How to get kitten to stop playing with aluminum blinds

Question

I adopted a kitten in November, and she's nearly 6 months old now. Within the last couple of weeks, she's been trying to climb the aluminum blinds in my apartment. I prefer to keep the blinds down for most of the day as we live on the ground floor of our complex.

There are two sets of blinds in the apartment, one in the bedroom, and one smaller set in the living room. One suggestion we received was to put double-sided tape on the window sill to discourage her going on to it. It worked until she found she could step carefully in the areas we didn't/couldn't get to. I don't want to discourage her chilling in the window, or even climbing through the blinds to the other side to sit. What I'd like to discourage is her trying to climb the blinds.

Initially I believed it may be due to the cord hanging down, and she was trying to get a better reach at it, but when I pull the cord down to a more reachable distance, she still preferred to climb the blinds. This makes me believe that it's more of a vertical issue, rather than a catching issue. Her interest in them is also dependent on our proximity to the window. I don't spend a lot of time in the living room, but when I'm out there she tries to climb it, and every night when I go to bed, she tries to climb those.

I currently do not own any cat towers or anything of that nature, simply due to not having the requisite amount of space to put it anywhere, as well as the possibility that I may have to move in the near future.

Another suggestion we received was to buy a spray bottle and spray her with it when she tries to climb, which is good for immediate feedback, but terrible for all of the reasons you can find by googling it.

Is this being a vertical issue a safe assumption to make? If so, what sort of things can I try to get her to reduce, or stop her attempts at climbing up the blind? If not, what else might it be?

Answer 1

Do you have any free wall-space? If yes, you can try to attach boards to the walls, in some climbable configuration for the cat (Pad the boards some, and perhaps have something hand from them as a climbing-aid.)
Or perhaps you can just offer a perch between window and blinds? A narrow self or something like that?
Your kitten wants to climb, and it seems to be looking for some kind of perch. So, you should provide this, even if it seems a makeshift solution.
Also, does your kitten get extra-attention when she climbs the blinds? If yes, you successfully taught her "If you want us to pay attention, climb the blinds!"
Play some more with her, and give her more interesting places to play in, and the blinds should be safe :).

Answer 2

A kitten needs a lot of action so it might be bored a bit. Try to give it alternatives to the blends. Get some toys and play with it. You do not need to buy these things. You can make e. g. balls out of aluminium foil or newspapers. Feathers fixed at one end of a stick are very attractive. If you sit down on the floor and swing a simple string around you it will try to chase after the end of the string. Its a good training for an indoor cat as well. A lot of cats like to play with paperbords and if you play table tennis - these balls are also very appropriate. When your kitten is older it usually will be less active and maybe the blends will be become unattractive.