Cat is opening everything?

jeebee

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I have a Houdini kitten apparently. He's been here short of a month and has started opening doors and locking himself inside closets. I just "rescued" him from the coat closet which doesn't have handles inside.

I'm worried because my apartment front door has an easy emergency lock that automatically opens when turned from the inside -- meaning he could easily escape if he tries that door one of these days.

Does anyone have any advice how to deal with this??
 

misterwhiskers

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I went to Lowes and bought a couple cheap plastic door wedges--the kind that prop doors open? And use them to wedge under doors I don't want my cat to open. So far so mostly good. You might want to look in Babies R Us for child safety products too.
 

blackcat416

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I agree with mister whiskers I have child safety locks on my kitchen cabinets to keep two of my six out that can open them. It's just a simple bar that you push down to open. I doubt any cat can open them. As for closets I have issues with multiple kinds of closet doors. The sliding doors are the easiest for them, in goes a paw and they just slide the door on the track. The closet door with knobs, no locks, but a magnet I put tape over the magnet as I do with any of the lock doors, I have tape over the lock keeping it recessed. As for the front door, I would just as either a dead bolt lock if others need to come in or just a basic cheap slide lock once the cat realizes he can't open it any more he will lose interest.
 

2bcat

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One of my earlier cats could open bifold doors and kitchen cabinet doors and drawers.  The kitchen cabinets were easily fixed with child safety latches that are made for such purpose.  The one bifold door was short enough to fix with a ready-made plastic product that screws on over the top (you still have to be pretty tall to work it) but the other goes to the ceiling and I had to rig up a latch that holds the doors together.  Anyway, so yeah, some cats can open a lot of things!

 Your front door, if it's a regular knob, there is a child safety product you can use on that which should prevent a cat from operating it (and sometimes prevent you from operating it very well, heh).  If it's a lever handle, there is a different product that creates an additional lock to prevent the handle from operating.

I'm not sure how your closet doors operate.  There are several possibilities that have a knob on the outside but not inside.  I am curious how he is locking himself inside though.  That is an unusual habit if really true, especially if it's an outward-swinging closet door.  Most of the time (not all) the reason a cat can operate a door is because it only needs to be pushed or pulled.  For example, Amber could open the bifold doors enough to get in because she figured out she could hook her paw underneath and pull out in the right spot.  Point being, the most common reason for being locked in is because we humans close the door (this happens in my bedroom sometimes when a cat sneaks in when I'm not looking).

If the closets are simple pull-push setup, either you'd want it tighter so that he couldn't open it in the first place, or extra loose so he could push back out.  If the closets have actual operating knobs with a latch (as in a typical interior door, just no knob on the inside), check to make sure they actually latch all the way such that the knob needs to be turned.  It could be that they simply aren't closing all the way, allowing the cat to just pull it open, as opposed to truly operating the knob.  If they are operable knobs/levers, though, and the cat is truly operating them, you can go back to the safety products and just use those.
 
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jeebee

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The coat closet just needs to be lightly tugged to open, takes very minimal force. Very light doors, most likely honeycomb cardboard.  I'm assuming he saw shoelaces under the door and accidentally found out he could open it. Then pulled it shut while flopping around with the laces. The only reason I know he did this on his own because I was in bed and he was eating before I brushed my teeth and changed into PJs.

He does jump at the handles because he has opened the pantry closet on his own when I was sleeping. I'm assuming he wanted into the pantry because his treats are stored in there. 

I do think the wedges under the door would help, and I'll try to find a child lock for the front door. :) 

Altering the cabinets is probably not allowed in my lease, I can't even have candles or incense. Pretty strict.
 

2bcat

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Yeah, door wedges will be inconvenient for you when you want to open the closets, but they are simple and non-damaging for the rental.

Funny that he didn't manage to push his way back out, but maybe he would have if you hadn't found him first.

The child lock products for the front door should also not damage it in any way.  Good luck! 
 

rlavach

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The majority of child safety locks for cabinets do not require altering the cabinet themselves. They just go around the handles. I live in an apartment also & I have child locks on several of my cabinets. One goes around each handle & then they click together. Nothing gets attached to the cabinet. If you go to a baby store, you'll see lots of different varieties. I'm sure you can find one that works with the type of cabinet handles you have. 
 
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