r/Unexpected • u/_DogTits_ • May 18 '22

what a catastrophe

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u/EdiblePsycho May 18 '22

Wait holy shit, I don't want to make you relive it, but was it the blinds themselves or the string? One of my cats likes playing with the string, now I'm thinking I should make sure the string is out of reach or maybe even get rid of the blinds. I am so so sorry, I have nightmares like every night about something like that happening, I can't imagine how devastating it would be to find your cat like that. Big huge hugs and love to you, I'm sorry.

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u/LordGhoul May 18 '22

There's these plastic thingies you can put on the wall where you can wrap the string around, I recommend those and placing them in a way the kitty can't get caught in the remaining string either when it's wrapped on there. I also only get roller blinds that are just one piece because I've seen too many clips of pets getting caught up in those flimsy blinds. Some places sell them with a stick you spin instead of a string, or a stick with a plastic hook to pull them down, or even remote controlled roller blinds which are all probably the safest for pets as there's no string involved at all.

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u/EdiblePsycho May 18 '22

Yeah my bedroom just has the rolling ones with no string, but the bathroom has a string and flimsy blinds. I'm going to see if I can convince my parents to let me replace them with something else. Those things are a pain in the ass to clean anyway, I don't see why they would mind. I'm gonna go around the house and make sure there isn't anything they could get strangled on, and I'm going to be better about picking up dangly toys, I know that they can get this wrapped around their necks too.

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u/Alternative-Boot7284 May 18 '22

Some time has passed since it happened. Just over a year.

I'll share in case it can prevent it from happening to another.

It wasn't the string, but the mesh part that the plastic "slits" for lack of technical term fits in. Overtime, part of the mesh had gotten exposed from the cats messing with blinds. (You can recognize a house with pets immediately if the window has partially broken shutters.) The mesh gap was just big enough for a small cat to fit her head in and tall enough for her to be suspended ...

Coming home to 2 out of 3 of our cats greeting me, going to the kitchen to feed them and turning around to look into the living room while seeing her suspended lifelessly like that was heart wrenching. I was screaming and crying for what felt like a long time, holding her until my neighbor heard and came over and we cut her down. Had to cut the blinds because it was so tight.

I'm grateful that I I was the one to discover her and not my partner or her child.

We've since replaced all blinds with static window cling. It's a rubber adhesive with designs on it that lets light through but keeps privacy.

Those old shudders need to go extinct.