How Do You Cat Proof?

[gareth]

Right then. I have burmese. I know a little about keeping daft animals alive. This is all from experience, some of it tragic.

1. Remove all blinds. I know someone that found his cat hanging from one. Not good.
2. ensure everything has it's place - chemicals, especially washing powders ets get secured away. They are cat killers. I saw a whole family of Burmese kittens wiped out by a bottle of Persil clothes liquid that had been left. They all died.
3. B&Q Black Plastic Spiral Cable Tidy | Departments | DIY at B&Q on all accessible high voltage cables. Don't worry about iphone cables etc they may eat them but it won't hurt them.
4. Assume they will try to commit suicide on your laundry. Nothing like bras hanging up. I had to resuscitate loki as a kitten when I found him entlangled in one of my wifes bra on a dryer.
5. No medicines left out. ever.
6. Double door if you have indoor cats if at all possible. In our house this means no external door is opened without another door being shut between that door and the cat's location. This is an iron clad law in our house and has stopped the cats from escaping.
7. Something like this will allow you to open windows and not lose your cat. Cataire
8. Now walk around and look at anything small you would be unhappy with a baby eating. It won't do the cat any good either. They will attempt suicide with

Sewing supplies
Paper clips
Erasers
Staples
Plastic bags - I had to cut Loki out of one after he got his neck wrapped up in a handle.
Twist ties
Coins
Board game pieces
Ornaments
Medication
Vitamins and pills
Razors
Cotton balls
Plastic wrap
Aluminum foil
Christmas tree tinsel
Rubber bands
String

9. Now I bet your house is tidier
10. Green is bad. It might be lovely to fill your home with plants but some of them are deadly to cats. Check them out carefully before allowing them in your home. Someone bought my wife a huge bunch of lillies for christmas and she came doiwn on boxing day to find I'd decapitated them all.
11. Close the toilet bowls. I found Mia swimming in one as a kitten.
12. Close or cover the bins. There was a horrendous story on here a while back of a kitten suffocating in one.
13. Put away all sharp kitchen implements. Loki licked the cheese grater FFS.
14. Do not allow Anti Freeze in your house. Ever. Seriously. I won't even put mine in the garage. I buy it when I need it. a drop will wipe out your beloved pet. It's horrific stuff.
15. Never leave a chicken carcass out. cooked chicken bones are brittle and sharp.
16. Do not open a window assuming its too high for the cat to jump out of. Cats are fearless. My wife performs a steady stream of operations sewing cats jaws back together after what's called a "5 point landing"
17. Flea treatment. Cats can OD like all mammals. Lock it away.
18. Grapes and Raisins look nice in a bowl, but the jury is out on whether they cause kidney failure in cats.
19. Insectisides. Lock them away.
20. Rat poison. Just don't.
21. open fires. Get a fire guard or be preared to dig holes in the chimney to get your cat out. I'm looking at your Loki. FFS.
22. Chocolate. I recommend eating it all in one go to avoid leaving it lying around for the cat

That's all I can think of off the top of my head, but basically assume your cats will try to eat or play with anything. they will also destroy anything precious sooner or later, but maybe that's just burmese...

 

[1CatOverTheLine]

That's all I can think of off the top of my head, but basically assume your cats will try to eat or play with anything. they will also destroy anything precious sooner or later, but maybe that's just burmese...

gareth - Nope - it's Snowshoes, Bengals and Bobcats as well.

This might be the single most complete "cat-proofing" post I've ever seen on TCS or anywhere else for that matter. Anne - honestly, running this post as an article - especially for fledgling cat owners - could save cats' lives and prevent limitless heartache for their owners.

Gareth: bravo!

Mia, Loki, Moo Shu, Freya and Gibs: Stop that this instant!
.

 

[Anne]

This might be the single most complete "cat-proofing" post I've ever seen on TCS or anywhere else for that matter. Anne - honestly, running this post as an article - especially for fledgling cat owners - could save cats' lives and prevent limitless heartache for their owners.

We just published this one -
Kitten Proofing Your Home: 13 Practical Tips

And I added a link to this thread in the article, so people can move on and read even more tips in this thread.

If you see more threads that are worth curating into articles, please do let me know! A private conversation is usually best (I can then attend to it later more easily without having to look up the thread where someone tagged me).

 

[Docs Mom]

Hmm, what about q-tips ? My kitten Roxie is nuts about them ! She can find them anywhere.... I just picture her stomach as one big cotton ball

 

[EmmiTemmi]

Sorry to bring back an older thread, but oh my goodness. Colby and Monty traveled 7hrs with me to my parents' home and I've had a real heck of a time trying to cat-proof their space again! This house is very open floor plan, and is just a touch under 5,000sqft on 2 acres. They've been staying in just my bedroom and the adjoining bathroom, which I feel a little bad about. The room isn't TINY, but it's a lot smaller than the space they had in my apartment. My mom was kind enough to take down all my knickknacks from my desk/bookshelves/bookshelf-headboard and overall made the room basically cat-proofed before I even arrived, but I still had remove a ton of other things and move stuff around just so the boys wouldn't get into anything they shouldn't.

What we didn't count on was Monty's love of heights! He's able to jump from the bathroom sink to the top of the rail that holds the sliding shower/bathtub doors in place, and from there to the top of the medicine cabinet in my bathroom, which is nearly 8ft off the ground! And the doofus keeps getting himself stuck up there! I'll hear the shower doors rattle, and then 5 minutes later the pitiful mewing of Monty. I have to get a chair to get him down...ugh. Once I saw him hop back over to the bathtub upper rail, but he slipped and barely caught his footing, then I helped him down from there. My goodness, I've even had to get him down at 2am, but he just doesn't learn!

Another new thing for the boys is my room is carpeted! They've never experienced a full carpet room and Monty thinks the whole thing is his personal scratch toy, as well as the brand-new mattress box spring. Mom is not happy... I do everything I can to prevent the scratching. He has a horizontal scratcher I brought with me AND a 57 inch cat tree, but I still wake up in the middle of the night hearing him scratching the carpet (which was put in about 5 years ago when my parents moved into the house).

I guess the one of the good things to come out of this is getting to sleep with the boys. They aren't allowed in my bedroom at my apartment, since I have so many wires and other non-cat-proofed things. But now I've had them sleeping with me for several nights and Colby, God bless the sweetie, likes to curl up right between my shoulder and head when he sleeps. His purring is so loud I can't sleep, but it's the sweetest thing in the world, and I would gladly lose sleep if it means more kitty cuddles!

 

[sophie1]

Gareth, outstanding list - plus many other useful tips! I well remember my kitties' adolescence in a 600 square foot apartment, and I think I tried every last thing on that list - and had to replace a couple of expensive Apple laptop chargers, too. I've thoroughly given up on the countertop/kitchen table situation. My cats laugh at double sided tape, bitter apple, citrus scents, and all those other things that are supposed to work. I refuse to try the motion activated sprays, because once I used one of those keyboard cleaner air canisters near my cat, and I have never seen him so terrified. I couldn't do that to him again.

Bolting bookcases to the wall and removing all breakables from shelves, tables etc is a must. It sounds like the landlord won't let you do the bolting, but you could instead buy shims, stick them under the front of the bookcases, and force them to lean back slightly against the wall so they're less likely to tip over if jumped on.

The flip side of cat proofing is environment enrichment. This is a must for energetic kitties. If you don't have a cat tree you must buy one immediately - I promise it will make a huge difference. Arrange furniture to create "cat runs". Get a cheap cat tunnel from Petco. If you have a yoga mat, throw it on the floor crumpled up and change it up every day. Collect a variety of homemade and purchased toys, and rotate them periodically to keep the cats interested. If you have a laptop, set it up like a TV to play youtube cat videos (my cats particularly love the Gaming Palooza channel). And before you leave, set up a "treasure hunt" with treats hidden around the apartment. Or, if you feed your cats dry food, banish the food bowl and instead feed them from puzzle toys. You can make puzzle toys from yogurt containers, toilet paper tubes, muffin tins, and shoeboxes.

 

[mysnnygrl]

I had a scare today. I was out grocery shopping and got a motion notification on my phone about my home pet camera (which faces in towards the galley kitchen). I open it an find that my entire dish drying rack, which sits on a small stretch of counter between my sink and outer wall, has been completely tipped to the floor. Glass shattered, heavy pans fell, and my heart sank. I moved the camera around it's full axis trying to find my cats, to see if they had stepped in the glass or were passed out after having been bonked in the noggin by my sauce pan, but I couldn't find them. Ensue 30+ minutes of utter panic as I check out and try to drive home during rush-hour. The boys were fine (although my glassware was not), and I secluded them in the bathroom as I cleaned up.

This isn't the first time they've gotten into trouble while I've been out. They're able to scale 5+ shelves on my bookcase to tip over treats (and then gorge themselves and puke). They jump at my blinds when they're open and manage to grab the cords (which I hook over the top of the window frame to try and stop them from accessing them so they can't suffocate themselves). They jump on the counter, no matter what I do to try and stop them, and nibble at my knife block. I'm just so scared that one day I'll come home and they'll have managed to hurt themselves somehow. I have my bathroom toilet paper and hand soap in a medicine cabinet because they would tear at the TP and knock over the soap (And I'm afraid they'll eat/lick it!). I had a water fountain for them, but one boy started dragging it halfway down the hall, while it was plugged in, then dislodged the top so the pump was just pumping air (now they just have a bowl). In the summer I had a fan on a shelf, but that got knocked over (thank goodness it wasn't on at the time) and dented the floor of the apartment (hope my landlord doesn't notice). And they've managed to pull down 35+ books from my bookshelf when they set their minds to it. They're only 11 months old, so I know they're full of energy, and I play with them as much as I can, but they still make mischief whenever I'm out. I don't want them hurting themselves while I'm out. Today was the most panicked I've ever been when I saw the dish rack on the floor and no cat in sight. I don't want that to happen again.

TLDR: What do you do to your house/apartment to stop your cats from wrecking havoc wherever they go?

Kitty Proof their own bedroom with nothing on the walls and only items in there are things for them to play with that they CANNOT break apart or chew up or things that do not have strings attached or ropes that can come down. NO BLINDS in the windows. Use a room darkening drape that only goes down to the bottom of the window or pick a room that doesn't have a window. All electrical outlets are covered and no cords are around that they can investigate. If you use a fountain then be sure you have childproofing over the cords that are exposed and a lockup over the outlet box (which you can purchase in any hardware store... kid safe kind. Make sure all condo's are secure and no bedding can be torn apart that they would eat. I have Chausie Cats and they chew up everything and jump 10 feet horizontal and 6 feet vertical so all condo's are secured to the wall so that they cannot tip them over. Think of having a crawling baby around the house that can go behind furniture and climb into anything. That is the best way to protect your kitties. When mommy can't watch baby she has a crib or playpen that the baby goes into. You will have a room called the KITTY BEDROOM. I have one and we have a screen door on it so that when my small grandchild comes over the kitties are in their room and protected from him and visa versa. They are locked up at bedtime and whenever I go outside and they are not leashed and come with me.

 

[maggiedemi]

Yikes. I was just about to replace our regular blinds with cordless blinds. But do you think even the cordless ones are dangerous? Can cats get caught in the slats?