Thread: !! Screens !!
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Old October 22nd 06, 11:02 PM posted to rec.pets.cats.health+behav
meeee
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Default !! Screens !!


wrote in message
ps.com...
We live in an apartment complex, so this is a security deposit issue.
Big bucks. Perhaps a thousand dollars.

Our kittens are about six months old now, indoor calico kittens/cats.
They love hanging out on the screened porch, which is ground level.
They can eyeball people walking by, and listen to birds, that kind of
thing.

BUT they have learned they can climb up on the screens, even run around
on these "walls" like Spiderman. They didn't do this very frequently
even a month ago, but they certainly are doing it now. They are growing
and getting heavier ... the screens are starting to show the damage.
They've caused one small tear already.

The screens in this apartment were almost pristine before the cats
showed up. The screens aren't pristine now.

If a grasshopper or some other bug lands on a screen, I have seen one
of the cats jump from halfway across the porch and all the way up to
the top of the screen, landing heavily, in an attempt to catch this
bug.

Will the apartment managers notice? I'd bet so; as I said, we're on
the ground floor, near the entrance, and the two kittens draw attention
(they're beautiful). I see people jogging by with their I-pods, and
they will turn their heads to look at the great calico cats running up
and down the screens.

So ...

I have banned them from the porch, for now, until the wife and I come
up with some sort of strategy. Like spraying Bitter Apple on the
screens each and every time they go out. Or taping up tin foil.

Of course, the cats don't understand. They keep hinting that they'd
like to go out on the porch again.

Does anyone have any experience or suggestions? We do not want to be
shelling out a thousand dollars to replace the landlord's screens.

tom


Lol my cats have destroyed most of the screens here too. I'm not sure what
your are like, but I'm pretty sure we can replace the flyscreen on ours.
Ours are the security type; solid steel 'mesh' on the outside, flyscreen on
the inside. There are several screws around the sides that DH says he can
unscres, so we will just buy screen from the hardware when we move out, and
re-do the damaged ones.