Conference misery::feline

    If you want to open your window, you'd better get screens!  There
    actually is a term called "highrise syndrome' given to cats that fall
    out of the window.  Of course the higher up you are the less your cat
    may get hurt, according to the ones who know.  I wouldn't take a
    chance.
    karen

    If you plan on opening the windows, I would absolutely get some
    screens.  Cats are so well-known for leaping after things regardless of
    the distance from the ground that the types of injuries (or worse) that
    result from this have even been specially studied (damage as a result
    of height).
    
    You might be able to get just one or two screens, if you can restrict
    yourselves to opening just those windows.  Probably two, to get cross
    ventilation.  I have combination screen/storm windows made for my
    house, and they had to be specially sized.  I have forgotten the cost,
    but my guess is that it was a hundred dollars for top of the line
    screen, storm window, semi-sound-proof, very sturdy aluminum ones
    apiece.
    
    Possibly rigging something up that was on the inside of the window
    (with a cat perch to take the place of the windowsill) might be
    cheaper and safer...   Regardless, if you get screens periodically
    check both their fastenings and the screen attachment sand screen
    integrity itself.
    

    How about taking a measurement of the inside of the window and making a
    wooden frame with heavy screening between the wooden pieces and then
    tacking the frame inside the window with some wood screws.  May not look
    super elegent but slap some paint on it and who can tell the
    difference?
    
    I definitely would not trust a completely open window around cats
    without screening.  Accidents do happen but I would hate to see one
    happen to one of your cats.  I hope that someone comes up with a
    suggestion that works for you.
    
    Nancy

    My cousin lives in Manhattan (for 19 years) and has never opened
    her windows - in fact I believe they are permanently sealed.
    All apartments - in the building - come with air-conditioning
    units.  
    
    Not only can an open window be dangerous for animals and children 
    (Eric Clapton's son died falling out of an open window) but potted 
    plants, books, etc. have fallen on people below and injured/killed 
    them.
    
    When I lived in a condo - painters were hired to re-do the outside.  
    The workers put the screens back on but didn't secure them with
    the screws.  One windy October night a leaf blew up against
    the screen - Otis leaped from the bed on to the windowsill, the
    screen popped and he fell two stories down to the deck.  He was 
    fine - but he is an indoor cat and he was petrified of being 
    outside.  I ran downstairs and let him - was afraid of what I 
    might find.  Thank God he was alright!
    
    Once I knew he was o.k. - I had a fit of laughter at the 
    vision of this 21 pound Maine Coon - flat up against the screen -
    flying out the window.
    
    DEFINATELY put up screens and secure with nails.
    
    

    I lived in a second story flat for years with my former Persian. Always
    had the windows open and the screens seemed secure until...  I was
    ironing late one night and I realized the cat wasn't around.  After
    looking all over the place, I suddenly notice the screen had been
    unfastened on the bottom.  There out on the porch was one petrified
    cat!  Thank goodness it was a window facing the porch else he could
    have really been hurt.

    If you do get screens, get the kind that slide up and down.  The ones
    that hook in with a loop around a screw are useless.

    Another option - assuming the windows slide up and down, open them from
    the top down....  You'll still get air flowing in but your pets will be
    safe, or somewhat safer at least.  This is what I did after my cat had
    gone out the window.  The ventilation wasn't as great but it was better
    than nothing.

>    Another option - assuming the windows slide up and down, open them from
>    the top down....  You'll still get air flowing in but your pets will be
>    safe, or somewhat safer at least.  This is what I did after my cat had
>    gone out the window.  The ventilation wasn't as great but it was better
>    than nothing.

my cat can easily jump up to the top of the hutch - much higher than the
top of windows in the house - I doubt that it would do any good at all..

I would suggest you rig screens that you can close/open inside so you can
open the windows should you desire and then close the screens again - 
perhaps build a frame and then hinge it on the top and put some closing
mechanism on the bottom...then, to open your window, lift the screen,
open window, drop screen into place and latch it.  YOu could do it
yourself for small dollars, some time and patience and very few tools.
Your cat couldn't get on a window sill, but, at the height of many
highrises, he/she couldn't see much anyway..so get him a cat tree.

Be safe...or you WILL be sorry - I'm sure that Eric Clapton and the boys
mother are sorrier than we can imagine..

      
        some of the windows in my house had no screens when we bought it.
    HOwever, with all the cats, screens were definatley considered a must.
    We measured outside measurements of the 4 windows involved, got some
    screening and solid wood trim.  A frame of trim with the screening 
    stapled to it was screwed into the wood around the window.  Fit nice
    and tight and looks great.  Maybe you could do something like that on
    the inside. I don't imagine it would be too easy to get on the outside.
    You could frame some screening around the window to fit. You wouldn't
    have the windowsill for them anymore, but as mentioned, put a cat
    shelf in.  Some pretty wood trim around the screens would hide the edge
    of the screening and look very nice.
    
    Denise

    You can get adjustable-width screens that you wedge under the bottom of
    the window when it is open - they are a pain, though, since you have to
    take them out completely when you want to shut the window, and the
    height cannot be adjusted.  I had a (super-cheap student) apartment
    that had those once, but I didn't have a cat in those days.  I don't
    know why a more modern building (that place was real, real old) would
    not have screens on it if the windows can be opened, in a temperate
    climate, anyhow, unless the landlord is just trying to save money. 
    Even if I didn't have animals, I wouldn't want insects, birds, leaves,
    etc. blowing in the windows, or papers blowing away out them.
    
    I'm not positive the adjustable screens would stand up to a determined
    kitty.  One of my friend's cats (Rufus!  What a cat he was, too!)
    jumped from a third-story window when chasing a bird one time - it was
    the only window in the place that did NOT have a screen.  Luckily,
    Rufus landed on a nice soft little evergreen bush, and was fine.  I
    don't think he ever tried that one again, but maybe his human slave
    didn't leave that particular window open any more either.
    
    /Charlotte                                                   

    I'm not familiar w/ high rise apartments, but if the windows don't
    have screens, do bugs and stuff get in?
    
    you can also get aluminum moulding which a screen slides into a track,
    and customize them to your own specs.  Cant think of any other way to
    describe it.  Screen comes in a roll and the aluminum comes in lengths.
    
    

My mother lives in NYC (downtown Manhattan, right by the Brooklyn Bridge).  
She's been there for about 8 years now.  There has been at least one cat there
almost the entire time.  Right now, Gilbert and Sullivan are the resident
pigeon watchers.  Her piece of the co-op occupies a part of the 8th and 9th
floors, a grand total of 6 windows.  The windows are huge.  She has 12' 
ceilings (dad wanted high ones, cuz he was tall), so the windows are about 8'
high and about 3.5' wide.  There are no screens installed on the outside of 
the building.  She has the little expandable screens that she puts in the 
windows.  They have always managed to stay in place.  The only time she and dad
had a scare was when they had the 9th floor window open and T-II (pronounced
tee-two) went out the window and followed the ledge around and peered into the 
window in the 'office where dad was working.  Since then, if the window is 
open more than an inch or so, it has a screen in it.  The windows are
heavy enough that the cats can't open them farther once they've been opened 
by the human. 

There are many reasons not to open a window in NYC.  The windows block out an 
awful lot of niose.  The city *NEVER* sleeps. At 3AM there are sirens.  The 
windows help keep the noise level down.  Then there is all the dirt in the air.
With an open window, it comes right in.  You definitely don't want to leave open
windows over fire escapes (invitation to the less scrupulous city denizens).  
I never noticed too much of a (flying) bug population in the city.  I think the
normal breeding grounds for such critters are in slim supply in the city.

If you're interested, I can find out where she got her screens.  Where 'bouts
will you be living?   

KAthy