That Cat Nearly Goes Splat

[madbaker]

Background: our Edwardian flat has double-hung windows - they open from the top as well as the bottom. The kitchen windows go all the way up to the ceiling. We generally don't leave the bottom window open much anymore, because Galen tries to investigate the Great Outdoors. Since it's a two-story drop to the concrete pit below, this Would Be Bad.

I was baking last night and it was warm, so we had one of the top windows open. Around 11:30 PM, the wife heard a meow she hadn't heard before... that's often a warning sign of some sort, so she hastened into the kitchen.

Galen had jumped onto the windowsill, and from there jumped onto the open top window frame. He was busy sniffing, with his feet on the window pane and his head hanging outside. As she came in, he scrabbled a bit and tried to get away - outside. Where he would have plummeted onto the concrete.

Needless to say, our windows now stay locked unless we're actively in the kitchen. This will make things much warmer next summer... but it's probably better than paraplegic kitty.

Comments

[maestrateresa.livejournal.com]

What about making a screen for part of the window? I use wooden baby gates to block off the sliding glass door area when it's open, to preven Max-forays into the great outdoors. They work really well, and I can visualize such a thing working well in your window, too.

[talonvaki.livejournal.com]

The ironic thing is, cats can survive falls from 4th story windows and higher with little injury. But between 2 and 4 stories, they can't do the preparation for landing properly and land badly with injury and death.

[goldenstag.livejournal.com]

There's gotta be a way to add screens in some fashion that won't damage the window frames. Not an expert on that, but ...

[patsmor.livejournal.com]

You can buy half-screens with wooden frames. People put them in the bottoms; you could put them in bottom and top, if you so chose...

You could also install one of those fans that goes in the window: like this:

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=72768-79995-HAWF-2041&lpage=none