Safe cats

I'm interested in whether anyone has taken steps to make their garden cat proof, in order to keep their cat or cats inside it, and safe from traffic. If you have, what have you done?

cheers
Richard

 

I'm not a cat lover myself but I used to have a neighbour who had five cats. She was so afraid they would get run over, she had a very large cage built in her garden just like you would see in a zoo. Her cats were always confined to the cage when they were outside the house.

This was the most responsible form of cat ownership I've ever come across. Her cats were safe and they didn't trouble the neighbours.

The amount of space the cats had in the cage was generous, at least as big as you would see in a zoo for small foraging animals. Her cats were used to the arrangement and seemed happy enough. The cage dominated the appearance of her garden, though.

 

I tried to stop cats getting in. I put fabric netting, held up with bamboo canes, on the top of the fences where they were climbing. It worked a bit, but looked horrible so I took it down.

Now I use scent-off gel so if they do come in they don't scratch and mess everywhere.

You can get strips of rubber spikey things to put on fences and entry points - doesn't harm them, but will give them a spike and they'll soon learn not to proceed! That might do the trick.

 

My OH has just made a frame with wooden battens and attached that rigid plastic mesh that has about 2inch "holes" to it. It was then fixed to the vulnerable wall (where my cats could get over a single storey to the front). It measures approximately 2ft higher than the roof height (if that makes sense). Because of the plastic the cats cannot get a grip on it. It doesn't look particularly great but it is (in my opinion) better than squashed moggie!!! I have two rescue case cats called Marmie and Fairyfeet who have been with us since February but only just finding out about the life outside! We also used the same mesh to blank off a trellis fence panel between our house and my neighbour's house. The girls can look through but can't get through.k-l

 

Hello Richard

I am a cat person as is my sister (Kedi-Gato from Germany / Florida). Because I 'baby' my cats they stay close to home ... in saying that two of them got hit by cars in Bucks in the country running from the hedgerow to the house (same place for both and both still under one year). One had to have a pin put in his leg ... he died aged 13 here in Portugal from natural causes and the other is still with me now aged 15. I just pray a lot but here we are relatively remote with orchards around us. We have three now, having lost our youngest one three weeks ago to natural causes, but their welfare is of utmost importance to us ... they rely on us for food and comfort and that's what we like to give them.

My sister, however, only let her cats out on long leases/harnesses attached to clothes line ropes across the garden so they could run and play and hide in the grasses and jump at bugs and do all things cats like to do .. but they were safe. There are many pictures of her last cat Gato up here on the forum out in the garden. Here is the link showing him (actually a her) enjoying the garden safely ...

http://www.gardenerscorner.co.uk/forum/gato-t11412.html?t=11412&highlight=Gato

 

Thanks everyone for replies. I've been looking at variations on the "Secure-a-cat" product, which uses metal brackets at 45 degrees up from one's fence, with flexible mesh attached. Doesn't look very attractive though. I was much taken with this solution:

http://www.mainecoonguild.org.uk/Garden_Safety/garden_safety.html

which combines cat proofing with garden architecture, but would work out quite expensive in trellis! However, having had one of our cats killed by a car a couple of weeks ago, it's worth it for greater cat longevity, and peace of mind. I'm negotiating for a budget ;-)

Cheers
Richard

 

Hmm...


You never see employment advertisements for; "Cat Shepherds" do you?

Cat's "know no borders" you're in trouble if one decides your garden is their territory and not yours. I've tried an "ultrasonic cat scarer" but they ignored it.
I usually find that when I've seen a cat in the garden, by the time I've found my shoes and opened the French windows they've gone. In the past I've found a good deterrent for any persistent ones is hose pipe already turned on with a nozzle gun that has a long reach. Having managed to "hit" one with a jet of water a couple of times, (no injury just made it a bit damp) the act of just leaving the hose draped on the path was sufficient to make that cat cut down the number of visits to practically none.

We rarely see a cat these days; the local ones are too idle to climb any of our six ft-plus fences. Doesnâ??t stop the fox though, but those visits are rare, probably 'cos there's no cats!

 

I am so sorry you lost one of your cats a couple of weeks ago Richard by an accident .. as I said I lost one three week ago by natural causes ... it hurts whatever ... my sympathies are with you ... k-l

I believe the conversation here is 'how can I make MY cat(s) safe' NOT 'how can I keep other people's cats away' ....

 

Ah! I stand corrected, But not everyone is a "cat" person who reads and posts on this board. So as many will be interested about how to keep them "out" as "in."

Cats like to roam, I don't think you can "train" them not to. They are quite resourceful and will always find a way out. As I mentioned earlier they've no sense of "where your garden ends."

 

There are many threads on here of 'how to keep cats out' .. this is a novel thread.

You CAN train cats ... I have had them for 42 years and they sit and stay and come when called. They also have a sense of boundaries .. mine are very 'homebodies' although I live in the country and have no 'next door neighbours'. They sometimes go over the stone walls into the orchards but more often than not they are within the boundaries on the various patios or their own sandgarden. Mine get up at 7am for breakfast (like clockwork) and they are allowed out through the catflap and I go back to bed ... they are probably all back in bed within the hour. They are all normally back indoors by their own choice by 9.30pm ... if indeed they have not been indoors all day with access to the outside.

Comes back to .. you CAN train cats.

 

You might be able to train some cats to a degree. I mean they aren't like dogs are they? But they know when they are well off.

The "Cat Shepherd" joke is hardly original. It's just their nature, whatever you do they still consider themselves the boss, it's mostly "cupboard love" cat owners experience. My daughter agrees and she has two.

Let's not get too focused on "topic headings," if we weren't allowed to digress on occasions, we'd halve the number of postings.

 

I think you can train cats to the extent that when they've tried a particular avenue of escape a few times, and failed, they lose interest.

My surviving cat is relatively easy to contain, as she's 14 and has arthritis. 6 foot fences are therefore something she's just not interested in climbing. It's future cats that pose more of a challenge. Cats don't like things that move under them, and don't, generally, climb upside down. So a 45 degree flexible mesh overhang is a recurring theme in some of these solutions. In my preferred option, a cat would have to traverse 3 feet of horizontal mesh-backed wooden trellis, upside down. If that doesn't work, I may add a downward overhang at the end.

As Victoria says, there have been plenty of threads on how to keep cats out of gardens, but my scheme does have the beneficial side effect of keeping mine out of my neighbours' gardens. Though as it happens that's not an issue, as my neighbours are enlightened people who have cats themselves. In fact we're a fairly enlightened village, in that regard ;-)

I'm not planning on cat-proofing in the other direction, which could prove interesting if another cat climbs in, and can't get out again ;-)

Cheers
Richard

 

I know of someone who cats wear a collar then confines them to the garden. I expect it most probably gives a small shock to the cat if it gets close to an electronically set boundary.
this link shows a dog but I have seen something similar being used for cats as well:
http://www.ehow.co.uk/how_6812331_install-electric-pet-containment-fence.html

and here is another one:
http://www.unbeatablesale.com/inntk033.html

I guess I'd need to look into something if I decided to get a cat for myself one of these days.

 

I'm not a cat person ,we have a dog and keep koi.
I keep the cats out of my garden with a water shooter.
They soon get the idea.
A new kitten came on the scene in the summer.
It came into our garden round the pool.
But soon got the right idea to keep out after a few soakings.
The idea of training cats to stay in a secure safe cage is a great idea.
If I did ever have a cat I would do something like that.
I wouldn't let my dog roam into the road and into other peoples gardens so I would certainly not let a cat do it.
Or if I had a rabbit or any other animal.
It would be kept in my garden safe and secure.
I applaud the owners who bother to keep their pets safe.

 

I'm digressing (again) but on the subject of cats and water, my daughter adopted a feral cat "Lionel" that was abandoned by it's mother and spent the first two months of its life with a labrador and her new pups. Consequently, the kitten thought itself more a dog than a cat.
He loved water, if you turned on a hose he'd be under it and if he heard a bath running he'd be up there hanging on the side of the bath trying to swish the water with his paws. On rainy nights he'd be out in it, he'd come in for his dinner where our daughter would dry him off with his towel, but as soon as he had eaten he'd be off out again! On a visit to their house I saw him sitting on our bedroom window, "growling" (he never "mewed"). The object of his annoyance was the man in the garden behind their house. He had a pond and probabably he'd chased Lionel off as he would have liked to swish his paws in the pond water. He wouldn't have been interested in his goldfish.