Kittens and stairs

[littleroad]

We have just adopted two 12 week old kittens and are at the point of slowly opening the house up for them. We have an open banister up the stairs and along the whole length of the landing. I'm concerned about it being a potential fall hazard and have been looking at stair/ bannister material guards. However I've also read these can encourage jumping up onto the bannister itself so potentially are more dangerous! Looking for any advice.

Our stairs are the same. Older cats never been bothered- 6 months old kittens love jumping down from the landing to the stairs. We also have an old brass bell at the bottom by the kitchen door (to summon the human youngsters for dinner) and the kittens love hanging off the rope and ringing it. At 5am. They’re little tinkers.

No advice but your kittens are like mine! I've had mine for around 6 weeks now

So cute

For the open windows issue, https://www.flatcats.co.uk/ are good.

My cats have always liked playing trick or treat through the top bannisters, cat lies on the top landing , slave on the stairs , cats pull themselves along at amazing speed towards a hand , you need to keep your wits about you .

I laughed at the picture of the kitten up the curtains! Shall we warn the OP about kittens and Christmas trees or let her find out for herself - they will be the perfect age for it.

I definitely have that issue in my head! We cannot remember our last cats being half as naughty as these two. They are quite wild. But so cute that all is forgiven. Immediately!

The current favourite is on top of the drying pulley! Getting down is not graceful!

Sorry to jump on this old thread but I’ve had cats my whole life and never had an issue with stairs until now. I’ve even lived in a boat with a cat (he did fall in once or twice).

I’ve recently adopted two ten month old kittens and one regularly balances on the banisters giving me heart failure. 10 days ago she started limping and couldn’t raise her tail. Then her back legs were giving way. An emergency trip to the vets, several x rays and more than £1000 later (insured luckily) all we can think is that she fell from the upper banister and hit her back on the lower banister on the way down. Fortunately nothing was broken and just seemed to be a soft tissue injury.

She’s been locked in my bedroom for most of a week to ensure she rests but this morning was chasing around the house with her sister and once again was up on the banister, balancing precariously, and I had to catch her. The banisters are slippery and she can’t catch them with her claws. Even worse if I’ve had a towel draped over the banister she may have had her claws caught in the towel and was even less able to right herself before hitting the lower rail or stairs.

i don’t know what to do about these banisters and am wondering if I can cover them with something to give them more grip. She’s now back in my bedroom! 😥