A Question for Cat Owners

[jdm2857]

Has anyone found their hose has become an impromptu cat toy, especially when it is hanging from a hose management system?

Right now I keep my hose tucked between the headboard and mattress when not in use to keep it away from little paws. Do you think this is necesary?

I would appreciate hearing about your experiences before I risk coming home to a shredded hose.

[BleepingBeauty]

Has anyone found their hose has become an impromptu cat toy, especially when it is hanging from a hose management system?

Right now I keep my hose tucked between the headboard and mattress when not in use to keep it away from little paws. Do you think this is necesary?

I would appreciate hearing about your experiences before I risk coming home to a shredded hose.

Well, anyone who knows cats knows that virtually ANYthing can be a kitty toy. I haven't had trouble with my cats showing "toy" interest in any of my xPAP equipment, but they're older (both nearing 10 years of age). One of them does seem to enjoy sticking his face in the airstream from the exhaust port on my mask, for some reason.

If your cat is unusually curious about your hose, I'd do two things: Make the hose as inaccessible as possible (as you're already doing), and keep another on-hand as an emergency backup. All it takes is one pinhole from one claw to ruin a perfectly good hose. You might also consider getting kitty some new actual cat toys to keep his or her interest focused on something more appropriate than your hose.

Good luck!

[jdm2857]

I have three of them, and they show no interest in actual cat toys unless it's something that I'm flailing about.

I should get my hands on a spare hose, or at least some good duct tape.

[2ndGenCPAPgal]

I'm kind of surprised that I haven't had this problem w/ any of my 4 cats.

However, I enforced the "not a toy" rule from the moment it came out of the bag the first time. I have also kept "their" squirt bottle near the hose and close at hand any time I am moving the hose. It seems to be working so far...but we'll see what happens once in a couple months.

[Julie]

I've also been surprised at their leaving it more or less alone - sometimes I'm sure they understand its importance! However, one trick might be to wrap the whole thing in duct tape, which is sticky, and therefore undesirable once they've had a go at it, plus it also gives you a better look at where possible pinpricks might be.

[katcw]

Has anyone found their hose has become an impromptu cat toy, especially when it is hanging from a hose management system?

Right now I keep my hose tucked between the headboard and mattress when not in use to keep it away from little paws. Do you think this is necesary?

I would appreciate hearing about your experiences before I risk coming home to a shredded hose.

During the day, I hang my hose from the shower head stem where they cannot reach it. Would that work for you?

[Hawthorne]

My 2 cats are not at all interested in my cpap equipment. They do not like it at all and do not go near it. Of course they are older cats (they are both 11) but I have been using cpap for 7 years now and they have stayed away from it since day 1. They don't come near me when I am wearing it either. There is something about it that they do not like at all.

I do have a spare hose though. One never knows!

[BlackSpinner]

mine doesn't play with it but she has taken to sleeping beside my head , on the hose, since I got the cpap machine. I gues I won't need a hose warmer in the winter. Only if I move around too much will she move to the foot end where she used to sleep.

[gasparama]

The kitty issue has come up before in this forum. Without doing a search, I can't be sure, but it seems that people have encountered cat damage to their hoses. Fortunately, my cat ignores mine. You are doing the right thing, IMO, of hiding it from your pet. Duct tape is great for hose repair. I caused a hole in my hose and found that the tape worked well until a new hose arrived.

[BeanMeScot]

Both of my cats are fairly young (4 and 5). They have left the hose alone (I don't use a hose hanger though) but one cat has gotten ahold of 3 of my nasal pillows for my Swift LT. He didn't bite through them but now I can tell them apart by the bite patterns on them .

[FatiguedMe]

My Cat is 7 and she LOVES the air stream! Gets in my face when I go to bed, she doesn't stay long but just enough to sniff it! LOL Also, recently I had an enormous Vibratory Snore index, come to find out she was sleeping on my hose, so I feel pretty sure it picked up her snores and anything I did too! I have since been pushing her away from the hose area (I sleep with it beside me) she has now moved between me and hubbie. I don't allow her to knead the area where my hose is either.
I also think to cats ANYTHING can become a toy!

[BleepingBeauty]

If anyone's interested in cat toys that don't require human participation, check out this company's products: http://catdancer.com/products.htm

I have the Cat Dancer (Compleat), and it really does hold their interest, with or without my involvement. The Compleat version comes with a large "paw" with a sticky back that you can attach to the wall (or anywhere that suits you and your cat) which holds one end of the Cat Dancer. (I attached mine to the back of my walk-in closet door.)

The Dancer, itself, is a sturdy curved wire with a few pieces of densely rolled material (looks like paper) at the end of the wire. When the cats attempt to "get" the rolled paper pieces, the wire boings in every direction, making the cats go nuts. It's really fun to watch.

Otherwise, you can hold the end of the Dancer in your fingers and let the cats play with it that way. You can then control how it boings (i.e., you can make the action even crazier, if you want to). But when you're not around, it sits in the "paw" and the cats can play without you. I've given these to other cat people (as extra little Christmas gifts for the furballs in their lives), and they all report similar success stories.

The company has a few other "play-alone" products, too.

[Tcamillemars]

I have 3 cats, and 2 of them haven't even noticed that there is equipment in the bedroom. Tobi, on the other hand, thinks it is hers. She puts her paw over the exhaust vent on the mask when I'm wearing it, and she has licked my nasal pillows on my Swift LT. (which I promptly disinfected- gross) She will bat at the hose and try to play with the velcro straps which attach it to the hose hanger. In the morning when she wants me to get up to feed her, she will start "attacking" the equipment because she knows I will instantly react. Before I started cpap therapy, her early morning trick was to jump up on the bedside table and take her little paw and send my glasses sailing onto the floor. I don't think she would actually destroy anything, but the potential is definitely there.

[elg5cats]

Has anyone found their hose has become an impromptu cat toy,I would appreciate hearing about your experiences before I risk coming home to a shredded hose.

Gotta love our Kats!!!!!! ROFLMAO...... I have a refrig magnet which states, "My Cats let me live here" another "Cats,housekeeper and staff live here." Don't they have a way of curiosity enticement of every aspect of our lives!!!!

I have two 17 year-old Himalayan cats. Both have chronic pancreatitis but are currently stable. Initially, they just watch from the other side of the king sized bed as I set up my APAP. With initial uses, Blue Angel would come up and sniff at the mask as if trying to see where I might be hiding. After a couple of months, I would wake up with her sitting on my chest or shoulder peering at me. Recently she has advanced to nudging my mask, pawing at my hose if she thinks I'm not waking up fast enough. This sweet little kitty has lost most of her teeth to vet. dentistry. She has no canine teeth on one side and more molars missing than I can count. Yet, a few weeks ago when I ignored her desperate efforts to wake me, she successfully bite at the hose. There is a tooth indention that does not completely pierce the hose. I didn't think she had enough teeth with necessary alignment left to damage the hose, so I was ignoring her nipping attempts at the mask/hose to wake me up!!!! Oops!!!! I plan to get another hose soon to have should I get a leak. My cats don't pay any attention to the hose or equipment otherwise. In 2003 when I first tried CPAP treatment, the machine, hose NOISE, etc frightened my cats away..at that time I concurred with the cats, the CPAP wasn't conducive to sleep and life. I'm just glad the kats now endorse my ResMed Quite dry equipment over my previous noisy, leaky, suffocating equipment, it makes life best. I sometimes question if Blue Angel is aware apnea events. I've noticed some of the times when she is awaking me, I have had an apnea at the time she is persistently attempting to wake me. As you can likely see, my cats are equal to my equipment. I'll just get an extra hose and if there is an occassional bite leak, I'll replace the hose. She is 17, I won't have my sweetheart much longer, A rare hose bite is tolerable. Sleep is intolerable without cats.

elg5cats

[timbalionguy]

So far, my (little) cats have left the hose alone, although one morning, one cat stood on the hose, and I moved, pulling the hose off the mask at a special joint designed to come apart of too much strain is put on the hose. (Part of the hybrid FFM.) One of my cats has tried to take the mask off, so he can attempt to stick his paws in my mouth (yuck! Plus he uses his claws when he is attempting this). I am wondering if the felt cover on the hose is making them disinterested in it. I, too keep a set of spare hoses (I use 2 hoses put together), as the hoses will fail sooner or later, especially the ultraflexible hose.

I keep a huge, floppy plush lion on my bed that I will throw over myself if the one cat (named 'Freeway', because that is where he was rescued) is trying the 'paws in the mouth' thing.

For hose repair, consider using Scotch 33+ electrical tape. This is a premium grade electrical tape that is thinner then most tapes. It will conform very nicely to the hose, and stick well. You can get this at any decently stocked hardware store, or an electrical supply house.