the table at all. She will sleep on the chairs but doesn't go on the table top. Now just you watch. Now that I have said this she will START using the table top. LOL! It's hard to keep cats off the table. When mine used it, I would just wipe it down with a bleach cleaning wipe. I didn't use table cloths, runners would just get washed. You can train them to stay off tables and counters. Google for ways to do that. But I found it is only effective if someone is home all day.

Put something on it, like small candlesticks or a decorative bowl. My cats stay away from new beds if something is on it. Otherwise, just live with it and use your lint roller every day.

My cats aren't allowed on the dining room table so that isn't a problem. End tables I haven't had cloth on them since we adopted the cats. They do like the linen cloths that were on those tables, but I expect that any cloth on the tables the cats get on would eventually end up on the floor.

I'm not worried if they do sleep on it. This is more a lol darn cats post.

Mine view anything on a table a free for all to shove off it. Thankfully they don't mess with counters. We have a flat top stove now so I trained them to stay off the counters and stove when we moved. I think since we rarely eat at our kitchen table they are just like whatever the humans don't use it so we will lol. But when we do use the table I always give it a wipe down with Clorox or Lysol wipes. Having a toddler those are a must in my house. Lol.

Keeping cats off the table is like keeping my daughter out of my scrap basket. Impossible lol. My daughter views the scrap basket as her personal free for all. Every night without fail I am doing a floor clean up from her dancing and throwing scraps in the air. Very cute to see.

Heck, just keep the "sticky thingy" handy. I do, and it seems like it's a lot easier to just run that over the table runner than have a useless conversation with the cats about staying off the table:D

It would negate the pleasure you have in looking at them but you could cover them up with something you don't mind having the cats lay on. I don't have cats but my dogs own me so it is what it is, that's my motto. I am not a perfect house person.

Spray bottle of water. When they lay on it, give them a little squirt. They will soon get the message, and all you will need to do is pick up the bottle and they will find someplace else to sleep.

Place something on it that if it happens to be pulled off will not break. I had puppies last 2 years and keeping climbing dogs off was a full time job. They tended to make the mat slide off the table then look so innocent.

That has been my solution since being a cat owner and it usually only takes 2-3spritzes for them to get the idea.....I have those purchased perches at a window in each room so there are enough places for lounging other than my tabletops, furniture.

Lots of luck. I think I make these things for them. After all,all the time I am sewing they are right there keeping me company. Its only natural that when its finished they think its theirs and have to try it out.
In other word---I have lost the battle.

ROFL...that says it all....

You can always wash the table topper when you are expecting company, otherwise, it will be an insult to the cat to forbid it get on the table when it had been doing it right along.

You can definitely train your cats to stay off. They shouldn't be up on your tables, anyway (how rude of them!) Just keep a squirt bottle of water handy and simultaneously squirt and say, "no, bad kitty!" or whatever works for you. I hiss at my cat. She gets the message. It's not true that you can't change cat behavior.

This question made me remember...and laugh.

Several years ago, my MIL was helping me to put a lovely cream colored table cloth that had cut-work and lace inserts onto my dining room table for either a Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner. First layer was the water-repellent sheet, then the "silence cloth"(dense fabric that is between felt and batting / it softens the edges of the table and protects fragile china and crystal.) Yep, I wad pulling out all the "good stuff" for this meal. Finally, we draped and arranged the table cloth. My MIL was ready to "dress the table" with the centerpiece, candles, etc.
"No, Mother. Not today."
"Why not?"
"Let's put this clean sheet over it all and in the morning you'll see why we didn't 'set the table' ."

Sure enough, the next morning when we went into the dining room, there were indentations from kitty paw prints and cat hair all over the sheet. My MIL just shook her head and laughed...and so did I...because I didn't have to wash and iron a tablecloth that would have become a cat lounge.

I got it made and it turned out awesome. If someone can tell me how to post pics via mobile settings I will gladly post a picture. I figured out I can not just link to my photobucket which is my go to for picture sharing on forums.

Oddly enough not one of my five furry hooligans bothered to even give the runner a courtesy sniff let alone lay on it. Even my old man cat hasn't bothered it and he always manages to find a soft spot to lay. Lol he's the first one to fur up a new blanket or heaven forbid sneaks into the clean clothes all stacked and folded.

Next will be a Christmas runner now that I know I can have them without clumps of fur everywhere. Lol

Google "10 minute table runner". Make one of those (just 10 mins.) with some fabric you already have and see how it works for ya.

Put a sheet of tinfoil where you don't want the cats. They don't like the crinkling sound when they step on it and will usually stay off.

Cats have a mind of their own. A cat owns you not you own them,

To me, that wouldn't matter if the cats want to rest on it or not. Just make them if you want a runner on the table and let the cats do what they will. IMHO

You can try the "TEN minute Table Topper" on you tube. Terrific!

I have 3 very large Pyrenees. They stop at my sewing room door. They are not permitted into my sewing room. The hair and all, you know? They are not allowed on furniture either.

I spray them with a water bottle. since they wade thru the litter box too many times a day, I don't like them on kitchen surfaces. I know they do it probably as soon as my head hits the pillow at night but I discourage when I am around. They do avoid it more and I sit the spray bottle on the table.

Brilliant!

my Himalayan sneaked on the table in Oregon at night to sleep. A table topper which would have served to isolate her from the eating area would have been a nice option., DH hated the cat hairs near his food. Me, i just washed the table clothe and changed them a couple of times a week. Here in St Mary's, my heat is radiant floor heat and she loves to sleep under the beds on the carpet.

My cat does not get on counters or tables. She will lay on the bed and the couch but that is it.

I consider myself lucky in a way as TJ never did get onto my kitchen/dining room table in our house. Now the table is so far from the window that she also doesn't bother it, although I now have my computer & monitor on the table, so it's a mute point I guess. She does, however, like to sleep with me now that DH and I have separate bedrooms, which we just began to use after moving from a 3-bedroom home to a 2 -bedroom apt. He is on disability and since I've been unable to find a job, having been laid off about the same time he became disabled, being together 24/7 I had to insist on separate bedrooms so I could have a place to "get away" and maintain some sanity. It helps that we each have our space and so does TJ.

Why not use a sheet of aluminum around the area until they figure out it's not their territory.

My daughter's well trained cat would NEVER do such a thing...my two, however, refuse to subject themselves to any boundaries. Battle lost here. Make it, use it, defer it