Dangerous Climbing

I recently moved into a new home and one of my cats Misty has discovered the wall mounted cabinets are a great place to climb up on. I am not as concerned about the ones on the left side in the picture as the levels are more graduated from the counter top to the refrigerator to the cabinet top so she can get down easier.

She really surprised me when I found her on top of the ones on the right side. When she realized I saw her up there she panicked and jumped down. I am afraid she will hurt if she continues to climb up there, especially when I am not home. It's a 4ft jump from the half wall to the top and overall the tops are about 8ft up from the floor. She tends to get a little reckless sometimes and I think she would do something that would end up getting her hurt.

Anyone have any suggestions on how I can stop her from climbing up there.

Thanks in advance.

Cats will climb. If you are worried about safety you can put a small piece of carpet up there so its not slippery.

You might try a few balloons up there for awhile to discourage.

I had a cornish rex kitten that was determined to get to the top of the curio cabinet. She was about 4 months old and had watched the older rexes jump from the table to the top of the cabinet - a good 4-5 feet.

She wanted so bad to be up there too. So she took a running leap on the table and scrambled up the front of the cabinet! I still do not know how she did it on the glass. But once up there she sat and kept meowing as she could NOT get back down - too far to jump. So I had to climb on a chair to get her down.

She didn't try after that till she was closer to adult size and could get up and down by herself.

Sometimes a cat will not take NO for an answer when you tell them they can't do something!

How far away is the table... if it's close enough, she will use it as a landing pad, though if you keep it 'set' all the time, that could be a problem. If you had an island or some other kind of box I guess they'd be good too (though consider how much they could wobble if she lands hard). Certainly from way up there to the floor is dangerous, but could she even be jumping to the far side (fridge, etc.) and getting down that way?

You'd be surprised at how high cats can jump. I believe that they are great in judging heights. I would not worry.

She can judge the jump up but she does not get down easily. The first time I found her on the right side she panicked when she saw me and jumped before I could get her down. Today I came home and found her left side which I assumed was not as big a deal since there are more levels for her to jump down between but she did not come down and I had to get her down myself.

I have no doubt cats are good jumpers but with my job I work 12 hour shifts so thats a long time to be out of the house and have the potential for something to happen to her and not find out until hours later.

I am going to see if I can find something to fill the area over the cabinets so she won't be inclined to jump up there. I'm open to any suggestions if anyone has any. You're talking to a guy here so home decorating experience is limited.

I understand your concern.. and a lot more people around here know more about cats than I do, but I would tell you to be cool about it.

Bella climbs to the top of these set of shelves that I have. She goes from the chair, to a little distance on top of the book shelf, and then about three feet to the topmost shelf. It scared the daylights out of me at first. One day she jumped from there and hit the bed face first, bounced off and fell to the floor. But she just shook it off and continued.

From what I've seen, cats are resilient and very balanced.

I would still be worried, yeah... lol I mean, it's your baby, I know! Maybe a set of stairs or something set on that side? Probably seems ridiculous because it is a counter top...

Just trying to make you feel better about it.

Okay so wait, you are worried about the side that the sink is on, or the side the fridge is on?

I would say that if it is the sink side, that the jump from the top of that cabinet down to the counter is perfectly safe.

Leslie

a bit OT but your kitchen is lovely! might try some bubble wrap up there

I'd put some small (empty) boxes up there - all cockeyed to each other, with corners flaps clearly obvious from the cat's perspective, and no real gaps for him to aim for. I have an especially large wood-framed acrylic birdcage sitting on a dresser, and I've got various rigid, clear plastic things on top, at odd angles to each other, not blocking visibility to anyone, but telling the cats they have no access to the cage top (which is wire mesh - as is part of the backside right up against the window and catproof). And I use the same principle for various other shelves, etc.

I guess I will admit defeat on this one. Once she has started she is not going to stop. At least she stopped going up on the other side and has only been doing it on the refrigerator side which is more accessible. Now I just need a mirror on the ceiling to see when she is up there hiding behind the molding.

I don't think she will stop either.. cats LOVE places like that to go. I wouldn't worry too much. I think any cat in that house would do the same thing.

Trout loves to jump up onto the fridge FROM THE FLOOR and then she jumps back down like its nothin.

I'm so happy that Jack is content being at 3-4 feet off the ground. Has yet to attempt the counters and sticks mainly to the top of dressers and night stands.

I laughed when you said you needed a mirror on the ceiling so you can find kitty--that'd be a conversation starter!

Leslie

Cats simply love to get up high, I wouldn't be worried it seems she's having a grand time.

Nikita jumps on top of my doors from the chair you can see there (or the tv, or my big fish tank) and she manages to balance and jump down safely.

my cat jumped from almost the top stairs to the ground and thats 6 feet 4 inches and is ok so 8 feet would be much different for her and shes only 1 year