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Well it happened a week ago and I can now bring myself to let you know about it. My daughter was having a party in our 8 man tent - fine no probs with that and better they make a mess outside than in the house (14 girls aged 12 and 13).

3 hours before the guests arrive and the tent was up and porch on. Chairs in side. Just needed the decorations to go up. OH had left to pick up youngest from football. Eldest soooooooo exciteded. Then it happened.........................

One of our 2 cats launched herself onto the top of the tent to get under the gusset of the porch. Yes you guessed it, claw holes everywhere and a rip (albiet in a straight line, we do things neatly in our house!) that measured about 18 inches.Daughter crying, me shouting and threatening to get rid of cat, god what did the neighbours think!

OH came back and was speechless. Out came emergency clear tape just to get us through the afternoon which it did. The rip was under the porch gusset so was under cover when it rained and boy did it rain that afternoon.

Well the upshot is the cat is still with us but I refused to even look at her again for the rest of the week. The party went well and none even noticed the rip or holes (daughter was told to say nothing and I think she enjoyed herself that much she forgot).

We have repaired the rip using tenacious tape and seam sealent and the holes by tenacoius tape. Trouble is I don't think I would trust our repairs if it rains like it did last summer. We will still keep it as the kids could use it for a sleepover or party. We did consider taking it to a tent repair palce but thought it might be expensive as at least 2 panels were effected. So you guessed it, we are now looking for a 3rd tent. When will it end. We took up camping to save money but always have an urge to spend on camping equipment. OH is pleased about new tent although we are restricted as the porch which is only 3 weeks old was bought to fit the campus indiana so it looks like we will go with the ontario 8 or kansas 8.

Moral of the story....................don't let the cats out when you have the tent up on the back lawn. So when the new one arrives and we go out into the garden to put it up the cats will be under lock and key. It's been fun though visiting the camping shops for us adults but not so much for the kids and what started out as an inexpensive party at home has suddenly become expensive and I somehow wished we had hired a room. I still can't believe it happened though.

Helen

Shoot the thing!

Shame about the tent though, could always patch it and then seam seal it.

Otherwise ebay it, you'll be suprised I recon!

Check your contents insurance. Much to my astonishment, ours covers us for damage by pets, although I think if I'd claimed for everythign destroyed or damaged by number 1 dog during his puppyhood I would probably have been blacklisted by every insurance company in the UK.

Don't know if its covered but I wont be claiming on my house insurance as it will probably mean it will go up as I will loose my no claims and have to pay the excess so a new tent may work out cheaper in the long run. As I have said it will still be used just not for our main break away.

It was ok for the kids party and I didn't worry about them causing damage thats usually adults when they've been on the pop not teenagers on J2O!

My cats are rescue cats, our home is theirs so I won't be getting rid of them even if when it happen I said I would. Anyway any animal could cause damage.

   I can sympathise with you completely! When we didi a trial run in the garden with our shiny new tent the cats from around our neighborhood couldn't resisit it! they kept diving for the guy ropes and trying to spray all over it ! We were so scared one of them was going to rip it it took us all day just to put the tent up check it all over and then just take it straight back down again. I would have liked to have at least slept i it overnight just to see what it felt like(Wether it was cosy enough)  but we were so scared that it was going to be shredded.

Regarding our old(er) tent my daughter had her birthday party in it in March and I am absolutely gutted as her "friends" have torn one of the pvc  windows not a massive rip - aboout  5-10 cm long but it is now no longer waterproof- any ideas on how to repair this as its a great tent just for a weekend away,its not an expensive tent but it was our first tent and we love it  it was just not big enough to use for a week in our great British weather.

Apologies for hi-jacking your thread!

Regards

*Sparkle*

 Have a look here -

http://www.profabrics.co.uk/snap_product_search.php

For a permanent waterproof repair try the seam tape. The PU tape is transparent. I used the 3 layer seam tape for successfully repairing goretex with great results. Go slowly. Start with warm iron and gradually raise the heat until glue starts to melt and bond with the fabric.

New tent arrived today. We ordered a Kansas 8 from outdoor megastore. It's the same as an Ontario 8 and it came with a free roller bag. So we are £200 lighter today!

We will pitch at the weekend with cats firmly locked away.It could have happened even if ours were locked away as any cat could have come into the garden and took a running jump at the tent. Thankfully we did also have a smaller 6 berth so if push came to shove we could have taken that away for the main break although we would have all fallen out especially if the weather was bad!

Lesson learnt i think.