Escaping

Ok, here's the situation. We just moved into a new house, on the same property. My boyfriend and I are currently sleeping in the basement until the upstairs is finished. We stayed in a camper for several months, and the cats stayed with us. We moved them into the basement with us a week or so ago. My b/f and I built a bedroom down here... it's 12x12. Two of the walls are solid concrete and my boyfriend built two additional walls and a door. The two other walls he used 2x4s and the plastic that came on the house when it arrived. It's pretty solid but the problem is that he couldn't go all the way to the ceiling with the two walls because of the furnace.. so the walls only go to about 6 feet high. Two of my kitties find the space at the top fascinating and are always climbing up there and walking around on top. Daisy has gone so far as to walk on the top of the door and jump up into the rafters. It took a ladder to get her down.
I keep them occupied during the day with lots of playtime to keep them from getting up there, but when I go up to the bathroom or something like that I come back to a cat in the other part of the basement or up in the rafters. It's really not *that* big of a deal, because they're terrified of the basement door leading to outside and won't go near it (and it never gets opened anyway), and they can't even get to the door that goes upstairs. There is really no chance of them getting outside. But that isn't my concern... I'm worried that they may injure themselves climbing in the rafters or if they fall off of the top of the wall or something. Is there any way to "train" them to stay inside of the room. I realize that's probably impossible, but if anyone has any suggestions that would be great.

There really isn't a way to train them, but depending on what's below the wall on your side (concrete floor?), you might consider putting up a 1' wide (top to bottom) barrier that's slanted inward toward your space so that they can't jump onto the wall tops - the kind of thing you see done in barbed wire at the tops of prison walls, only I don't suggest using that (!!) but maybe some cheap board for now, which I'm sure you or your BF can rig up.

Unless there is something dangerous on the floor, they probably won't get hurt from jumping or falling off the rafters. The worst would probably be if they had weak joints, the impact could bother them as they get older. Cats are very agile and love being high up.

You can also try using a mesh or tarp to make a ceiling in your little room. I would stay away from anything that isn't breathable since you described 2 of your walls being plastic, you could end up with a ventalation problem.

You've probably already thought of this, but just in case remember to have a carbon monoxide detector with you in the basement.

When you say that he couldn't go all the way to the ceiling with the two walls because of the furnace, does that mean so that the warm air will still get through? If so, can he put some lattice up there?

Originally Posted by Rockcat

When you say that he couldn't go all the way to the ceiling with the two walls because of the furnace, does that mean so that the warm air will still get through? If so, can he put some lattice up there?

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Sorry it took me so long to reply to my post. I just found it again. What I meant by that was that the furnace ducts run through this room, and also several water pipes... so there really is nothing he can put up there because it'll get in the way of the ducts. Now ALL the cats except for Sasha are climbing up in the rafters and then jumping down. It has become an issue with my b/f's brother who sleeps in the basement too, so now he's requested all the cats stay in cages or leave if we can't keep them contained.

I would not worry too much. I agree with Cairo. Cats are experts in climbing, jumping and staying up in high places. The best suggestion would be to teach them to come to you when you call them. This is for your benefit, it'll calm your nerves.