The formerly feral and springtime!

Hi everyone,

I am Douglas and Deacon's furmommy who some of you know through one of Eilcon's rescue success stories. I have a question and wonder if anyone else has had a similar problem.

With spring around the corner, I am looking forward to opening the windows and airing out the house; however, the back of my house is on the 2nd level and this is the first time I have had kittens in this house. I have a 12 year old cat who is not as boisterous as my 7 month old boys. My fear is that if I open the back windows, the boys will immediately run to the screens and jump on them and they are just regular flimsy screens. I am afraid they will go right through and fall; they are not outside cats, even though they lived outdoors for the first 8 weeks of their lives. Does anyone have any ideas on how to kitten proof the screens so we can all enjoy the fresh air? Sorry for the length of the post.

Helene

well, the only advice I can give you Helene is from my own personal experience, and that is that i have a few cats that were former outdoor kitties and other than one time, i have never had a cat escape thru the screen, and my screens are also very flimsy, in fact my dog is the one I worry about flying thru the window but then he's 30 lbs and a little psycho he jumps against the window when he's sees anyone walk ny the house but he's really a little wimp any hoo, I really think the boys would have to repeatedly throw themselves against the window with all their might, and I think they'll be more interested in just watching the birds, etc.

There's a couple things you can do if you're concerned about the boys pushing out your existing screens. One is to replace the screens in question with pet screens. It's the same type of mesh as regular screens, except thicker. I've seen them at Lowe's, but they should be available at hardward stores.

Another option that's been mentioned on TCS before is using decorative plastic trellis, like you'd use for climbing roses or ivy. You can trim them to fit the window and secure them with screws.

Hope that helps!