Fat Cat Pulled Down Curtains!

G-WWBB

Our fat lump of a cat, Murray, has always loved jumping up curtains. When he was a kitten he was always up the bedroom curtains, he'd jump up, swing for a second, then jump down. He was always too quick for us to actually get to him with the water spray (think he knew that was on the cards, so got his fix before we had chance to spray him!) after a few months he stopped doing this, so we just figured it was a faze.
He has more toys than I had as a kid and is constantly playing, either with us, by himself or with our other mogs. He's nearly 2 years old but is still very kitten like, so we always have playtime with him.

About a month ago, we replaced the blinds in the living room as the cats had brutally murdered them. We decided rather than replacing them with blinds, which would only get eaten again, we'd get some nice curtains.
Remembering Murray's earlier days, we thought we'd go for the eyelet ones as figured they'd be more secure with the pole than any others.

Literally, within hours of putting them up, he started jumping up them again. Same thing, jump up and a second later he's back down - no time to spray.
As a kitten, this didn't really have much effect on the bedroom curtains and rail, however, now he's over 6 kilos, you can pretty much hear the brackets screaming every time he jumps up!

The screws have been replaced several times with bigger screws each time as his weight loosens them. Then finally, Saturday evening, he jumped up, the screws gave out and the curtain pole came crashing down. Thankfully, we were there at the time and he wasn't injured at all, scared the living daylights out of him though, we didn't see him for about an hour afterwards.

We want to put the curtains back up as we feel like Big Brother in the evening with the neighbours being able to see in, but has anyone had any previous experience with this? Is there anything we can spray on the curtains to deter him?
Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks all.

Emma.

purple.sarah

I'm sorry, that must have been very annoying but the mental image is quite funny Regarding sprays, I've had success with Shaws Repel All- a training aid formulated to keep pets away from your furniture, carpets and other places. The smell is naturally very unpleasant to animals and they quickly learn to avoid it. Our cats hated our new sofa and developed an awful habit of scratching (and marking :eek:) it. We used the spray regularly and it broke the habit so it is worth a try. You do have to use it everyday though, don't be discouraged if it doesn't work the first time.

Caroline_a

You might find that, having been scared half to death by it all falling in on him, he doesn't go near again!

G-WWBB

As frustrating as it was, it was pretty funny at the time (my partner didn't think so) but it's not like Murray intentionally set out to demolish the curtain rail (I hope!).
I'll give the Repel All a whirl once we've put the curtains back up, thanks for the tip with that

He's not the smartest of moggies Caroline, he hates the hoover, but when we get it out he'll rub up against it, sniff it, headbump it, we'll put him out of the room but he'll charge back in to be next to it (our others run to another room as soon as it's out of the cupboard), then as soon as we turn it on there's a brief look of terror on his face and he then tries to bolt from the scene. I say 'tries' as he's a fluffball, he has fur between his toes, so bolting on laminate just has him running on the spot for a few seconds before he slides off skidding in all directions. Everytime...
I do hope you're right though!

walwin

I saw this on the competition forum and thought of you

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4256969


I know it's not really funny but I did have to giggle when I pictured him

heartbreak_star

Another one who's glad he's not hurt but almost laughing till she cries!

My mum reckons dilute oil of cloves in a spray will help - animals hate the smell of cloves.

HBS x

G-WWBB

Ready made curtains, just for him, he'd love it! Lol.

Diluted clove spray, noted, thank you for that, and your mum too

Fire_Fox

As well as longer screws you need more solid fixings, you might need to 'glue' the rawl plugs into the wall instead of just pushing them into a dry hole. Also extra brackets or longer brackets with more screw holes so you spread the load, you can get poles and fixings that are designed for very weighty curtains (heavy duty). You might even find a metal track is better.

G-WWBB

I did think about doubling up on the brackets, just for reinforcement, hadn't even considered the glue though, great idea, thanks! Also thought about brackets closer to the wall in the hope they wouldn't bend as much, whether that would make a difference I don't know?

Fire_Fox

G-WWBB wrote: »

I did think about doubling up on the brackets, just for reinforcement, hadn't even considered the glue though, great idea, thanks! Also thought about brackets closer to the wall in the hope they wouldn't bend as much, whether that would make a difference I don't know?

I think some people have glued the rawl plug in when they Polyfilla, rather than actual glue. Might be an even better product/ method if you Google or post on the DIY board.

G-WWBB

Thanks all for the advice, we opted for bigger plugs and longer screws, and so far, the curtains have been up for 6 days! He hasn't even so much sniffed at them.
Another suggestion we've had is to reinforce the wall with an additional wood plank/beam. As the wall isn't a proper wall, one side is brick, the other side and middle are hollow like an indoor wall, so it isn't really design for our fatty! So, IF the rascal pulls them down again, we'll be giving this a whirl.
Thanks again all