Cat Proofing

Posted by Kelly on April 28, 2010 in Sammy | 3 comments

The days are pretty. I will not be complaining about snow and cold weather…for at least today! With these nice days, I love to keep the windows open. Fresh air, comfortable temperatures, gentle breezes, sunshine or even rain and my favorite, thunderstorms. These things make me happy.

Sammy loves the open windows too and will sit there for hours watching. Except once in a while he gets the urge to get higher. For the last few weeks he has been climbing the screen door to the porch. It’s ruined. Finally, the other day he reached a new goal…from the screen to the top of the door.

I watched him for quite a while. He reached to touch the ceiling, he tried and failed to do the monorail, he actually tried to step onto the door frame. It was comical. He didn’t know how to get down, so I helped. He has returned to the door several times since and has gotten brave enough to jump down on his own.

Yesterday afternoon, I was cleaning in the kitchen when I glanced out the window and saw Sammy on the back porch. He had opened the sliding screen door and let himself out!! Ugh.

Sammy is an inside cat. I want to be able to leave the door open and not worry that the cat is going to escape again!!

The door doesn’t have a latch.

I tried several things, broom handles–they were too short, I considered duct tape, because—well—it’s duct tape and aren’t you supposed to be able to fix anything with duct tape? However, duct tape just isn’t the right solution for this problem. I came up with a temporary solution, extending the reach of the broom handle with cardboard!

The door can’t be opened by kitten power…Sammy is trapped! Well, trapped until he fully destroys the screen with his climbing and is able to walk right out!! Stinker.