Cat in the attic?????

Rocker

Last week Mrs Rocker and I came home to hear cat sounds in our house.  We checked each room but found nothing.  Still the sounds went on, it was hard to pinpoint their source, the only location could be in the attic.  As soon as I opened the attic trap door, the sounds stopped.  I went up and looked around but nothing.  I thought I heard a bird chirping now and then but no sign of anything.  Back in the kitchen and shortly after closing the trap door, it started again.  By this time I had removed the batteries from the smoke alarms, having heard in the past that they make bird sounds when the battery is running low.

Nothing for it but up into the attic again.  And again the cat sounds stopped when the trap door was opened.  This time I switched off the attic lights to check if light from outside was visible, thus showing where an animal could enter.  Nothing, but as earlier, the occasional bird chirping sound was heard.  The attic was very cold, exactly what Mike Holmes would describe as a 'cold zone'.  I decided to unplug the ultrasonic rodent deterrents [they don't work and are a waste of money], but only one was switched on.

Back in the kitchen again and this time there were no cat sounds.  I plugged the ultrasonic devices into mains sockets to test them, the one that was in use in the attic soon started to chirp - bird like - while the unused one remained silent.  Both are now in the recycling bin.

Probable cause is that the working ultrasonic device developed a fault and produced cat like sounds due to the extreme cold in the attic.  And opening the trap door let some heat into the attic, heat that caused the device to change pitch to bird like chirps.  As for the smoke alarms both are replaced with new units as they were long past their expected life [around 10 years].

What a day!  Anyone had a similar experience?

ICBM

Isn't the whole point of a rodent deterrent that it sounds like a cat?



I hope you didn't put the old smoke alarms in the bin - the reason they have a life span is because the detector uses a small radioactive source, which decays over time. They need to be properly recycled - or at least disposed of somewhere that takes hazardous waste.

EricTheWeary

...what am I gonna do, woah oh oh...

Rocker

Good point @ICBM about disposal of old smoke alarms.  Point noted.  About the ultrasonic waste of money devices, I understand that they produce pulses of very high frequency sound that is supposed to disorientate rodents.  And force them to move to somewhere else, some place without those annoying devices.  I do not think that cats make sounds that go that high.  Still it is fascinating to think that both Mrs Rocker and myself were convinced there was a cat in the house, then later a cat in the attic.....

ArchtopDave

My smoke alarm decided it was time to die today. There was a sudden clatter as it dropped off the ceiling and hit the floor.

FelineGuitars

My cat Tigger made a whole hours entertainment for himself tossing a not yet dead mouse about the yard earlier today.

Sassafras

So you've left the cat up there to die?

Guitar_Slinger

Catin the attic?????

Sounds like David Attenborough's latest series of wildlife programmes, where pets are filmed around the house in HD.  The trailer for next week's programme was on last night, "Tarantula on TV."

There are probably others, but I haven't thought of them yet.

Guitar_Slinger

Noel's Mouse Party.

Guitar_Slinger

The Great British Snake Off.

Guitar_Slinger

Dogglebox.

MattNovak

Ewe've Been Framed

RandallFlagg

Can we just paws with the cat innuendos?

spark240

Moggy, Moggy Moggy...Oi Oi Oi !

Chalky

RandallFlagg said:

Can we just paws with the cat innuendos?

Tabby, or not tabby, that is the question!

richardhomer

When I saw the thread title, I assumed it was a new UB40 single....

Guitar_Slinger

I could do a whole sub-thread on one type of fish alone!

Cash in the Haddock

Some Mother's Do Haddock

The Dukes of Haddock

Guitar_Slinger

Puss Abbott's Madhouse.

Chalky

Guitar_Slinger said:

I could do a whole sub-thread on one type of fish alone!

Cash in the Haddock

Some Mother's Do Haddock

The Dukes of Haddock

Did you carefully prepare those or were they just 'hadd ock' ideas?

axisus

Have you considered a CAT scan?

Guitar_Slinger

Not original at all, just re-posted the result after typing something into a perch engine.