[brandon]

my two "darlings" have found a new toy while I am gone and I dont know how to stop them.

I recently replaced a set of metal mini-blinds on the front of my house that were broken. I installed a set of the plastic ones instead of the metal in case the kitties got to messing with them they wouldnt get bent up. Well I guess they are seeing shadows of birds or something through the blinds during the day cause they are attacking them with great vigor while I am gone at work.

They have bent and broken several slats halfway up the window (about 5 foot off the ground) and daily they seem to be screwed up in some way and now are going to have to be replaced again. How can I stop them from destroying these things aside from pulling them all the way or locking them in the bedroom since I cant just lock them out of this room (its central to the house)

 

[Annissa]

I've had good luck with vertical blinds. There's no strings for Sabby to get wrapped up in and he can easily knock them aside to see outside without damaging them at all.

 

[brandon]

you can get vertical blinds for windows? I thought that was only for doors ...

 

[Annissa]

Shucks no! The kind I got were really wide to fit my big front window, but they came in many widths, and you can trim them short with a pair of scissors. I've seen the verticals on regular (edit: I mean smaller, maybe 3 feet or so wide) windows, too.

 

[brandon]

its a big window.. hmmm i have so much to learn about what you can do to a house... must I watch HGTV?

 

[Annissa]

heheh...I actually enjoy watching HGTV. Not as much as TLC, but I'm a home improvement show addict. I have been since I was a kid and my dad used to sit me down on Sundays and watch This Old House and The New Yankee Workshop. I got my verticals from Home Depot. I'm a cheapskate, so I got two 6' blinds and each cost about $60. My window's only 11', so I've got a 1' section that covers part of the wall. But if I got custom blinds I was looking at over $600. One nice thing about having them too wide is that when I open them up, they don't obstruct my view.

Here's a picture of Sabby where you can kind of see what I'm talking about. You can (kind of) see how the slats stack in front of the wall instead of in front of the window on the right side of the photo.

 

[Zalensia]

hey i know this is a lil off topic so please excuse me, but i notice sabby has one of those activity centers. we sell them in the pet store i work in for £10 does he use it much.... are they worth buying? ive wondered about them but dont want to waste money.

 

[Annissa]

The catspa? It was totally worth it. He was playing with the combs before I had it all put together. I'm surprised I was able to find all the parts to it after he went tearing through everything. He rubs against the three green combs around the perimeter and that helps groom him. The dome on top has a little nub he rubs his teeth against to clean them. It's fun to watch him play with it.

My fiance sings a little song about it. To the tune of "Rock the Casbaugh" it goes:

The kitty, he won't like it
Rock the catspa
Rock the catspa

 

[brandon]

the trainwreck that trading spaces can be is rather amusing

 

[ForJazz]

Not sure if you're interested, but shadows show up less on dark blinds. Considered black?