PSA: Don't Leave Your Instrument Near an Angry Cat

[BassBoneWaluigi]

My cat hates the trombone, and he runs out of the room any time I pick it up. I made the mistake of falling asleep while the instrument was on the floor, and now there are about 50 little cat-sized scratches on the bell and slide. I think Jack was trying to kill my instrument

[OneTon]

I had a rat terrier that would accompany me as I played over the rainbow around a circle of fourths, but only in D and Eb. Obviously a diva. He never tried to play it, play with it, or took a nap in the case. Owning a cat can be hazardous to furnishings and instruments.

[harrisonreed]

The cat was probably trying to kill the cat it saw inside your instrument.

[Kingfan]

The cat was probably trying to kill the cat it saw inside your instrument.

More likely the one it heard!

[Mamaposaune]

We once had a ferret named Kira who LOVED the trombone, literally everything about it. She and I got off to a rough start because she had grown up in a pet shop and had not been socialized at all. She was quite wild, and I suffered numerous painful bites before she started to calm down.
I would let her loose when I was about to practice and she would run in circles, jump in the air, and try to grab onto the rubber bumper on the end of the slide. If I stopped and let her get hold, I could (carefully) lift her up in the air, dangling like a circus performer.
She would keep up the dancing the whole time I played.
If I set it down, she would excitedly sniff it all over and even try to climb in the bell.
One day the phone (landline) rang, I set my 42B down on the sofa and came back 5-10 minutes later to find it lying on the carpeted floor with Kira dancing around it, obviously very proud of herself. The only damage was her tell-tale teethmarks on the lower corkbarrel, it must have taken all her strength to drag it off the sofa. Of course I was glad it did not land on top of her.
I loved that ferret, and still think of her often. One regret that I have is not ordering my new bass trombone a few days earlier. She passed away peacefully one day before it arrived. I'll never know which one of us would have been more excited, but we definitely would have celebrated together.

[timbone]

I was in a band with a tenor sax player who's rabbit slept in the case. Pellets and hair everywhere and he didn't care. When it was time to load up after a gig, we would take turns on who would load his sax- no one wanted to touch it. Later that year he decided to go from Orlando to Miami to celebrate and put his wife and seven kids in a chevette!

[JohnL]

Later that year he decided to go from Orlando to Miami to celebrate and put his wife and seven kids in a chevette!

Yikes. That's a whole bunch of humans in tiny little car. A really crappy tiny little car.