Summer Heat+Window Screens Equal Danger for Your Kitty!!

As we try to catch a cool breeze in the summer heat it is common to leave windows and doors open. If we have screens on these openings it is easy to believe that our cats cannot get out. Not true. This is a case when curiosity can really kill the cat! Or lose a cat.

Most cats are capable of moving a screen enough to squeeze thorough. And some cats can even cut a hole in the screen with their claws and teeth. Your kitty might be innocently trying to get a bug. Or they may enjoy the feeling of scratching on the screen. Either way, you can unknowingly create a significant risk to your loved cats.

Rose, the owner and groomer of Better Kitty, learned this the hard way the first summer after she adopted her boy kitty Cotton. An indoor-only cat, Cotton pushed the screen out chasing bugs. Fortunately Rose lived on the ground floor and quickly realized he was outside and he was found safe and sound. But he could have easily been lost forever!

We know of cats which have been seriously injured falling through high open windows or which have been lost by getting though a screen door. (In the case of the fallen cat he is alive and well but required painful and expensive surgery for a broken hip.)

A kitty we care for broke through a window screen and hid in terror for two days before he was found.

Because of cats’ unique anatomy, they can fit through tiny openings. The rule we use: “if kitty’s head can get through, their body can follow”. Closely supervise cats if doors or windows must be briefly opened. A cat can disappear in a second!

Please see our previous blog post for hints on finding your cat if they do get out of your home. And especially for the steps you can take today, before your kitty is lost, to improve the chance of getting these precious family members back safe and sound.