Scary experience / reminder about blind cords.

Zissou sleeps either on my bed or her little bed in the windowsill above me. Well, her little bed is by the cords to adjust the blinds. The ones in the front window are fine, but for some reason somebody tied the ones in this window in a knot at the end and I never noticed in the three weeks I've been here. Zissou, of course, likes to play with the cords (I try to keep them up and away, but it's nigh impossible with this window).

So here's the scary part.

I was awoken around 5 am this morning by a panicked sounding meow and a weird clawing/scrabbling noise. Of course I woke up in a panic like any meowmy would... and saw Zissou hanging from the blind cords by her neck. She must have been playing with them while she was on her bed, and fallen off and been tangled up in them. They were actually around her neck strangling her when she woke me up.

Needless to say the cords are untied now. And I just wanted to remind everyone to make sure theirs are too.

I feel like an idiot. I try so hard to keep everything kitty-proofed and of course the one thing I miss...

That is so scary! Is she ok?

She's perfectly fine, I woke up at nearly the exact instant she fell and as she was only a foot away from me I was able to get to her immediately. I think I was more shaken than she was... Anyway, her breathing is fine and she lets me pet her neck and doesn't act in pain. I've been watching her like a hawk of course, as I'm sick and haven't left except to stumble down and buy cough syrup.

I do keep wondering what would have happened if I hadn't been sleeping right here, if I had been out, if... and almost start crying. It won't happen again!

Oh, thank goodness it happened right next to you!!! I can imagine the panic!

I've already tied all mine up out of reach at home!!!

Oh my gosh.. How scary.. I never ever think of that being an issue.. I'm gonna go fix mine tonight!

Someone should market these to pet owners:
http://www.nobrainerblinds.com/info/child.asp


We simply cut all of our blind cords to about 5 inches when fully down and then attached the tassels. This was for our children's safety, but I guess all of these devices would work well for kitty's sake too.

Oh my goodness, that must have been so scary for you. Please don't think about the what if's. It didn't happen, Zissou is fine. Just give her extra snuggles because she must have been scared out of her wits.
I have my chords tied right up on little hooks beside the blinds, they are out of kitty reach but I did used to leave them dangling, until someone recently posted about their kitty strangling themselves during the night.
Thanks for warning us all. We learn from out mistakes, and from each other.
Hope you feel better soon

Mine are all tied up at the very top. When I do pull the blinds up I wind the cord around the curtain rod. I keep thinking I should untie them just in case, so I think I will be doing that.

I'm glad Zissou is ok!

Gosh that must have been scary, i keep all my blinds up and all the cords out of reach. it's kind of disconcerting at night time but i'm over it.

Yea, the front window I can keep the cords out of reach but this window is an odd shape: it starts at five feet up, is probably five feet long, but only maybe two feet tall, meaning that there is no way to keep the blind cords out of her reach. I keep them wrapped around the top part of the blinds, but she can still get at them.

Anna's mom, those products are great. I'll have to figure out something I can do like that in an apartment with a very anal landlord.

I'm glad Zissou is okay too! Thank you all for the good wishes.

It was one of the top scariest moments of my life, for sure. To wake up out of a stone sleep like that to find my baby girl basically being hanged right above me certainly got the adrenaline going.

The same thing happpened to my friends kitty! Definitely something to be careful of............

Oh my gosh!!, that is so scary...I'm glad to hear that everything is ok though!

I am so glad it is OK - how frightening!

My baby has been waking me playing with the rod that hangs down to adjust the blind slats - I have tied the cords around the curtains and/or the hook next to the window. The other day she was standing up on the sill to reach it and flipped herself over and fell. I was just thinking tonight about getting her a toy that she can bat at that will be more fun than the rods. I get woken EVERY night with her doing that.

Anyway, I am so glad you were right there to help your cat. Very scary.

Odo loves to play with the blinds. When I moved into this apartment, the first thing I did was to be sure the blinds were all in single strands. In one of my previous residences, Willow jumped from the low-to-the-ground window and got her neck caught in the blind cords. I was right there and was able to free her immediately, but since then I'm parnoid about such things. Odo still plays with the blind cords though, and I'm constantly checking them. Somtimes he gets them twisted around. Even though they aren't in a knot, they can still be dangerous if they get twisted enough.

I cut the ends on the cords after another scary incident made me think of it.

Watch out for paper bags with handles, too! When April Joy was a kitten she had a paper bag she liked to play with. One day she got her neck caught in the handle and I had to cut it to save her. I'm SO glad I was there!!