Guard your cats!

[teamster1975]

A spate of catalytic converter thefts in Surrey has led to warnings to drivers to make regular safety checks.

Right in my neck of the woods too

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/surrey/8075902.stm

[jasper5]

They'll nick anything these days

I'm surprised really, not too long ago, you could make nice money out of scrap cats, people used to come round and offer you £30-£50 for scrap ones, factors used to surcharge you £20 to make sure you returned the old one, then suddenly, nobody wanted them.

I have a cat to change on a Mazda MX5 this week.I'll check the market, maybe the price of scrap has increased.

[Welly]

We've had this in Market Harborough recently, they did 18 cars one night once and reckon on at least 35 cars in one 'spate'

It seems they move around the country and hit a load of cars then move on again.

[STALLED]

Wow - thats pretty desperate!

I'm assuming that they just work away with a hacksaw and cut it at both ends? There was a spate in Sydney with people stealing Xenon bulbs or the whole light unit from cars, but thats now long gone!

Just seems a hard way to earn a quick buck?

[Welly]

Apparently they use a small oxy-acetylene torch (quieter) so god knows what heat damage they do and they also snip the wires to the Lambda sensor(s) causing more headaches

The CAT's get sent to China for the precious metals to be recovered but yes dose seem a lot of trouble but I suppose it's worth it for some people.

I wonder if our insurance would pay out?.......

[mjb]

Urgh, talking of guarding cats... Turns out my new house is insanely well insulated. The heating's been off for over a month, but even at 4am it's ridiculously warm inside! The conservatory actually turns into a blast furnace in the afternoon as well! Unfortunately the pvc double glazed windows have a really smooth hinge mechanism so I can't open them just a little bit without the cats being able to push them open further and get out through them

I think I'm going to have to take a trip down to B&Q tonight to get some wood, chicken wire and velcro. I'm going to make a rectangular frame out of wood, staple the chicken wire to it then use self-adhesive velcro tape to secure the device to the pvc, praying that 1) the adhesive sticks and 2) the adhesive comes off cleanly at the end of the tenancy!

or has anyone else got a better idea?

[jasper5]

My windows have a horizontal slide with 2 sliders inside it allowing the window hinges to open with a "scissors" effect, if yours are similar, perhaps you could make up some kind of metal or wooden bar to click between the sliders to stop them moving.

[mjb]

Great idea! Probably going to be harder to do, but much safer, better looking and easier to remove.

[teamster1975]

Hey I'd forgotten you'd moved Matt, congratulations!

[ianst28]

our windows have a first opening kinda thing where you can open them just enough to let air through but they're still locked
it's difficult to find the point of no return but well worth the effort ......... air with no escaping hound

[mjb]

Hey I'd forgotten you'd moved Matt, congratulations!

Cheers. Given the weather, I *really* wish I'd managed to get the week off work to do my clutch

The house is pure win though.

Tried looking at Jasper's window limiting method and it's a no-go as at the beginning of the swing (where it needs to be constrained) is where there's very little movement along the tracks, so there's no way of getting material down there. Bah.

[munfred]

Not much in the 406 cats apparently though.

For your house cats how about mother care window limiters.
We have them and a fridge safe to stop it going in the fridge to nab food.

[mjb]

For your house cats how about mother care window limiters..

As in these?
http://www.mothercare.com/Mothercare-Wi ... 001B93GAU/

If I bought the house, sure, but I doubt the landlord would be too happy about having holes drilled all over his nice new windows!

our windows have a first opening kinda thing where you can open them just enough to let air through but they're still locked
it's difficult to find the point of no return but well worth the effort ......... air with no escaping hound

Ian you are a STAR! Mine have that too, which is great and could have saved me hours of sawing and hammering making my own cat blocker.

Rectangular wooden frame which fits over the windowframe, wire mesh over it, then stuck on using self-adhesive velcro. Quite proud of the job, but I wish I'd remembered what Ian said before I went to Homebase and spent money I don't have...

Still, on the plus side, I can have that window open fully now