# Worst thing your pet has done to your house/possessions **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 29, 2013, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-thing-your-pet-has-done-to-your-house-possessions/672586 "2013-10-29T20:02:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-thing-your-pet-has-done-to-your-house-possessions/672586/21 "2013-10-30T00:46:32Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > \ > The weiner-dogs took to shittiing on the carpet I laid outside in the dirt around the kid’s pool this summer. Mad dickish move. A million acres to drop a deuce, and they pick the piece of carpet in the yard. We have only four little area rugs on two entire floors of house, and I’m not sure my cats have vomited on the non-carpeted floor once. My theory is that they don’t like the splatter when they puke on the laminate. > [@Waxwinged](#): > > … Last weekend, one of my cats distracted me, which resulted in a totaled car. (Both cats and I were unharmed, except for a few bruises and a hell of a shock). Does that count? > > Edit: This is the same cat that ruined my folks’ $1000 leather couch, and got cancer a few years back, which cost $500 to remove. You drive with your cats?!? My cat has the potential to do a lot of damage to a house - she used to really enjoy scratching the door jambs in our old house. She seems to have mostly given that up in our new house, but she can go outside in our cat-proofed back yard here and scratch her heart out on the fence. Which she does. [The scratchy, barfy little varmint as she is sleeping right next to me.](http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s142/featherlou/Family/SAM_2853_zps429ad4ba.jpg) 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-thing-your-pet-has-done-to-your-house-possessions/672586/22 "2013-10-30T01:00:09Z")
My dear departed kitty, Sir Galahad, peed all over the living room floor once, soaking more than half of the vinyl albums I had stacked there. I didn’t notice immediately, which meant that the album covers mostly disintegrated and/or stuck to the albums, which were then unsalvageable. It was totally unlike him to do something like that, so I took him to the vet. I really felt guilty after that; apparently he had become quite diabetic without my noticing. After a few weeks of insulin and a switch to a low-carb diet, he was much better and never did anything like that again. Unfortunately, it was too late for most of my music collection. ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-thing-your-pet-has-done-to-your-house-possessions/672586/23 "2013-10-30T01:13:03Z")
What is it about sleeping cats? [This is Nimbus.](http://distilleryimage7.ak.instagram.com/319d0f38c18511e29c4c22000a9e0896_7.jpg) He likes to see what sound things make when he tap, tap, tap, taps them until they fall off the table or counter. Hasn’t broken anything yet. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-thing-your-pet-has-done-to-your-house-possessions/672586/24 "2013-10-30T01:30:12Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > For her first three years, my dog was a chewing machine. She didn’t eat an entire wooden chair, but it definitely wasn’t fixable when she was done. I’d have been more upset if it hadn’t been an old family chair that was only around because I couldn’t throw it out. My Dolly chewed on my parents’ wooden chairs too. The braces that hold the legs together are just the perfect height for a dog to lie down and quietly start gnawing. Mom was slightly upset but she eventually got a beautiful new dining room set, after Dolly had been broken of the habit, of course. The other day I found a rare pic of my best friend and I in marching band, and the corner was chewed off. Lucky for the dog, I could scan it and fix it and preserve it digitally. I don’t even remember her doing it (must have been years ago), but that’s probably my most important possession that she’s tried to ruin. ---
**Author:** ![Waxwinged](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c2a13f/32.png) [@Waxwinged](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waxwinged)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-thing-your-pet-has-done-to-your-house-possessions/672586/25 "2013-10-30T02:35:05Z")
> [@Zombie Whisperer](#): > > We have only four little area rugs on two entire floors of house, and I’m not sure my cats have vomited on the non-carpeted floor once. My theory is that they don’t like the splatter when they puke on the laminate. > > You drive with your cats?!? **Geneb** and I were moving across the state… Me with plants+3 cats in a car, him with a Uhaul. As to another comment (what the cat did to distract), she mostly got out of her (soft) carrier. ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-thing-your-pet-has-done-to-your-house-possessions/672586/26 "2013-10-30T02:41:29Z")
When my dog was young he completely chewed up and destroyed 2 or 3 pairs of eyeglasses because I would forget to put them out of his reach when I went to bed. ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-thing-your-pet-has-done-to-your-house-possessions/672586/27 "2013-10-30T02:44:49Z")
Our dog, Lady, ripped a large hole in the kitchen floor when she panicked in the new house, straight to the subfloor. My Black Lab, Ripley, ate a bunch of the Sheetrock out of the wall, I finally sprayed it with Tabasco and Cayenne. ---
**Author:** ![Lacunae\_Matata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lacunae\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lacunae_Matata)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-thing-your-pet-has-done-to-your-house-possessions/672586/28 "2013-10-30T02:58:41Z")
My friend’s German shepherd puppy chewed a hole in my back door. And the late lamented Mojo was a lovely, well-behaved dog, but occasionally got a wild hair and started chewing. IF he started gnawing, inevitably it was something that I found very, very valuable: my most comfortable bra, my really, really comfy attractive work shoes, ONE of my favorite boots. The worst, though, was a half-grown black lab puppy with terrible separation anxiety. Paulie was a wonderful companion, but absolutely couldn’t be left alone. Once, while I ran to the grocery store for an hour, I closed him in the kitchen. When I got home, the stove was turned over on it’s side. I learned my lesson, and the next time, I put him in the fenced back yard (after pre-emptively apologizing to my neighbors for the barking.) Paulie somehow managed to break the water main going into the house. After calling my cousin the plumber to come turn off the water from the street (naturally, it was a Sunday,) I started looking for a new home for my poor stupid puppy. I found some nice folks who wanted another dog to hang around their junkyard, and weren’t worried about destructive behavior… after all, it was already a junkyard, and there weren’t any neighbors to get annoyed by the barking. Until I moved, I’d stop by and visit, and Paulie outgrew his anxiety and became a wonderful companion/watchdog. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-thing-your-pet-has-done-to-your-house-possessions/672586/29 "2013-10-30T04:07:10Z")
> [@SeaDragonTattoo](#): > > What is it about sleeping cats? [This is Nimbus.](http://distilleryimage7.ak.instagram.com/319d0f38c18511e29c4c22000a9e0896_7.jpg) He likes to see what sound things make when he tap, tap, tap, taps them until they fall off the table or counter. Hasn’t broken anything yet. My cat sleeps in all kinds of weird positions, but never that one! We had a cat who liked to knock things off tables, too. She’d do one after the next - nudge, nudge, nudge - plonk. Then on to the next. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-thing-your-pet-has-done-to-your-house-possessions/672586/30 "2013-10-30T04:12:34Z")
We had a young cat the broke a piece of glass art. Literally our most expensive possession (inside the house). It wasn’t _entirely_ her fault, as she was being chased by our dog and jumped from the couch to the table to escape In some ways not as bad as peeing on the bed, but in other ways, much worse. $15,000, gone in an instant. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-thing-your-pet-has-done-to-your-house-possessions/672586/31 "2013-10-30T13:21:47Z")
I’ve mentioned this in a couple of other threads: One of my former cats, a 27-pounder, cracked open an audio cassette and ate the tape. For the following few days I had to keep snipping off pieces of tape with stuck-on turds. He would get extremely angry if I tried to pull it out before he was ready to let it go. ---
**Author:** ![Turpentine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Turpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turpentine)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-thing-your-pet-has-done-to-your-house-possessions/672586/32 "2013-10-30T14:16:16Z")
I’m really surprised that there are more people responding about cats than dogs. I didn’t know that cats were so destructive. My dog has a chewing problem and I like to collect weird things, which has resulted in some disasters. The worst was a dog that ate a piece of taxidermy that I had mounted myself. My dog was also found this morning chewing on one of my skulls- a dog skull, no less. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-thing-your-pet-has-done-to-your-house-possessions/672586/33 "2013-10-30T14:30:42Z")
Last xmas I had 3 bomber bottles of beer I was going to give as gifts. The three bottles cost around $30.00 a piece. One of our dogs wanted something near where I had placed the bottles, and knocked all three down onto the floor. All three broke. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@Silver\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Fire)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-thing-your-pet-has-done-to-your-house-possessions/672586/34 "2013-10-30T14:58:34Z")
I won’t keep pets (mostly because I can’t where I live) but I fostered a kitten I found earlier this year. He tore up my shower curtain pretty bad. My sister’s dog ate all of her wedding day keepsakes. Her bouquet, the ring bearer pillow, cake topper and serving set, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-thing-your-pet-has-done-to-your-house-possessions/672586/35 "2013-10-30T15:00:42Z")
When I had just gotten my cat, I took her to the vet like you’re supposed to, and the vet gave her a de-wormer “just in case”. She was still a little skittish in my house from being so new. The next day I accidentally startled her away from her litter box. Ten minutes later I found a tremendous pile of post-de-wormer cat crap on the fluffy white afghan at the foot of my bed. Gross. And that was the last time my cat has ever spoiled or destroyed anything of mine. She’s a good kitty. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-thing-your-pet-has-done-to-your-house-possessions/672586/36 "2013-10-30T15:24:59Z")
My ex-husband had a lot of vinyl albums. He stored them in wooden crates out in the garage. One day the cat got shut in the garage and spent his time sharpening his claws across the lovely corrugation of all those album spines. (Terrible, but obviously we weren’t storing them in an optimal place anyway!) My current cats have sharpened their claws on the wooden porch columns, the leather couch, and all the carpets. We repaired the porch columns and put some plastic corner protectors on. The couch wasn’t really to their liking, so it only has a few little pinholes. I’m still chasing them off the carpets. This [dog](http://www.flickr.com/photos/45215582@N06/10573176045/) sleeps with us, and has frequent accidents in the night. We have a waterproof cover on the mattress, but there’s nothing quite like waking up in a cold puddle of dog pee at 2 a.m. ---
**Author:** ![Swamp\_Adder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/977dab/32.png) [@Swamp\_Adder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swamp_Adder)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-thing-your-pet-has-done-to-your-house-possessions/672586/37 "2013-10-30T17:03:55Z")
My rats like to dig up the carpet. But reading this thread makes me glad I only have little pets that do little amounts of damage. ---
**Author:** ![Tethered\_Kite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@Tethered\_Kite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tethered_Kite)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-thing-your-pet-has-done-to-your-house-possessions/672586/38 "2013-10-30T17:07:28Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > We had a young cat the broke a piece of glass art. Literally our most expensive possession (inside the house). It wasn’t _entirely_ her fault, as she was being chased by our dog and jumped from the couch to the table to escape In some ways not as bad as peeing on the bed, but in other ways, much worse. $15,000, gone in an instant. They _know._ My mom had a beautiful pair of house slippers in pink satin with white fur. The day after she swatted her cat with a newspaper the cat did her duty on them. Cleaning out my closet I put all my sweaters out on the bed. Took a break. Came back. Was cat kneading on my cheap sweater? A medium-priced sweater? Noooo. Cat was delightedly kneading away on my cashmere sweater, the best one I own. ---
**Author:** ![\_oo\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/b19c9b/32.png) [@\_oo\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_oo_1)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-thing-your-pet-has-done-to-your-house-possessions/672586/39 "2013-10-30T17:08:12Z")
I ҨυøtƐ a hidƐøυs гƐsÞønsƐ from another member, му яєѕρσηѕє тσ нιм αη∂ ωσяѕє тнιηg mŶ ÞƐt hAs dønƐ tø my høυse øг ÞøssƐssiøns: [/QUOTE] GДΓФPΞSCДDФ;16801771 This is why no animals should be allowed in the house, except maybe fish or parakeets. We have an outdoor cat that got locked in the garage and shit in my car once. Revenge is a bitch, however! The weiner-dogs took to shittiing on the carpet I laid outside in the dirt around the kid’s pool this summer. Mad dickish move. A million acres to drop a deuce, and they pick the piece of carpet in the yard. [/QUOTE] First, having had two children and them being raised in a ‘responsibility driven home’ (“you help care for your pet you wanted” - small one!) fish, birds, hamsters, cats, dogs, and see a lack of training/character? ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-thing-your-pet-has-done-to-your-house-possessions/672586/40 "2013-10-30T17:48:00Z")
The worst thing with the current cat is when she pukes on a very high end rug in the formal dining room. It’s worth a hundred of her and she may have picked up on that. My old kitty though, Willie, once jumped up on the kitchen counter at my folks when we were there for Thanksgiving and proceeded to graze across all three of the woven, homemade bread loaves mom had made for dinner. Good thing for Willie he was adorable. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-thing-your-pet-has-done-to-your-house-possessions/672586.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-thing-your-pet-has-done-to-your-house-possessions/672586.md?page=3)