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December 5, 2010 7:17 AM Subscribe
There's a closed door in my new house that leads to the basement. My cat wants to get into the basement behind the door, but she's not allowed. So she sits outside the door and cries and cries. How can I get her to stop?
Normally this wouldn't bother me that much, but I moved in to a place with roommates, and I'm trying to save everybody a headache. My cat is old and is generally quiet and well-behaved, but this closed door is driving her bonkers.
One complicating factor: the verboten door is on one end of the house and is right across the hall from the door leading into the bathroom where she has her litterbox. I've had success in the past using squirt bottles to modify cat behavior, but I hesitate to do it here because I don't want to scare her away from the general area.
Normally this wouldn't bother me that much, but I moved in to a place with roommates, and I'm trying to save everybody a headache. My cat is old and is generally quiet and well-behaved, but this closed door is driving her bonkers.
One complicating factor: the verboten door is on one end of the house and is right across the hall from the door leading into the bathroom where she has her litterbox. I've had success in the past using squirt bottles to modify cat behavior, but I hesitate to do it here because I don't want to scare her away from the general area.
I have a basement tenant, and my cat does the exact same thing. We solved it by every once in awhile letting the cat go down there. He has a look around, makes sure there are no other catty smells, checks under the dresser for mice(?) and after 10 minutes he is done. He comes upstairs, content all is okay in his territory. We let him 'check' it out once a month or so. Stopped his whining in front of her door.
posted by typewriter at 7:45 AM on December 5, 2010 [13 favorites]
posted by typewriter at 7:45 AM on December 5, 2010 [13 favorites]
A scat mat will do it.
It's a bit pricey ($70 or so), but you'll find uses in the future for it as well.
Put this in front of the door, and she will not want to be there (although, given your litter box situation, this may or may not work).
Question, why can't the cat go into the basement? Two of our cats spend 50% of their lives in the basement (by choice), it's a good place for the former feral cats to hide when they get skittish with people around.
posted by HuronBob at 8:08 AM on December 5, 2010
It's a bit pricey ($70 or so), but you'll find uses in the future for it as well.
Put this in front of the door, and she will not want to be there (although, given your litter box situation, this may or may not work).
Question, why can't the cat go into the basement? Two of our cats spend 50% of their lives in the basement (by choice), it's a good place for the former feral cats to hide when they get skittish with people around.
posted by HuronBob at 8:08 AM on December 5, 2010
Agreeing with Typewriter. My cat doesn't cry at the door to the craft room, but she was desperate to get in. I let her in every now and then under supervision, and now when I open the door to the room she's not trying to get in. She even waits outside the door for 'permission' to come in now.
posted by Caravantea at 8:09 AM on December 5, 2010
posted by Caravantea at 8:09 AM on December 5, 2010
You could try some of that feline pheromone spray (Feliway is one brand) on the door, which may calm her down a bit.
posted by orme at 8:20 AM on December 5, 2010
posted by orme at 8:20 AM on December 5, 2010
A basement seems (to me, anyway, as a Floridian who doesn't have one) a very cat-friendly kind of place. Dark and easy to hide in.
I'd suggest either letting your cat go in, supervised, on occasion, as others have responded, OR just open the basement door and install a child-gate across the area. Cats won't jump on something where they don't have support, so your cat won't jump on top of the gate, and if she can see what's actually there (closed doors are always tempting to cats just for their curiosity-factor), she may lose interest entirely.
posted by misha at 9:49 AM on December 5, 2010
I'd suggest either letting your cat go in, supervised, on occasion, as others have responded, OR just open the basement door and install a child-gate across the area. Cats won't jump on something where they don't have support, so your cat won't jump on top of the gate, and if she can see what's actually there (closed doors are always tempting to cats just for their curiosity-factor), she may lose interest entirely.
posted by misha at 9:49 AM on December 5, 2010
About a child gate - cats most certainly WILL jump over one if they're determined to see what's on the other side, even if it's on top of some stairs.
posted by Addlepated at 10:43 AM on December 5, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by Addlepated at 10:43 AM on December 5, 2010 [2 favorites]
Holy crap, Addlepated, really?!I'm sorry, OP. I've never had that happen, but I don't want to be responsible for leaping cats tumbling down the stairs, so maybe you should just listen to the other more practical suggestions in the thread.
posted by misha at 11:15 AM on December 5, 2010
posted by misha at 11:15 AM on December 5, 2010
My cats would jump over a baby gate 2 seconds after I put it up.
Have you just moved in? When I moved into a studio apartment, my cat could not understand that the one room of the studio was the entire place, and cried at the front door for a few weeks. After a while, though, he figured out that it wasn't someplace he was going to be able to hang out, and he quit on his own.
posted by something something at 12:53 PM on December 5, 2010 [1 favorite]
Have you just moved in? When I moved into a studio apartment, my cat could not understand that the one room of the studio was the entire place, and cried at the front door for a few weeks. After a while, though, he figured out that it wasn't someplace he was going to be able to hang out, and he quit on his own.
posted by something something at 12:53 PM on December 5, 2010 [1 favorite]
No worries, Misha - I am owned by Siamese and their ilk, which are more like small monkeys than cats, so nothing, I mean NOTHING, is too high/small/dangerous for their walnut-sized brains. Just want to warn off any others who might have similarly inclined beasts.
posted by Addlepated at 1:08 PM on December 5, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by Addlepated at 1:08 PM on December 5, 2010 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Here's the thing with the basement: the owner of the place has a TON of stuff down there. I'm reticent to let her down there for fear that she'll eat something she's not supposed to or get into something she's not supposed to.
I'm also concerned that if we let her go down there, one of these days she's going to be down there when the door gets shut and then she'll be stuck without our knowing.
The suggestions for letting her go down there to satiate her curiosity seem good. But she did the same thing in our last apartment. I had a studio, and she cried to be let in the closet. She liked it in there because it was dark and she could sleep in the duffel bags. I didn't want her in there, so I kept the door shut. Every once in a while she'd get in there, but that didn't stop her crying. So I'm not sure that solution is going to work for the basement problem I've got now.
posted by soonertbone at 2:02 PM on December 5, 2010
I'm also concerned that if we let her go down there, one of these days she's going to be down there when the door gets shut and then she'll be stuck without our knowing.
The suggestions for letting her go down there to satiate her curiosity seem good. But she did the same thing in our last apartment. I had a studio, and she cried to be let in the closet. She liked it in there because it was dark and she could sleep in the duffel bags. I didn't want her in there, so I kept the door shut. Every once in a while she'd get in there, but that didn't stop her crying. So I'm not sure that solution is going to work for the basement problem I've got now.
posted by soonertbone at 2:02 PM on December 5, 2010
If she knows that she's not supposed to cry at the door but is doing so anyway, then put the vacuum cleaner by the door (or on the other side of it), with the cord going to a socket in the living room. When she cries at the door (and only when she cries), turn it on for a second, (from the other room).
(If she doesn't know that she's not supposed to be doing this, teach her, rather than jumping straight to negative feedback.)
posted by -harlequin- at 8:05 PM on December 5, 2010
(If she doesn't know that she's not supposed to be doing this, teach her, rather than jumping straight to negative feedback.)
posted by -harlequin- at 8:05 PM on December 5, 2010
A friend did something similar to harlequin's suggestion, to protect his Christmas tree. You need one small vacuum cleaner (like a dirt devil) and one of those motion sensor outlets used for security lights. Put the motion sensor outlet just in front of the door, with the dirt devil plugged in to the outlet. Put the dirt devil behind the door, so just the power cord is running under the door. Cat goes in front of door, motion sensor triggers, dirt devil turns on - Cat is OMFG scary vacuum cleaner monster behind door! Hopefully you could angle it so that when she is going to the bathroom to use her litter tray, the motion sensor doesn't trip.
posted by Joh at 9:55 PM on December 5, 2010
posted by Joh at 9:55 PM on December 5, 2010
Maybe get one of those stand up dressers, that is like a portable closet. Give your cat another tempting door. Make it resemble that closet you never let her into, but this time let her go into it. Make it her dark hangout. Maybe she is just looking for a quirt dark place she can hide away in, unless she already has a place under the bed.
posted by Sully at 12:06 AM on December 6, 2010
posted by Sully at 12:06 AM on December 6, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by LOLAttorney2009 at 7:24 AM on December 5, 2010 [1 favorite]