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- Jun 15, 2016
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I really didn't know if I should ask here or on some construction forum how to deal with our problem. After we lost our one cat in October, we got two rescue kittens in February. I promised the rescue person we got them from that the two brother kitties would be indoor cats only. We've been letting them out on our screened-in back porch because they just love it out there. The trouble is that they like to climb the screens out there and they have one of them partially torn off and my husband has it blocked off so they can't escape. The trouble is that they are also working on the other screening out there and I imagine that eventually they'll have it all torn off. I certainly don't want them getting outside. We live close to a main road and I fear it would be disastrous if they'd get outside. Our porch isn't anything fancy, just 2x4's and screen fastened to them. There are 2x4's running horizontally about waist height, which the kittens (they're now almost 8 months old) love to sit on. They have a cat tree on the back porch (and one in our living room), and they seem to be more interested in climbing the screen than climbing the tree. They especially love to go after bugs and eat them, which are usually hanging on the screen.
We have been thinking about replacing all of the porch screen anyway (it must be 20 years old), but I don't want to replace it just to have it torn down again. I gave up scolding the kittens when I see them climbing the screen because that doesn't last long anyway and it's all a person gets done. I don't have time to do porch vigil all day and night to make sure they don't climb it, and I really don't like scolding them so much. I can see scolding them for an occasional problem, but this behavior goes on many times a day. I don't know what to do to make them quit climbing the screen. If anyone can think of anything, I'm all ears. Other than this behavior, they are perfectly adorable kittens that we love to pieces, and they just adore each other and love to play together, and they also love their play times with my husband and I and our daughter.
We have been thinking about replacing all of the porch screen anyway (it must be 20 years old), but I don't want to replace it just to have it torn down again. I gave up scolding the kittens when I see them climbing the screen because that doesn't last long anyway and it's all a person gets done. I don't have time to do porch vigil all day and night to make sure they don't climb it, and I really don't like scolding them so much. I can see scolding them for an occasional problem, but this behavior goes on many times a day. I don't know what to do to make them quit climbing the screen. If anyone can think of anything, I'm all ears. Other than this behavior, they are perfectly adorable kittens that we love to pieces, and they just adore each other and love to play together, and they also love their play times with my husband and I and our daughter.