How do I keep a cat away from an area that is not safe?

[sammikay876]

Recently I had to move back home with my parents (for financial reasons), and I'm staying in their finished basement with my kitties and dog. The girls have taken a liking to jumping up into the basement windows and slinking through the drop ceiling. First of all, it's not safe for them because they keep falling through the tiles or getting tangled in wires. Secondly, it drives me crazy because I'm sick of re-cutting tiles and they knock everything down to get up there. The drywall is destroyed now and they keep going for the insulation (a hazard in it's own). I've tried putting a wire grate where the drop hits the window, but of course they've figured that out. I also have tried cat repellant spray, but that does not last long at all.

Has anyone found a successful way to keep cats out of dangerous areas? I understand that they love to be up high, but there are so many other spaces for them that are safer and less expensive for us.

Thanks in advance!

 

[mservant]

Only way I've found is completely blocking/boarding up I'm afraid.  Your dropped ceiling space sounds SO perfect for curious cats too and I bet they will make every effort to get in there!

Is it a space you need to keep air flow through? Could you pack something tightly along the open edge e.g. insulating wadding, then put your grate or tape over with a thick polythene sheet so they can't pull out the wadding?  I have a couple of open chimney flues and have the wadding stuffed up in to the space so it is firm and tight, then polythene taped over so it can't be pulled out. I used to have a metal plate taped over the front of one of the fireplaces but it looked really ugly so I've replaced that with the same wadding hard packed in to the flue space and then thick sheet polythene taped in to the fire recess to seal up the area.  I have to do something similar with any gaps that my cat might try to squeeze in to as he loves nothing better than to explore..... 

You could try something like the sticky tape idea this site posted to train cats not to get up on to work surfaces but I'm not sure that would work fast enough for you here?

Good luck. Am interested to see if anyone else has found ways of coping.

 

[jcat]

Can you staple (or tape) polypropylene netting over the gaps? That would allow air flow, but should keep them out. You'd have to really look around for it, but there's actually "bite-proof" net (that's what we used to secure our balcony). Suppliers of cat-proof fences usually sell it, but you might find something similar at a home-improvement store. There's also "PetScreen", which is quite tough, but pliable.