Devil Cats. A million problems.

[enuja]

Well, color me wrong. Sorry about doubting that cats can open fridges and doors with doorknobs.

But it appears that those with smarter cats than mine agree; you can find child locks and fridge locks that work. Keep us informed on how any new locks work!

 

[mrskelligay]

Originally Posted by kaete

I don't have any suggestions, but I just had to add... Lt. Pants can use a doorknob and open a door. He's walked in on me in the shower or on the potty

He's also opened the closet where we used to keep his food. It's also useless to shut the bedroom door. I don't really mind it; I think he's awfully clever and dextrous... but I wanted you to know that it's certainly possible

My little one is an evil genius.

Lol, mine refuse for any door to be shut. They follow me from room to room, even whenever I go to the bathroom... If I shut the door, they "knock" by continuously pawing the door. I usually leave every door slightly opened so they can just open it without any fuss... They also love playing in my shower, and when I'm showering, they like hanging out in between the shower curtains... which sometimes frightens me to think that one might fall in and freak out because of the the water...

Once, my cat Baby trapped himself locked into my pantry through my utility room.... somehow turned over a bucket of paint, let himself out into a bedroom and got white paw prints all over my floor and furniture... I have no idea how it happened, but it took forever to clean up... Silly cats.

 

[mrskelligay]

Originally Posted by Zane's Pal

Smart cats--any smart animal, really--need a lot of stimulation or they'll seek it out, probably in ways you don't want them to.

I'd say go to Drs Foster & Smith's CATalog and get lots of toys for them and see that they play with them a lot.

And get locks for the refrigerator and cupboards.

I have plenty of toys... and a toy drawer especially for them to open, treated with catnip (which they love)... They carry those toys around too... They do this all times of day when I'm here and can't play with them, for instance, when I am sleeping... They wake me up all times of night/day meowing with socks or toys in their mouths...

I play with them whenever I get the chance... They especially love the fish on a string toy... and I even made a homemade pillow toy the length of the cats stuffed in potent catnip, and they love it.... When I personally give them the toy, they roll around in it and try to eat it... But it seems they are never interested unless I am interacting with them...

 

[mrskelligay]

Originally Posted by howtoholdacat

I too have a cat who can turn round door knobs and let himself go wherever he pleases. He's never unlocked one but he did accidentally (I think) lock himself in the bathroom once. I had to pick the lock to get him out. I've always thought myself very lucky that he's not that big of an eater. He'd have pulled my kitchen down if he were.

Once, when I had company over, he found and brought me a tampon. The crinkly wrapper and "toy mouse" inside were just too much for him to resist I guess.

I'd try all the child safety gadgets that others have mentioned. Until you can physically stop their movements with regards to food you probably won't be able to change their behaviors. With the socks, I don't know? I have a basket of toys for my kids. Maybe if you put their own toys in something more fun for them to "hunt" in they'd forget the socks. Think a big cardboard box with some holes cut for their paws so they can reach in and smack toys around.

Wow, how humiliating... I've left out toys for them to play with, I usually do, and the carry them around, but nothing seems to satisfy them more than opening my husband's sock drawer and my sock/bra/whatever drawer... They even have their own cat toy drawer coated with catnip spray with catnip laying about inside the drawer as well... They respond well to catnip (they can't get enough of it)...

They love boxes. We have a cat bed that's kind of like a box that we left toys in before, but they never bothered with the bed or the toys in it...

 

[mrskelligay]

Originally Posted by Enuja

Well, color me wrong. Sorry about doubting that cats can open fridges and doors with doorknobs.

But it appears that those with smarter cats than mine agree; you can find child locks and fridge locks that work. Keep us informed on how any new locks work!

I haven't bought any locks for the refrigerator yet... but I forgot to mention that I have been using Soft Paws (covers for their claws) for the past few months so they can't shred the bottom of my refrigerator lining any more trying to open it... but they can still open it even with those things on their paws... The Soft Paws do help with putting an end to shredding my couches though... Not that it's very relevant...

 

[littleraven7726]

Honestly, it sounds like they are bored. Do you have any cat trees? Tall ones? This would also help with your scratching the furniture issue.
http://armarkat.com/
I put our big tree in front of our sliding patio door, the cats have a great view from there.

I have child safety locks on my lower cabinets. Way back when I first got my first 2 cats, they LOVED to play in the cabinets. Nabu would actually sleep in my pyrex baking dishes.

I didn't care, but my BF (now husband) did. So I got the child safety locks and bought some cat beds instead.

They had toys, but no forts.

Once I started getting forts/scratching posts, they got a lot less destructive. And I wished I would have known that the first few years I had them. I think they would have been happier.

Since your cats like boxes, why not get a cardboard box or 2 for them to play in? Once they are trashed, you toss them and get a new one. We always keep a box or 2 after moving for the cats to play in.

Right now, our local Target store has some lightweight (somewhat) easy to assemble forts on sale. I just bought one that looks like a pirate ship.

They have taller ones too. Wal-Mart carries a floor to ceiling tree, and some other cat forts. I have a wide variety of forts for the guys to play in. We have a tall 5' tree my husband built, many 1 and 2-story condos, scratching posts, and miscellaneous forts I got on clearance at Target.

I would also recommend a wand toy like Da Bird, for interactive play.

edit:
Warning--Even with cabinet locks, they can still bang the cabinet doors for attention. And certain cabinet locks still allow them to get into the cabinet and get stuck there. Nabu is a cabinet lock genius. It took 3 different kinds before we found one that worked best.

 

[zane's pal]

Originally Posted by mrskelligay

But it seems they are never interested unless I am interacting with them...

That goes to show how much they love you.

 

[mer636]

tiger likes to open my sock drawer and paw through the socks as well as lay down in the socks (I don't know why since my bf has stinky feet

)

he rarely takes any out but he loves to lay in them so

and i've caught tiger in the act of opening the drawer

wedges his two front paws in and pulls backwards

he's so darn cute