cat up chimney!

ACK! The little Siamese blend (I may name him 'Finney,' for some reason) just ran up the chimney!

Every young cat who's visited has been interested in my chimney. There is no flue. Most of them are satisfied with just standing on their hind legs and looking up.

THIS one. I hear a rustle and go into the living room, and then I see a tail hanging down from the chimney! And as I sob and scream 'come down, come down' I see it begin to disappear up higher!

He finally jumped down and ran across the room

The screen in front of our fireplace keeps the sparks in and the cat out. He tried to climb over it and it fell over on him with a lot of clatter and comotion. It didn't hurt him because it is so lightweight, but he hasn't climbed on it again.

He hasn't seen the fireplace in use as he was born in the spring. I wonder what his reaction will be when we light a fire in it this

When we used to have an open fire, we used to stuff newspaper up the chimney during the summer, simply to stop soot and stuff falling down, this might work to stop them going too far up the chimney. Just remember to take it out before you light a fire!!!!!!

There should be a damper you can close when the fireplace is not in use. To keep house heat and cats from going up the chimney. Failing that, get a glass covered fireplace screen.

You might find he hates it - fires hiss and spit. My landlord struck a match once to light a pilot and the cat ran from it - like his tail was on fire. Chakolate

Gwen, just a couple of thoughts:

Buy a large piece of plywood to put up in front of the fireplace (prop it up with books or something heavy), not pretty, but it might work. You could also try taping large sheets of aluminum foil over the fireplace and/or chimney opening; some cats hate the sound of the foil rustling. What else? Spray the area with an odor unpleasant to cats (I think Petsmart carries some products to keep cats off furniture, why wouldn't it work here?). Good luck and keep us posted!

Christine (meowmie to Omar, Midnight, Shetra & Oreo)

I have a screen in front of my chimney, but anything will do!

ob.

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I'm sorry I have no idea for you... luckily enough when it happened to Dallas we were in a holiday house, so it could just happen once... Look here: http://www.geocities.com/dallas_e_dynasty/foto12.htm The story is in Italian, but the cat in the pictures is not a pretty Calico girl: it's just my fat boy after climbing the chimney at 1am in the morning )

I hope this can cheer you up...

Oh I never saw them before!!! Wow. Puffy kitties!! Did you say they were strays?

Looks like Mom got more soot on her than the kitty did! lol They are adorable and you can see ATTITUDE all over those little faces.

I think folks are giving you lots of solutions but here is one idea for anyone with more than one fireplace.

I have 2- one in the main TV living room which I use in the winter and another in the mostly unoccupied family room. Since I am single with three cats, that is the family. The 4 month old has all his toys in there so it's not unlike a nursery. I was wondering how to arrange my litter box when I bought the place last year, and only recently realized- 'Hey- I don't use that fireplace! Perfect for the litter box!!' And it is- fewer granules on the carpet! The flue remains closed of course...