Help! Kittens and recliner sofa

[LokeyCokey]

We rehomed two kittens at the weekend and they are obsessed with our recliner sofa as a hiding spot. I never even thought about it (so naive!) because our old cats never went under/ in it! We have done a DIY job to block the gaps under it using foam pipes and thought I’d nailed it but alas they have found away in so back to the drawing board… has anyone got any good tips or tricks we might be missing?
And before anyone suggests it… no I can’t get new sofas as tempting as it is!

When we first got our 3 they hid under the reclining bit. In the end we kept it open so at least we could see if they were there

@needcoffeeandchocolatei can see the logic in this but sadly think it might be impractical in our house because both sofas when reclined take up most of the room!

Our kittens loved our recliner. (This was 30 years ago). Used to have to check it each time it was used, drove my Dad bananas !

Is it an electric recliner? Can you unplug it so it won't move? They'll come back iut again when they get bored.

When my first 2 came home (adults), they found their way inside the covers of my reclining sofa and would hide inside the mechanism area! I just didn't use the recliner for a while, until they no longer felt the need to hide away a lot. I still spent months just checking I had eyes on both before reclining anyway.

I'm sure you can pass on using the recliner function for a while until they settle in. You said this weekend, so give them a bit more time to settle properly & the problem should go away on it's own with a bit of patience.

I am happy not using the recline function but my husband prefers it, although he’ll cope without it temporarily. My main issue is when they go in they don’t come back out and I don’t want to let them do it or I worry they will always see it as a “safe space” which worries me from a safety point of view…

I would shut them out of the room/in a safe room until they are relaxed enough not to seek out dark, safe spaces.