Kitty + Pricy blinds

[Juniper_Junebug]

This is a shot in the dark, but does anyone here have Hunter Douglas Silhouette blinds or other gauze chiffon venetian blinds (pic below)? I installed some before I adopted my kitty and I've got the sense that kitty could ruin them with a single misplaced claw, but I'm curious if anyone else has dared to mix kitties with these blinds.

(I've been keeping my blinds partially open whenever kitty is in my bedroom but she's started reaching up to try to bat at them. And I'd rather not sleep with the blinds up for the rest of my life).

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. I think kittens and blinds just don't go together. Maybe when she is older... In the meantime, install a simple tension rod with curtains to cover the blinds, and leave the blinds up - all the way up. More holes in the wall, but well worth the effort if it prevents your kitten from destroying the blinds you have.

 

[maggie101]

They will chew the string! The blinds by my front door have been chewed off so if pulled major damage. If I ever move out of this apt I won't say an

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[Juniper_Junebug]

They will chew the string! The blinds by my front door have been chewed off so if pulled major damage. If I ever move out of this apt I won't say anView attachment 425496yhing

Mine don't have a string! They're motorized, so I raise and lower them from a switch on the wall (or my phone).

 

[maggie101]

Something new? I've been in this apt for 10 yrs. My blinds are bent from my cats crawling under them. Yours will probably be ok assuming their not made of flimsy plastic like mine

 

[FeebysOwner]

Mine don't have a string! They're motorized, so I raise and lower them from a switch on the wall (or my phone).

The string is only one issue. The blinds themselves are a whole other issue. As I said earlier, I think kittens and blinds just don't go together. Maybe when she is older... In the meantime, install a simple tension rod with curtains to cover the blinds, and leave the blinds up - all the way up. More holes in the wall, but well worth the effort if it prevents your kitten from destroying the blinds you have.

 

[maggie101]

Can you put up drapes for some protection?

 

[Juniper_Junebug]

Can you put up drapes for some protection?

I'm oddly particular about light in my bedroom; in particular, I need natural light to wake up. So I couldn't put up curtains that block light, and a translucent fabric would probably not protect what's behind it from errant kitty claws, I'm guessing. I would actually rather leave the blinds fully open than have no light when I wake up in the morning.

(This is why I splurged for these particular blinds. I have them on a timer so the slats open when I want to wake up. I'd make a different choice today, maybe just a flat and sturdy shade on a timer, but this is what I've got.)

If I could easily kick Juno out of the bedroom for the night whenever she reached for the blinds, she might be trainable. That's what I did when she was overly rambunctious at night as a kitten and I needed my sleep, and eventually she learned that if she wanted to stay, she needed to be calm in the bedroom and keep her antics elsewhere. But the way my room is set up, if she's at the windows, she can (and does) quickly run under the bed when she knows I'm about to eject her for "misbehavior" (in quotes bc I know I'm the one that gets to set the rules).

 

[maggie101]

My cat would runaway with her tail strait back if she knows she did a no no. Now 9 yrs old,she does what she wants! Your blinds sound cool! Not much light in my apt even with the blinds up

 

[LTS3]

The string is only one issue. The blinds themselves are a whole other issue. As I said earlier, I think kittens and blinds just don't go together. Maybe when she is older... In the meantime, install a simple tension rod with curtains to cover the blinds, and leave the blinds up - all the way up. More holes in the wall, but well worth the effort if it prevents your kitten from destroying the blinds you have.

These blinds have a gauzy material on both sides so the slats are inaccessible:

Keeping the blinds pulled up and hanging curtains would be best for now. Sometimes another layer over the forbidden item is enough to discourage cats.

 

[Juniper_Junebug]

Ugh, the situation has deteriorated to the point where I'm gonna have to keep Juno out of the bedroom for a bit of a reset.

As I mentioned, adding a curtain won't work for me, bc I can't have the light blocked when I wake up (and she would just try to climb the curtain). So instead, I just raised the blinds to well above where Juno can possiblly reach. Not ideal but I figured then I could safely ignore her whenever she tried to get at them, and maybe Juno would lose interest. I think she's really after my attention more than the blinds (she's never been interested in them before).

So...last night I awoke to Juno climbing the window screen. I confess that I did shout and throw a stuffed animal at her, because it's totally unsafe (given that my windows open from the side, so if she fell through the screen, it would spell disaster).

That's the last straw, at least for now. I can't have her climbing the screens, and I can't have her escalating her antics to get my attention at night. I'm going to press pause on letting her in my bedroom and try again on a week or two. Sigh. She gives me such sad eyes when she wants in the bedroom