How do you protect your Dolls from pets?

I have two cats a girl and a boy. My older cat she could care less about my dolls. If it was just her I could have them all over the house and it would not matter. But my boy? He's a 4 footed Siamese wrecking crew and he cannot be trusted with them, period. No amount of training has totally tamed that cat and likely never will. I've been working on him, and I do mean WORKING, for almost two years now. He's very high energy, very nosy, very stubborn, which I am told is typical of a lot of Siamese cats. He has a hundred legal cat toys around, no kidding, but still thinks anything and everything in my house is a potential toy for him. I never had to put away my dolls until he came along. A lot of my dolls they're in plastic storage bins now. I can only take them out when I put him away for a while.

My BJD's are in yoga mat bags that I've bought for them with padded blankets to protect them. Again, if I want to play with them he goes into the bathroom for a while. That's his "time out" room. He has a bed, box and toys in there. But there's no way around it sometimes. I have to keep the dolls away from him and not take them out unless he's tucked in there. I'm working on getting a couple of display cabinets but so far I've not seen anything I really like. The ones I see they're all mostly the same type of country cabinet in cherry or oak and I just cannot stand those. We used to have locking glass cube displays where I used to work. You could make the display space as big as you liked just by linking cubes however. I really would love a wall of those for my dolls but they're rather expensive to get and I'm not flush enough just now. One day though...

 

That hasn't been an issue for me in a long time, but I recently bought a large display case that would pretty much solve the issue. Flea markets are great places to get things like that, or moving sales since those are one of the last things people want to take with them. And due to spacial constraints, it's much taller than it is wide, so it's got 4 shelves. Works great for my dolls and I can still see them! Worth the investment if you can do it. I think I ended up spending 60 bucks on mine.

 

You might want to try Apple Bitter Spray as well. Give a light spray on anything you do not want the cat to chew on. It's super bitter, and acts as a deterrent.

 

Spray bottle on your nightstand might be a good idea. Honestly, this really shows me how lucky I am to live with cats who generally stay out of trouble. I mean, they have an odd fascination for grocery bags, but they're really well behaved compared to this sad story. I'm honestly more disappointed in your roommate than their cat. They should try to do something about the problem. In any case, your room is your domain. Take the kittens in with you when you go to bed and let the chewer scratch at the door.

 

When I lived with my parents, they had two goofy, playful dogs. If your door was not closed, they would bump open the door to see what you were doing and try to run away with something you had on the floor (I've had fur wigs run out of the room before XD). They never harmed anything, but I kept all of my dolls and accessories in boxes and my door shut when I was not in my room because the larger dog could easily reach up and paw or grab things off of my shelves if she wanted to. She is just really curious so I didn't want to entice her. If I wanted to play with my dolls, I would put the dogs outside for a bit or shut my door. Now that I'm on my own and without pets for the time being, I have dolls and accessories sitting out wherever. I know when I get dogs in the future I can't be as lax. I would put everything away when you're not able to supervise just to be safe.

 

I have a cat, and I keep my bedroom door closed at all times. I only let my cat in if I'm also there to mind her (and usually have to kick her out pretty quick, she tries to crawl over my precarious electronics and knocks them over in the process).

Most of my dolls I keep in my work/computer room. If I'm not in the room, I always close the door. My cat loves to be in the same room as me, but if she misbehaves, she has to leave, I'm very strict about that, ha ha. For a while, she never bothered with my dolls stuff, but then one day she discovered a wig I left on the shelf. She took it and chewed it up very badly ;_; Since then she keeps jumping up on my doll shelf to look for wigs to steal. I have to maintain constant vigilance ^^; She might behave for a while, but then I leave my room unattended for a minute and she's up on the shelf when I get back. I had another cat who needed a similar amount of vigilance, though he never bothered my dolls.

I do use a heater to keep my rooms warm in the winter. Maybe you could use a heater if your room gets cold while you're in it, and just close the door to keep the cat out?

 

I am fortunate enough to have my own room upstairs for my collection. My cats are not allowed upstairs and if they do make their way upstairs my room is always closed when I'm not in it, so there is not much risk that they will destroy anything. When I still lived with my mom my cats did come in my room and one of them chew up one of my anime figures. A closed glass cabinet can help to avoid damage to your collection.

That being said, I think it's very irresponsible of your roommate that she decides to bring a pet into your home, but not take responsibility for its actions and make sure that the cat gets the attention it needs! From what I read, she definitely doesn't seem fit to be a cat owner. Poor cat. I would definitely talk to her about it. Good luck!

 

First of all, I'm sorry you have to go through this because your roommate can't take responsibility for her cat. I used to have a roommate like that when I was in college. Her dogs would pee in every corner of the apartment because she didn't take them out regularly. It was a nightmare to come home to a big mess almost every day.

As for the cat problem, I would have a spray bottle filled with water nearby. One thing cats hate the most is water and that's how I taught mine not to chew my plants. Every time the cat comes close to your dolls, just spray a warning shot. I found out even the sound water makes is enough for my cat to give up whatever she is doing and run away. Soon enough, they associate water with that particular action and stop doing it. And I would really recommend putting your dolls somewhere the cat can't access when you're not home. Thankfully my cat is indifferent to my dolls so I just display them on my dresser. She sometimes jumps on there and just sits with them but never knocks down anything so I let her.

 

I'd be tempted to sneakily ''disappear'' the cat and give it to someone who can actually give it the attention and care it needs. If the cat is damaging your property, the roommate should take financial responsibility for the damages. I'd keep the cat locked out of my room for sure! Also, maybe getting some toys and playing with the cat until she is all tuckered out might make her less prone towards messing with your dolls. Good luck to you and your dolls!

 

My dog could care less about them, but she does sniff them. She was actually first terrified of them as a pup. Now, she just looks at them like, "Oh, it's the attention stealers again." The only one she barks at is my oldest (my chiwoo) and this is a habit I cannot seem to break of hers. She will growl at the sight of him, which consequently gives other people the creeps. If I set him in my lap though, she's fine.

Mine have always been in boxes and animals don't interact with them. However, she sheds like crazy, and no matter my cleaning, the hair gets everywhere. This includes on my dolls. So, it's more of a hair issue for me. That- and apparently she feels like my oldest is possessed.

In regard to the cat... Boxes are your friend and isolating them ( closed door) may be your best response when having them out.

 

My kitten is curious but well behaved ^^ But just to be sure, and to protect the dolls from dust they go in the box when not being admired xD. I know it's a shame to put them away (display case prevents hiding them) but it is probably best for you and the cat!
Good luck

 

I only have a small dog, and she's trained not to bother things that aren't hers. She does occasionally have a bad day and mess up, but usually, she doesn't bother anything, even if no one is home. However, since resin is both toxic and expensive, the dolls stay in a spare room with the door shut if I'm not right there with them. The worst she's ever done to my dolls is chew on a fur wig once, and lick a doll's face, which I stopped immediately by telling her NO. Usually, she either ignores them or cuddles them.

As for cats, being pretty different than dogs, I have a little experience there too. There's an office cat at work who never gets told no by anyone. (Or they tell him no, then give in...) I have a pretty slow job during winter, so I'm allowed to bring crafts to work on at my desk, and sometimes I take the dolls. He's jumped on my desk, but never been fast enough to get to the dolls....I run him off, and kick him out. I think he's learned now that bothering my stuff doesn't get him attention, it gets him kicked out of my office with zero attention. If he wants my attention, he has to behave.

 

For the most part, I leave my doll on a night stand where the sunlight can't reach her and my dog leaves her alone. If I have my doll on the bed with me, the dog will usually stay on the floor or lay on the opposite side of the bed. I trained my dog to know the difference between my toys (which, at the time, referred to stuffed animals, but now refers to just items in general since all of her things are squeak toys) and hers when she was still a puppy almost ten years ago, so she usually doesn't mess with my things.
If all else fails, making a disrupting noise (a short yell, or saying ah-ah in a firm tone of voice) might help keep your pet from getting to close or destructive. The sudden noise will distract your pet from whatever they are doing because they weren't expecting it. It helps to train them with commands like leave it or drop it.

 

Perhaps can you close you room door ?
or I'm agree with Espurr : she can locked the cat in her room

My dolls are on sleves and my two cats do not go on it.
I think that they would like too but from now my dolls are safe
but I close my office door for the night

My little cat stay often with me when I take care of my doll : she stole sometimes a wig or a shoes
but as I'm watching her all the time
she don't have time to damage anything

 

A simple blanket covering all the dolls when you sleep or are not in the room should go a long way.

 

We have 3 house rabbits. .... yes you did read that right ... 3 house rabbits
all my girls live in two big glass cabinets.

 

Sadly, my situation, I just can't have pets. While I would love to have a dog or a cat, I live in a studio so I can't just keep my dolls in a different room. When I took care of a dog for a little while, I couldn't have anything nice out. I couldn't have my dolls around or display my kimono and all of my imported furniture got chewed up. OTL So my solution is to not have them at all.