Trying to Climb drapes

My 7 month old Main Coon Cross thinks he is spiderman or a monkey - he is climbing my sheers and drapes in the living room. He is already 9 lbs and wreaking havoc with them. I have the water spray bottle handy and he knows what that means. As soon as I pick it up he is down and running from the drapes. Someone in my "new on the block" post said to try a citrus spray - got some yesterday, sprayed the drapes, he rolled himself all over them! Is there anything else I can use? Thanks in advance. Laurey

My friend had a cat that only climbed the drapes whenever he had catnip. You might want to try an experiment by taking away any catnip toys for a few days and see if he stops.

He is a young, albeit hefty, kitten learning how to perfect his hunting skills. Climbing things is part of that process, as well as darn good exercise. Cats can be trained, but not by punishment. You need to motivate them to do what you want them to do, rather than punish them to prevent them doing what you don't want them to do.

So, what does your cat accomplish by climbing the drapes? He gets exercise; he gets up high; he gets to challenge his climbing ability. What you need to do is to give him an alternative to the drapes and then make it easier for him to climb the alternative than to climb the drapes.

You may wish to take the drapes down for a while so that he doesn't have access to them. I don't know how feasible that is in your household and if you could put up blinds in the interim. I would recommend investing in a floor to ceiling cat tree - there are some relatively inexpensive ones available that use a tension pole to brace against the ceiling that have perches on the way up. The cat can climb up and down the cat tree, and if you place it by the window he may well prefer the challenge of the cat tree to the drapes. If you have space, you could also invest in a length of 2 x 4 board (6 ft or 8 ft length) and lean it in a stairwell or against something that is high (ie. cupboards) that so it provides a sloped access between the floor and the higher level surface. Secure it at one end (tying it at the top of the stairwell, etc.) and if you wish, you can wrap part of the 2 x 4 with 1/2" or 3/4" sisal rope (also available at a hardware store). This provides him with another fun surface to run up and down that gets him up high and allows him to practise his climbing skills.

Good luck. He should generally stop trying to climb the drapes by the time he is older, but I fully appreciate you will want to find a way of diverting his energy now :-).

Kathryn

Good luck! I would suggest just taking the curtains down for awhile and waiting for him to outgrow this phase. My cat Katy used to, literally, climb the walls! We had wallpaper that was made of a woven, grass-like material (it was south florida in the '80's...) and she would climb alllll the way up to the top and then shimmy back down. We never were able to figure out anything to keep her from doing it--she just outgrew it eventually--long after the wallpaper was trashed, of course.
Make sure he has a nice big scratching post and tons of toys to try to reign in his energy!
Good luck!

I do find that Nytro only does this when he is "hyper" running around - now I see that he is exercising. I am considering taking the sheers down because they are old and getting beaten up by him. Putting up blinds isn't an option, the expense is out of our budget and he loves to stick his head through the slats of the blinds we already have and he's starting to bend them. We put the blinds right up when he's in the room now. Having a kitten is a lot of work .... but well worth it. Thanks for your suggestions, I will try and find a taller scratching post for him with levels. Laurey

I would suggest you get him a cat tower- www.felinefurniture.com has some inexpensive ones that all kitties love. He is an alpha kitty looking for the highest level in the home where he can perch and watch his domain. Aren't kitties fun! LOL

I shouldn't laugh because where climbing curtains are concerned my two have been little angels!.

I bet he's fun to watch though