Cat whining about going in the basement

[tinysalmon]

Lately my cat has been fascinated by going to the basement. We keep the door closed, but she is always hovering around, trying to open the door with her paws repeatedly, sometimes to the point of whining. As much as I would love to make her happy, we cannot allow her in there because of how unsafe it might be, especially if she is roaming around on her own without our supervision. I wish I could make her happy up here, but if Im not playing with her, she is always meowing at me! I don't know what to do as she can't understand it's for her own good! 

I play with her, provide her food and water, clean her litter, pet her and give her treats, but I'm starting to get the feeling that this house rule is making her upset with me. She was never whiney before or interested in going downstairs before. I don't even know why she is so fascinated with going downstairs. There is nothing of hers there. Everything she needs is up here. She moves away from the door every time I hear her scratching it but then a few seconds later after I leave, she's at it again. I feel like it's just a cry for attention and the only way to distract her is playing, even if I played with her for a while beforehand. 

Also, she's been down there before, when we accidentally leave the door ajar (she can open doors if they are a tad bit open), sometimes, to make her happy I let her go down when I go down to get something, but she comes back up with me when I do. Now that I think about it, I feel like it was a mistake, now that she got the taste of it. Should I just ignore her from now on and never let her go down again? 

Any advice? Anyone have this situation before? 

 

[yayi]

Your cat probably hears or smells something in the basement. Cats have keener senses than us so your cat's behavior is normal. You did not say why the basement is unsafe for her but there is nothing wrong with you protecting her from danger. 

I also do not allow my cats in the basement only because there is so much stuff in there and once two of them hid and did not come out until it was time for breakfast the next day.  

 Silly kitties.

 

[kiomi]

Hmm, my cat is obsessed with going upstairs. We usually don't let her up, it's a house rule. But sometimes she just slips through when we come downstairs, then she spends hours up there and seems happy with being there. When downstairs, she'll often nag to go upstairs again, the only way i can distract her is by giving her attention.

Although, when i think about it, if you play with her and give her attention every time she scratches at the door, she may make a link between the two, and scratch the door just to get attention. Either that or she's bored.

If at all possible, try to ignore her when she's at the basement door, and when she's not, play with her and/or give her attention.

Hope that may work

 

[sivyaleah]

Our cat, Casper, isn't allowed into the basement either.  It's unfinished, dirty, and filled with potentially dangerous places he could hide out (down right wet at times, chemicals, left over nails we haven't been able to find from construction, etc.).  He has gotten down there less than a handful of times since we've lived here only by us being less than careful about closing the door behind us completely.  Each time, he either didn't go all the way down the stairs or came right back up when called.

He also will occasionally stand at those steps sniffing around, and meowing at the door.  We know we don't have rodents (traps are down there and not once have we caught anything, nor seen anything) so it isn't him hearing mice.  However, there is a door which leads to the outside once you step through the inside basement door and I suspect he may be hearing passing critters in the side yard.  Our neighbors cat in particular is a sore spot for him (we call him "enemy cat" because he'll come by and sit on our back steps taunting Casper).

I'm thinking it's one of two things.  Either your kitty hears something, like already mentioned or; allowing kitty to go down there now and then, and then prohibiting her may have her confused.  If you really don't want her down there you'll have to be firm about trying to take her attention away from the door when she gets interested.   Or, get very good at ignoring her pleas for access!

Usually if I see mine by the door I just clap my hands loudly and say "No" firmly.  He'll calmly walk away and typically doesn't go back after that.

Your mileage may vary as they say.  

 

[rad65]

My cat, Tails, loves to go out on our sunporch. He spends most of the time out there when it is warm enough. When it gets cold, I have to close the door leading out there since it is right off the living room. Multiple times every day Tails will walk over to the door, whine a LOT, then grab the door handle and hang from it for a while, trying to turn it. Luckily the door sticks, and you have to push hard to get pressure off the latch, or Tails would definitely have figured out that he knows how to open doors. If he put that much effort into any other door in the apartment, it would open.

I think it's the mystery of what's behind the door that drives cats wild. Closed bathroom doors, the front door opening, me going onto the back deck to put their litter in the garbage, etc, all lead to my cats acting like they are caged animals who want nothing more than to get to the opposite side of the door.

 

[thembcat]

It could be a "the grass is always greener" issue. My family has faced that with pretty much every cat they've had, even the farm cats that my dad grew up with.  Even if a cat has never been in an area before or has never been outside (or inside if an outdoor cat) many cats still feel the urge to get to that area. They see us coming and going so they figure it has to be something interesting on the otherside so they cry and try to open doors, or try to bolt out when you try to come or go.

My dad growing up lived on a farm with a bunch of barn cats (at times they had upwards of 40 cats on their property), most if not all of the cats had never touched a foot indoors but several still desparately tried to come in the house when someone would leave or enter the house. It could have been that they knew that the food they were fed always came from inside they house so they wanted to go where the food was stored, they could have seen glimpses from the three indoor cats through the windows and wanted to check those cats out in person, or they could have just thought that it must be pretty awesome in there since the people always went inside the house.

Just a note, the 40 cats weren't really my dad's family's cats, they were just strays and ferals that came and went as they pleased. They were welcomed to stay because they kept the rodent population down, some choose to permnantly stay but others would stay only a day or two before moving on. Although they didn't have all the shots, they were all healthy and well fed and even got plenty attention (my dad would camp out in their yard in a tent sometimes and his tent would always be full of barn cats sleeping with him. They even got along with my dad's pet crow and the two orphaned raccoons that my dad raised. (the raccoons weren't pets, he raised them until they were old enough to pretty much take care of themselves then they lived outside and were free to come and go though they always tended to stay on the farm because they loved my dad so much...that and there was always food left out for them and the barn cats

 

[lovemycat2021]

Hi If it's safe I would let him go downstairs, my cat loves the basement, of course, I miss him upstairs with me but I feel that as they get older they want their own little space. He comes upstairs when it's time to eat or when he feels like it. But other than that I let him have his free time, my basement is clean and free from any dangers he sleeps in many different spots down there and he's happy.

 

[ArtNJ]

Its just a cat thing. One of my cats tries to run into the garage. When he succeeds, we just close the door with the idea he'll realize there is nothing in there of interest. It works, to the extent of him coming in voluntarily after 10 minutes. It doesn't work at all with respect to deterring future attempts.