Electronic cat fence

[papa cat]

Has anyone used anything like this ?
https://www.catfence.co.uk/about-cat-fencing/

[Mollycat]

They seem to avoid verbalising the one key thing about it, does it shock the cat when it gets too close?

[fjm]

Quite. The fences work by giving first an aversive warning then a seriously aversive shock. I am more familiar with the arguments against the dog ones but I would think all the risks they carry - traumatised pet, animal unable to return if once they cross the fence line, no protection against unfriendly intruding cats and dogs that can come and go as they please, risk of forgetting to switch it off before taking the pet over it (to the vet, for example), etc - would apply even more in the case of a cat.

[Mollycat]

I'm just horrified then, speechless.

Right up there with declawing.

[papa cat]

I very much doubt I will install one; I too am concerned about giving my cat tiny electric shocks!
This is from their website:-
"(It) is a low-level impulse, similar to a tens machine and is very safe and harmless. It startles the cat and each cat will have its own impulse level. Once trained the cat should rarely if ever receive an impulse.
This is from an email reply they sent me:-
"They will be unable to get within a minimum of 3ft of the boundary wire as this is start of the range (when the collar activates)."

I want to restrict him to my ground floor patio, which is only 10ft deep x 20ft wide so if I were to install it he wouldn't even be able to use the whole of that area.
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My problem is I live in a ground floor retirement flat managed by a housing association. My patio abuts a shared grassed communal area.
When I moved here I asked the Housing association if I could erect a 6ft tall catio (similar to an aviary) but that was refused, they said I could erect a fence no more than 1 metre high (39inches) Clearly that wouldn't be adequate so I didn't proceed, and kept my cat indoors. However, my cat started going out about a year ago so I installed a cat flap for him.
A couple of weeks ago I was advised by the on-site scheme manager that some of my neighbours had complained that my cat was soiling their flower beds. I said that in order to prevent that I could install a clear plastic or glass fence (similar to outdoor swimming pool fencing) but it would need to be at least 1.5 metres high and gave her some illustrative pictures. (see below)
She said she would consult with the neighbours and come back to me.
She has advised me that, although she hasn’t yet spoken to them all, those she has spoken to are objecting to my new proposal.
It is an absurd situation! The neighbours don’t want my cat soiling their flowers but they won’t agree to me erecting a fence to keep him in!
I can only guess that they want me to keep him indoors, but I am not willing to do that now that he has started going out

[fjm]

There are some ideas here: https://icatcare.org/advice/how-to-keep ... 4UEALw_wcB although you have already offered the obvious one which is a fence to keep your cat in your garden! Creating a suitable patch on your patio - a covered area of gravel, for example - can encourage them to use that in preference to flower beds, and thorny twigs/sprays of holly spread over the planted area have worked for me in the past.

The most effective deterrent was a spray of water from a woman who disliked cats - Toby rapidly came to associate it with setting foot on her territory and simply walked past her garden without going into it.

[Mollycat]

Tricky situation.

If it's not a permanent structure? Made of chicken wire?

The way I see it if you are allowed to have a cat there ought to be better backup for you. Cats and for that matter foxes can come from anywhere to poop in the flowerbeds and the management ought to either remind the moaners of this or not allow pets in future - though that may not be legal for much longer.

No chance of leash training I suppose?