Cats and Cabinets. What's up with that?

Since I've been a member here, I've read about TCS cats that just can't NOT break into cabinets on a regular basis.

Usually, there is a particular reason they do this, namely, to steal from their owners. Dry food, flour (8-Bit, of course,) bread, catnip, whatever that individual kitty's particular "jones" is for.

Until last month, I had never experienced this phenomenon. I felt superior, for my cats are GOOD cats, and don't "break into" anything.

Well, times have changed, along with my living quarters. In our new apartment, the cabinets are a little older, and the magnet closures don't catch and hold as well. A couple of them won't stay shut at all, they just slowly swing open.

I have a little wooden stool (my daughter used it to stand on in the bathroom when she was a little girl, so she could reach the sink.) I have been placing it up against the two cabinet doors on the floor that won't stay closed.

For a little while, that worked...but then I started coming home to find that the cabinet door was ajar maybe 4 inches, but still up against the stool. What do I keep under there? Pots and pans, that's it. The cat food is on the other side, a side that I have no issues with.

So I knew that the door wasn't opening itself against the stool - but I didn't know who was getting in there. Until this past Saturday. I was in my office at the computer, when I heard a quiet little "ssskrrrreeeeeee" sound of wood pushing against wood coming from the kitchen.

I QUIETLY ran into the kitchen just in time to catch Ginger walking into the cabinet! I pulled the stool out of the way, swung the cabinet door all the way open, which startled her (she thought she was being sneaky enough that she wouldn't get caught) and told her in a loud voice, "BACK!"

She scrambled out of the saucepan she was sitting in very quickly, and throwing a guilty look at me, took off into the other room.

I closed the door, pushed the stool back up to the cabinet, and haven't had to move it since.

YET.

Betsy! We have a little someone who loves to explore cabinets. As a result, all our cabinet doors aren't hung properly - you wouldn't believe how many "helpful" guests have informed us that we could make the doors flush by adjusting the little screws inside, and are surprised when we tell them that we want them to stick! Our latest attempt at making them very difficult to open has been Velcro strips glued to the doors and frames. With the exception of the child-proof, i.e., locking, handle on our freezer, we've found that "child-proofing" doesn't necessarily mean "cat-proofing" cabinets.

I put something like these on my cabinets to keep nosy cats out. http://www.stanleyhardware.com/defau...+Cabinet+Catch

There are different types of catches that will work.

I just love reading your cat stories!

My cat USED to open the pantry door, and dump all the dry food on the floor at 3 in the morning. Well, I took care of that fast.

I have an empty cabinet just for my cats and they've all been in there at one time or another. A few years back I had the cabinet fronts removed to be refinished and none of my cats went near the openings. It must be the thrill of getting away with something!

My cabinets have child locks so I'm safe there, but my closets on the other hand don't shut properly, in fact the only door in this house that does is the bathroom. He manages daily to make his way into my closet and my jeans and sweatshirts on the top shelf wind up on the floor... he must climb my clothes and get to the top... when I was away he tried to open the bathroom door and destroyed it... I'll be replacing that when I move out... they are crafty little creatures...

I have one cat whose safe place is in my closet, so I keep my closet door ajar for her. My other cat loves to climb into the kitchen cabinets. We quickly put child proof locks on all our lower cabinets and that's solved our problem. However, when DH needs to work under the kitchen sink, she's his little helper!! Drives him crazy because she likes to lick your hair and your face!

Stephanie

Welcome to the "cabinet kitties" group. Hopefully you don't join the "toilet paper shredders" group as well.

I just push chairs up against them.

A simple idea...I keep all cleaning products and any other kitty no-no's in the cabinet under the kitchen sink. The cabinet doors open from the center, so to prevent any risk of my girlies trying to check it out, I rubberband the cabinets together by the handles. This way, they can't be opened unless the rubberband is removed.

Years ago.. and I mean years.. 10, maybe a bit less.. we kept Chase's canned food in a cabinet. He got it more as a treat back then, but still fairly often. He knew where it was, obviously, and would go and open it, and start batting out the cans if we didn't give him his usual can. We haven't ever put any in there since that time period, but Chase will still go to that cabinet, open it, and shove out whatever is in there one by one if he thinks he should be getting his wet food. We used to just duct tape it closed, haha, but now we've just kind of given up on keeping it closed.

Originally Posted by DawnofSierra

A simple idea...I keep all cleaning products and any other kitty no-no's in the cabinet under the kitchen sink. The cabinet doors open from the center, so to prevent any risk of my girlies trying to check it out, I rubberband the cabinets together by the handles. This way, they can't be opened unless the rubberband is removed.

Click to expand...

I tried the rubber band trick - this was when we kept plastic bags, Radar's favourite, in the cupboard under the sink and he spent a considerable period of time trying to break in to get them!

My clever boy walked to the cupboard, pulled the door, felt resistance. Looked up at the handles, and in meerkat position chewed straight through the rubber band. He was back in the cupboard within a matter of seconds.

Half of me was proud of his display of intelligence - the other half was horrified. An intelligent destructicat is really the last thing anyone needs in their home!

Originally Posted by Worriedmommy

Hopefully you don't join the "toilet paper shredders" group as well.

Click to expand...

With a Bengal in the house, that is a constant fear.

Originally Posted by DawnofSierra

A simple idea...I keep all cleaning products and any other kitty no-no's in the cabinet under the kitchen sink. The cabinet doors open from the center, so to prevent any risk of my girlies trying to check it out, I rubberband the cabinets together by the handles. This way, they can't be opened unless the rubberband is removed.

Click to expand...

We were rubberbanding the doors together until she shredded the rubberband and ATE it!! That's when we knew this was serious and we got the kidproof things. They're the adjustable kind, so all we have to do is slip them over the knob of the cabinet door to open the cabinet.

Stephanie

We're on our 3rd type of cabinet lock. Nabu doesn't try to get in for food or destruction. He just likes to hang out in the cabinets. In my second apartment with Raven & Nabu (the pre-Stimpy days) I would catch him sleeping in my 9x13 pyrex baking dish.

He still bangs on the cupboards to check they are locked. EVERY DAY. Yesterday I slipped up and there he was sitting in the cabinet.

Max's thing was one of the linen closets (he would open the door) - loved to sleep on the clean towels and blankets. Not so great when you are in a hurry and pull out a towel with kitty hair all over it!

So I finally gave in - Max has his own linen closet with blankets, towels and even his bed sitting on the top shelf! The door is always left ajar and it's his favorite place.

Figured that was eaiser than trying to keep him out! Spolied, Spoiled kitty

oh geez!
Bea loves the cabinets, she doesn't take anything, just likes to hang out in them.
She also LOVES to lay in my sock drawer, if I open it even a little bit she is up there and trying to get cozy in that drawer...

Sho can't be bothered to make an effort to open anything and Tomas doesn't have much interest in it. I did catch Tomas poking around in the pots and pans the other night. I caught him pushing the door open to slide back out and told him "No! Out!", he made his usual disappointed mew but hasn't been back into the cabinet since.

I suspect that he may have smelled or heard something, the crafty garage mouse likely decided there was more food to be found in the house.

I am happy to say that I'm NO LONGER IN THE CABINET KITTY GROUP!

After trying child latches, magnetic closures, duct tape, chairs in front of the doors,


the winning lock was TOT LOCKS and they are great.

I have tried everything to keep my cats out of my lower cabinets. They can't grab on to anything for the upper ones, so I seldom have to worry about that. They figured how to stand on the microwave, but I moved it back so they can't balance on it.
Now I just wash anything in those cabinets before I use it. It just seems easier than arguing with them or getting pouts. Spoiled little beasts.