Queen Eva havok rekker

[otto]

Queen Eva is rekkin havok again.

She likes to get into the cupboards and climb around. At first this was okay with me until she started knocking cans out. They would sometimes land on the counter, but often crashed to the floor which caused me to worry about danger to any cat who might be beneath her.

So I blocked access to that cupboard by sliding something through the two handles. Last night I forgot to slide the thing through and she was up there in no time:



....



Anyway, after I blocked that cupboard she started getting into the pots and pans cupboard below. At first, again, I didn't mind that though she made a ton of noise (the beauty of it I suppose) and every time I needed a pot or pan I had to dig the whole pile out to find the one I wanted, then put them all back in neatly. Which also was Great Fun for her.(ooh whatcha doin mom, can I play too?)


(and then wash the pot or pan in case her little paws had been in it, but I really didn't mind that)

I also worried about her hurting herself during all the crashing and banging but it wasn't until I discovered her latest trick that I blocked off that cupboard too.

I keep certain toys put away in a drawer as they are not safe for unsupervised play. Thin elastic strings on them mostly.

One day when I came home I found to my horror two of those toys out free in the house, one on the kitchen floor and one downstairs.

The drawer was still closed. I put them away again, but was mystified....until two nights ago when I discovered that when Queen Eva plays in the pan cupboard not only is she just making a beautiful noise.

She somehow gets herself into the drawer from inside the cupboard and pulls out these dangerous toys. I have now blocked access to that cupboard too.

There is still one of those elastic string toys missing. It's an old one and the elastic is really not stretchy anymore but I don't like to leave them out, and I hope it turns up soon because I am going to worry until I find it.

 

[frankthetank]

Your picture of her getting into the cabinets cracks me up. My Joey likes to get into the cabinets. We taped them shut, but he can pull the cabinet open enough to bite through the tape, or claw through it, and open it. He usually just gets up there to hide though, and he likes to sleep on our dinner plates which adds a lot more washing for me.
Toby likes to watch me do dishes, and will walk through the dish drainer of clean wet dishes if I let him, to sit behind the dish drainer and knock anything on the ledge into the sink and watch the water go down the drain. He LOVES water....he splashes it out of his water dish and watches it spread across the floor. This morning he knocked a glass of water down so he could watch the water spread...

 

[catbehaviors]

Sorry, but I couldn't help but laugh while reading this.

Queen Eva is at her antics again!

 

[otto]

Yep, she's a little minx, that Queen Eva. Any bets on how long it takes her to figure out how to remove the cupboard blocker? She's working hard on it:

She tried this side:


And then the other side:


And then tried from underneath: (video, click on to play)
http://s693.photobucket.com/albums/...vvok rekkin/?action=view&current=041941c7.mp4

PS I meant for this thread to be in the picture section

 

[bastetservant]

Cute and funny, but. . . . You may have to install childproof fasteners. I had to do that for my Oliver - also a black DSH who was part monkey.

I just installed the plastic lever ones that go inside. You have to use a tool to push them down to get the cabinet or drawer open. They install easily, but you need an electric drill. I think most any hardware store would have them.

What a lot of fun this kitten is! Someday you'll look back with nostalgia at this time. But Ollie never stopped doing things like opening the sock drawer in the dresser and taking all the socks out and dragging them all over the house. I still have all the childproof fasteners to deal with, but I don't mind because it makes me remember him.

Robin

 

[otto]

Hi robin, thanks for looking. I can't use child proof fasteners. I have terrible arthritis and would not be able to manage them.

I do think the cardboard (it's a flattened paper towel roll) may be too flexible, I don't want her to hurt herself trying to squeeze in.

The other lower cupboard has been kept shut for years with a slat of thin wood,(to keep them from getting under the sink where I keep cleaners and such) and I guess I will dig out another piece for the pots and pans cupboard

 

[bastetservant]

The childproof fasteners I have you don't, can't, undo with your hands. You have to open the drawer or cupboard door and press down this plastic arm with a tool. Fingers wouldn't fit. I use a wooden spoon to push the levers down.

But, whatever, you'll figure something out to outsmart Q.E. (probably

).

Robin

 

[otto]

Originally Posted by bastetservant

The childproof fasteners I have you don't, can't, undo with your hands. You have to open the drawer or cupboard door and press down this plastic arm with a tool. Fingers wouldn't fit. I use a wooden spoon to push the levers down.

But, whatever, you'll figure something out to outsmart Q.E. (probably

).

Robin

Yes, I would have a lot of trouble with something like that. My hands do not like to do what I tell them much, any more.

Even sliding the slat back and forth is a pain in the neck as I am into those two cupboard often through out the day, but I've kind of gotten used to it.

As for outsmarting Queen Eva...heh heh heh...I just don't know.....

 

[mystik spiral]

That little girl is so cute, and so much trouble. I don't want to hijack the thread, but do you think our petite black beauties were separated at birth?

 

[my4llma]

She is so cute! Mine aren't interested in the cabinets. Unless we open the doors. They don't try on their own. Midnight is still jumping into the fridge on us every time we open the door. Luckily he's so big now the door could never shut with him in there!

 

[otto]

Originally Posted by Mystik Spiral

That little girl is so cute, and so much trouble. I don't want to hijack the thread, but do you think our petite black beauties were separated at birth?

No worries about hijacking, Holland is welcome in any thread of mine!

She is so cute in those pics and she does resemble Queen Eva there with that bright eyed look.

Originally Posted by My4LLMA

She is so cute! Mine aren't interested in the cabinets. Unless we open the doors. They don't try on their own. Midnight is still jumping into the fridge on us every time we open the door. Luckily he's so big now the door could never shut with him in there!

Queen Eva is a fridge jumper too. And she IS small enough to get in. I got the the habit very early on to look before closing the door. To look before closing ANY door, for that matter.

 

[otto]

1) I found the missing elastic string toy, under the covers on my bed just now when I made the bed. I guess it slept with us last night. ( I usually make the bed in the morning, but Tolly was in it this morning, so I left it unmade.)

2) I put the toy away in it's drawer, but not before noticing that the strip of fur on the end has been chewed down to half the size it was previously. It was small to begin with but I'll be doing some poop watching for the next couple of days. (another reason it's never left out)

3) I felt so bad about taking away her entertainment that I decided to allow limited supervised access to the pots and pans cupboard. ONLY when I am in the kitchen. At all other times the doors will be blocked.

4) Within 5 minutes of getting into the pots and pans cupboard Queen Eva had two of the elastic string toys extricated from the drawer (from the back way, as before. By the way, the drawer is the one on the left in the pictures.)

5) I have relocated the three elastic string toys to a new home, which is less accessible (to her) but more inconvenient (to me).

 

[bluerexbear]

This makes me really wish I had had my camera when, earlier tonight, we left the dinner dishes on the table and went to pet our bunnies. When we returned, each cat was in a chair licking the food off our plates! Gotta love them furbabies!!!

 

[addiebee]

Archie is my cupboard dweller... He has his "spot" that is part escape part hiding place. I don't have any handles on my K cabinets... making them impossible to cat proof.

 

[myfamiliars]

Queen Eva is as smart as she is beautiful!

 

[otto]

Originally Posted by BlueRexBear

This makes me really wish I had had my camera when, earlier tonight, we left the dinner dishes on the table and went to pet our bunnies. When we returned, each cat was in a chair licking the food off our plates! Gotta love them furbabies!!!

That would have been a GREAT shot! I keep my camera handy at all times...as you can probably tell.

Originally Posted by AddieBee

Archie is my cupboard dweller... He has his "spot" that is part escape part hiding place. I don't have any handles on my K cabinets... making them impossible to cat proof.

They do have another cupboard they are allowed into, it holds rags and other things I don't know where else to put. But not as fun as the pots and pans cupboard, obviously.

Originally Posted by myfamiliars

Queen Eva is as smart as she is beautiful!

Thank you. Queen Eva agrees wholeheartedly!

 

[sneakymom]

I wonder if the "cabinet fascination" is a black cat "thing".

If Holly is bored- she'll go into the bathroom. You'll hear "BANG, BANG". Holly's trying to open up the cabinet. She actually got into the downstairs bathroom one.

She likes dresser drawers too

Has never managed to open one yet.

Cheryl

 

[blueyedgirl5946]

It is a black cat thing. Our Max would open drawers in the bathroom and pull it out on the floor. He would open the cabinet beneath the kitchen sink and walk around in there. His previous owner told me when he did that it was because he was hungry. When they would go to work and forget to feed him he knew the cat food was under the sink. He would open the cabinet, turn over the box and feed himself. So she knew he was hungry when I told her what Max was doing.

Your pictures of this cat sure made us think of Max and his antics.

 

[otto]

Tolly is a cupboard door banger from way back. He taught Mazy, and Mazy cat took it so seriously I used to have to put kitchen chairs in front of the cupboard doors at night.

They all like to get into the rag cupboard, and on occasion the pots and pans cupboard, but Queen Eva has perfected it to a fine art.

She even climbed up into the shallow drawer (from behind). My battery was charging so I didn't get the picture, I wish I had, it was so funny to see her flattened in that drawer looking up at me. She hasn't done that since, maybe she realized it wasn't a good spot to be in.

The handle block did not hold her for long. Queen Eva has figured out that she can still squeeze in, in spite of me blocking the doors the way it's pictured.

I discovered that a couple days ago when I came home for lunch and couldn't find the little minx. I looked and looked and called and called becoming more and more frantic, then I heard a CRASH! come from the pots and pans cupboard. Next I saw a black paw come snaking out, and then this slender black kitten slipping through blinking up at me all innocent

"wot? Eye wass haffinin eh NAPP"

So now I roll the washing machine over in front of the pots and pans cupboard doors before I leave for the day.

PS Last night I got some video of Queen Eva Cupboard Surfing. As soon as it is edited for brevity I'll post it.

 

[mystik spiral]

This thread is so funny, and I love that cupboard curiosity is common among our black cats (and Tolly! I

Tolly!).

I'm certain I will know if/when Holland ever has hearing problems, because she will come running whenever I open a cabinet. ANY cabinet. And if I close it again without letting her in, she looks at me like "What the... ?"

So I'm just used to letting her look in every cabinet. Closely supervised anywhere that could be dangerous, but if not, I'll even leave cabinet doors open and just let her at them...