# The blinds in my house are wrecked!



## Wigg (Oct 5, 2006)

Hi, I know it's a bit abusive to post a problem on my first post but I need help.

I got my male cat "AK" at a kill shelter in Tulsa Oklahoma. He is a very friendly cat and charms most people he meets. He grew into a cat in Norman Oklahoma where he had plenty of opportunity to be an indoor/outdoor cat. I know many people disagree with allowing a pet to be outside, but I lived in an area that was safe to allow your cat out. (Not many cars or predators.)

I now live in the Phoenix Arizona Metro area and I can't let him out as often as he once was allowed. He has adjusted to the change finding a taste for geckos and some of the desert plants. However I generally only allow him out at the dinner hour and bring him in before the 10pm news.

Basically he is a great cat. However recently he has learned that he can get up in the windows and look outside or sleep in the sun. He destroys my blinds and anything else in the window. You might suggest that I leave my blinds up, however broken blinds aren't as bad as inviting the unwanted "window shopper." Is there something I can do to encourage him to sit in other places where he won't damage the blinds?


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

A lot of us post a problem when we first join - for some of us, we joined to get help, and then stayed. :wink: 

I would have your problem, except that the only window I don't want my kitty in, I keep closed, and there's no ledge for her if the window's closed. My other windows - the blinds would be trashed by now if I had to leave them down. But other members have dealt with this and I'm sure you'll get some advice from them.

Welcome!


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## Sky Eyes Woman (Feb 26, 2006)

I really couldn't keep my cats from breaking my blinds so I just took them down. They like to look out windows and there's no harm in letting them do that, it's entertainment for them just like watching TV is for you. It will be easier to accomodate this than to discourage it. I took my blinds down, and since the apartment complex I live in has a rule about having white window treatments, I just hung up a white piece of t-shirt material as big as the window then I cut two slits in it for the cats to peer out through when they're on their kitty perches. Over that I hung my black & white curtains so the apartment complex is happy with the white they see from the outside, I'm happy with seeing my curtains on the inside and the cats are happy since they can see out the windows. I'm also happy I don't have broken blinds which can be a safety hazard for cats.


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

I had mini blinds and Maggie used to just push her way between the slats until she made a mess of them. How about replacing them with shades, he might figure out how to get behind those without damaing them easier than the blinds.


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## Wigg (Oct 5, 2006)

:? 
I suppose that will have to do. I'm moving to a new apartment soon so I will keep that in mind while I look. Or just purchase some more expensive sturdier blinds.


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

I have wooden ones in my kitchen. Pretty indestructible. But since we haven't seen a picture of your cat (_hint, hint_), who knows?


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## coaster (Dec 1, 2004)

I don't think sturdier blinds will solve your problem. Where there's a window, and there's a cat, cat will do everything in its power to look out the window.  

Maybe you could put up curtains? Then your cat could get in between the curtain and the window without damaging anything.


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

She can slip behind the wooden blinds without damaging them. They don't bend.


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## coaster (Dec 1, 2004)

That's true. :wink:


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

Although, he could *scratch* them if he was mad enough, I guess. Hadn't thought about that. 8O


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## weluvcookie (Dec 6, 2005)

You could try the vertical blinds... my cats love these. They are able to use their noses to separate the vertical slats out of the way and jump up onto the sill. Nothing gets damaged and I still get my privacy. 

Sometimes all I see is the slats of the blind with a long kitty tail dangling out from the bottom. It always make me laugh. Which in turn makes a cat face peer out at me. :catsm


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

I don't know how she jumps up there, and it's a thin ledge, but if she wants to get in the window before I get up and raise the blinds, she does!  










Right. If she closes her eyes, I can't see her. Kids! :roll:


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## coaster (Dec 1, 2004)

Ha ha ... that's cute. She barely fits. :lol:


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

I know - it looked so uncomfortable, I put a wooden t.v. tray up next to the sill so she can sit on that.


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## Sky Eyes Woman (Feb 26, 2006)

Well, if you find something else that works, use it. I feel that vertical blinds are a safety hazard for cats and I take them down from all the windows they get in. My apartment complex has a policy that says if they have to replace blinds that are broken when you move out, they charge you $35 per window to replace them. I threw away the broken ones and bought new ones for $10 each and left them in a closet still in the box so we can put them up when we move. My windows stay covered with the white cotton material and my cats aren't in any danger of getting tangled up in horizontal blinds.


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## Kelae (Sep 4, 2004)

I second the vertical blind suggestion. I have vertical blinds in the bedroom and the girls both hang out on the cat tree there and part the blinds to look out the window. I've been trying to figure out how vertical blinds could be a safety hazard for them since Sky mentioned it, but I can't. Mine are vertical slats of vinyl that are not connected to anyting except the mounting bracket over the window. Is there another type that might pose a hanging issue?


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## weluvcookie (Dec 6, 2005)

I know, I've been trying to think how my vertical blinds could be hazardous too and can't come up with any reason why Sky feels that way.

There's no way either the blinds or the cats can get hurt on the ones I have. :?: 

As far as i'm concerned, I'd rather have these than mini blinds, since mini blinds could pose a hanging risk, I suppose, and at the very least get bent or broke by the cats.


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## debo (Jul 25, 2005)

weluvcookie said:


> I know, I've been trying to think how my vertical blinds could be hazardous too and can't come up with any reason why Sky feels that way.
> 
> There's no way either the blinds or the cats can get hurt on the ones I have. :?:
> 
> As far as i'm concerned, I'd rather have these than mini blinds, since mini blinds could pose a hanging risk, I suppose, and at the very least get bent or broke by the cats.



Maybe she is referring to the chains on the bottoms of the verticals to keep them together? I used to have verticals and I would think the chain on the bottom type would be dangerous. I think any thing that has strings, chains, etc, could be dangerous because they could get tangled.
I have roman shades and I have to be very careful with the cords on these too.


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## Sky Eyes Woman (Feb 26, 2006)

Oh jeez, I feel like a dingbat! My post about blinds being a safety hazard should have said:

I feel that *HORIZONTAL* blinds are a safety hazard for cats and I take them down from all the windows they get in.

Whoops! 

I've just seen too many pics and videos of cats climbing right through horizontal blinds and they look like something a cat can easily become entangled in. I'd rather just take them down and not have to worry about maybe having a tragic accident occur.

Sorry for the confusion, everyone.


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## kana (Apr 23, 2004)

NO blinds in my house........this is why! 

I was sitting on the couch talking on the phone watching my curious kitty weave in and out of our living room blinds. I just shook my head and laughed at how bad my otherwise wonderful kitty was being. Half of his body was thru the blinds and then he decided to come out on the other side of the stringy part. It took 2 seconds for him to freak out, spin, and dangle there in my blinds by his neck!!!!! 8O 8O Had I not been home I would have come home to a dead fur-friend hanging in my window. 
We have a very strict blind rule in our house and I'd rather the neighbors see my naked fannie walk by the window in the morning then risk losing my cat to this very real danger. 

Buy a shade :wink: :wink:


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

kana said:


> I'd rather the neighbors see my naked fannie...



That was *YOU*!?! 8O :yikes


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