Hi All,

I have two Bengal cats who are 5 years old now and two domestic cats that are 2 years old, all of them equally crazy! I am after getting some Venetian blinds but wanted to ask if anyone has these and how have they survived the cat treatment? I have had some samples sent to me from internet companies but they look so flimsy and cheap and I know that my cats will either chew them to bits or snap them. Are there any more hard wearing materials around that anyone knows of? Do any of you have these blinds and have your cats been kind to them?

Thanks

I've had/tried a number of different blinds. Here's what I've found:

The tall vertical ones work (survive) very well. The cats like to brush them aside and then can look out the door/window. Those have survived without a blemish.

The thick faux-wood horizontal blinds also work well.

The thin metal horizontal blinds get destroyed. Cats want to stick their paws/heads/bodies through the slots, and pretty soon the thin metal is all bent out of shape and mangled. Whatever you do, avoid those.

The "block out" blinds work ok. The cats want to "wedge" behind those, but they hold up ok. I recently got some of the "bottom up/top down" ones and I really love those. I've had that about 6 months now and they've held up very well to young bengal/oriental abuse.

One problem with all the blinds are the draw strings. The cats always want to play/bite/bat at the dangling cords.

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The little monsters 3

Blinds??? What are those? Jk since having BB we have had to either take down or replace every single one of them in the house. We had metal blinds to begin with and those lasted about 2 weeks with her, so we went and bought the most durable and most expensive blinds that they had at our local home improvment store. They have lasted about 6 months now and they dont get bent or anything like that! They are the faux wood blinds and I love them. I just have one problem with them. BB chews on the edges all the time. There is only one window she does it in and its our family room. Needless to say they dont hold up very well with teeth I will post a picture so you can see!!!

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ok for some reason I cant post a pic? I am sure you get the idea though!

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my wooden and aluminum venetian blinds are fine, kitties never bothered them.

Any type of material blinds or curtains.....................gotta be kidding

I hear the plinking of the aluminium slats being bent by one of mine every morning - its his new thing to wake me up (grrrr).
They aren't bothered by the wooden ones, they rub their heads on them but thats it. My roller blinds however have tiny little holes from their claws where they think its a new scratching post

Purposely I have brought cheap blinds from Ikea and Homebase (UK obviously) so that i can replace them cheaply if i need too.

I have wooden ones too, and my 2 don't bother with them much now. Ginny used to squeeze through between the slats to chase flies
when she was smaller, but hasn't tried lately.

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The little monsters 3

I've had both cheap and expensive Venetian blinds.

Cheap plastic ones mysteriously developed tiny holes in the ends of a few slats. Must have been a factory defect
Also when a slat was bent, the slat had a 'memory' and could never be straightened out and looked terrible. I also think cat or not these type of blinds won't last long anyways.

Then I bought several ones made by Hunter Douglass through a guy I met with a home furnishing business. They cost 3-4x more than the cheapos and are metal. I almost passed on these due to the cost. The HD's have been messed with over the past by my cats many times but not one slat has ever been damaged. I just had to replace one of these blinds recently as a string broke near the top that holds the salts itself. Called the guy who I bought them who first offered assistance to help repair them, but the string broke in a place that made them unrepairable. Amazingly he had records of the initial purchase which was over 10 years ago and sold me a second set for cost!

Sometimes I hear the blinds clunking in the window, but I think it's just a message telling me my furbags want to look out the window. And we all know cats like to look out the window, so I just simply accommodate their wishes and raise the blinds like a good servant.

Tips: I found that coiling up the drawstring and using a rubber band near the top eliminated cats batting at it. I also shortened the control rods too so as not to be another play toy.

I take back what i said about the aluminium blinds - I have a cat shaped hole in it now.
They are still leaving the wooden ones alone tho!

Echoplexxia's - Linux
Nice blinds, but for how long, I wonder???

He looks so innocent...

Wow thanks for the responses, several have made me laugh out loud!!

It hasn't put me off getting Venetian blinds, I think the moral of the posts are to either invest in some really good ones, or buy cheap and expect them to be trashed!

Thanks guys!