Cat Proofing the Garden

For all your feline miscellany - any interesting stories, news or subjects that do not fit in the other sections.
User avatar
Kay
VIP Cat Chatter!
Posts: 1961
Joined: Thu Mar 13, 2014 2:50 pm
No. of cats in household: 1
Location: West Wales

Re: Cat Proofing the Garden

Post by Kay »

mine is constructed much like yours, Mary - it's been up for 15 years now, and although I have had to have various bits of wood replaced (I have never risked using preservatives) that hasn't cost very much and the galvanised aviary wire is as good as it was when it first was put up

as a bonus I have found it very handy to tie a clothes line to the fence in the summer to get clothes dried
User avatar
meriad
VIP Cat Chatter!
Posts: 1313
Joined: Wed Mar 12, 2014 1:14 pm
No. of cats in household: 6
Location: Surrey

Re: Cat Proofing the Garden

Post by meriad »

Mary, it's not very clear from the photo, but do you have netting all the way over the enclosure. In the photo it looks like it's at the far end only :D

Bet the cats are glad to have outdoor access
User avatar
MarySkater
VIP Cat Chatter!
Posts: 564
Joined: Sat Nov 14, 2015 8:47 pm
No. of cats in household: 2
Location: Dumfries, SW Scotland

Re: Cat Proofing the Garden

Post by MarySkater »

meriad, the whole enclosure is roofed with netting, but the roof is black nylon mesh, so it's not too obvious. It shows more at the end where the ground, and therefore the roof, slopes up, so you see it from a different angle. The enclosed space is about 10x35 feet. The roof is 6 feet high, same as the fence, which is plenty of headroom for me. Fortunately I don't get many tall visitors. :)

Kay, good tip about the clothes line! I'll keep it in mind. The wood is pressure-treated, so it shouldn't need any preservative.

The cats have been in and out a few times, but it's quite wet here at the moment. I'm sure they'll appreciate it more in better weather.

Mary
User avatar
meriad
VIP Cat Chatter!
Posts: 1313
Joined: Wed Mar 12, 2014 1:14 pm
No. of cats in household: 6
Location: Surrey

Re: Cat Proofing the Garden

Post by meriad »

It looks amazing Mary and I'm sure the cats will love it once everything is a bit drier.

Just one other thing to watch out for - is birds that may get caught in the netting ;-)


And if you haven't got one of these already - think about getting one...
http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/cats/cat_ ... oor/278229

Admittedly the bottom doesn't get used all that much, but mine love lying in the top balcony and just watching the world go by. I did take the flaps off the entrance to the bottom as well
User avatar
MarySkater
VIP Cat Chatter!
Posts: 564
Joined: Sat Nov 14, 2015 8:47 pm
No. of cats in household: 2
Location: Dumfries, SW Scotland

Re: Cat Proofing the Garden

Post by MarySkater »

Thanks for the link, meriad. That cat house looks very nice, and not too expensive. I think they may like to sit on top of my log stores, but both of those have sloping roofs, and a level surface would be more comfortable.

I'm aware that netting can be a wildlife hazard, but mine is strung quite taut, so it's less likely to be a hazard. Loose netting, I know, is deadly.

I'm going to have to watch for weeds. Last year my garden had a lot of goosegrass/ cleavers, which has very sticky seeds. I've already picked one leftover seed out of Bridie's long fur, and I don't want her picking up a lot of that stuff. So any new growth in the cat pen will get uprooted as soon as I spot it. (Don't want to use weedkiller or other chemicals in the cat zone.)

Mary
User avatar
MarySkater
VIP Cat Chatter!
Posts: 564
Joined: Sat Nov 14, 2015 8:47 pm
No. of cats in household: 2
Location: Dumfries, SW Scotland

Re: Cat Proofing the Garden

Post by MarySkater »

So much for my "professional" enclosure: it took less than 2 days for them to find a way out. :evil: (It's okay, I've got both cats back.)

The pen was finished lunchtime Thursday. They were exploring it for about half an hour, then the rain set in. For the rest of Thursday, and Friday morning, they made a few brief forays between showers. I was out Friday afternoon and left the cats in the house, but I got home about 4.30, and let them out while I was busy indoors. At 5.30, I wanted to give them their meal, so I went to see where they were. It was dark by then, but I could see Rocky, with his white bits, walking along the top of the frame, outside the netting. When I opened the gate from the pen and called him, he jumped down into the main part of the garden and came to me. I shut him in the house and took a torch to make sure Bridie wasn't hiding behind the log stores etc, but there was no sign of her. She doesn't have much white, and is hard to see in the dark.

So I shut Rocky in the living room with his food, and left the pen gate and the kitchen door open so that Bridie could get back in if she wanted. There was no sign of her, and every few minutes I'd go out and look around. After about 20 minutes I spotted her. She was in my neighbour's garden, and I could see her by peering between the planks in the wooden fence. I couldn't reach her, but when she saw me she climbed up to the top of the fence. She was still out of my reach because of the netting, but I went round to the outside of the pen and called her, and she came along the top of the fence to me. She didn't seem about to jump down by herself, so I took hold of her, which she didn't like, detached her from the fence and carried her indoors.

I think the most likely escape route is between the netting and the top of the wooden fence in the left of my picture. If the anchor points are too far apart, and a cat climbed up the fence and head-butted the netting, it might lift the net enough to squeeze through. When I've got daylight tomorrow, I'll check all along the fence and pin down any possible gaps. If I can't find where they got out, then I'll let one cat into the pen and follow it around until it shows me.

Isn't it fun, having cats... :roll:

Mary
User avatar
Lilith
VIP Cat Chatter!
Posts: 3600
Joined: Sat Dec 20, 2014 8:00 pm
No. of cats in household: 1
Location: West Yorks

Re: Cat Proofing the Garden

Post by Lilith »

Lol Mary - that is just TYPICAL!

Back to the drawing-board eh...and back...and back...as our little Houdinis outwit us yet again. Been there, done that, got the T shirt...

Hope you've ironed out all the glitches by now...never trust 'em :lol:
User avatar
MarySkater
VIP Cat Chatter!
Posts: 564
Joined: Sat Nov 14, 2015 8:47 pm
No. of cats in household: 2
Location: Dumfries, SW Scotland

Re: Cat Proofing the Garden

Post by MarySkater »

Thanks, Lilith! Yes, it was a design error, due to neither me nor my fencing contractor having experience of keeping cats contained. :?

To fix the top netting, he had put nails into the top of the woodwork, every foot or so, and hooked the netting to the nails. He had told me that was how he planned to do it, and I agreed that it sounded fine. If I ever need to get a ladder against that part of the house, say to get the gutters cleaned, the top netting will have to be unfastened, and that would be straightforward the way he fixed the net.

What I didn't try was pushing the netting from underneath, in the angle of a cat climbing the fence. When I tried that, I found that, because the net is flexible, there were several places where it would yield upwards giving enough space for a cat to push through. I think Bridie was probably the adventurous one who found this out, but where she went, Rocky followed. So I dug out my good old staple gun, easily capable of shooting staples into wood. With the cats shut in the house, I worked my way all round the pen and stapled the net down every 3 inches. If I do need to lift the net at any time, I'll have to go back round and dig out all the staples. The net is held now. I've seen Bridie on top of the log store, reaching up to try to find a weak point. And I've seen each of them go up a corner post and head-butt the netting, trying to lift it. I've now reinforced the corner sections with some stiff plastic netting, the kind used as plant support, and I'll put a stretch of that along over the log stores as well.

So I think I've got them held now. At the moment, they can only get out when I open the back door from them. When I'm happy that they've stopped trying to recreate The Great Escape, then I'll put in a cat flap and let them come and go as they please.

Mary
User avatar
Crewella
VIP Cat Chatter!
Posts: 3605
Joined: Thu Mar 13, 2014 9:59 pm
No. of cats in household: 6
Location: Hertfordshire

Re: Cat Proofing the Garden

Post by Crewella »

Great job, Mary, and when you have plants and come spring it will be lovely. They look quite at home there already! :)
User avatar
MarySkater
VIP Cat Chatter!
Posts: 564
Joined: Sat Nov 14, 2015 8:47 pm
No. of cats in household: 2
Location: Dumfries, SW Scotland

Re: Cat Proofing the Garden

Post by MarySkater »

Crewella wrote:Great job, Mary, and when you have plants and come spring it will be lovely. They look quite at home there already! :)
Thanks, Crewella. I'll have to research climbing plants that like my climate and soil type, and are non-toxic to cats.

They like to sit right at the top of the bank where they can look out across the golf course behind my garden. But it's a steep slope and currently muddy, so it can't be very comfortable. I took an old plastic shelf that I didn't need, and set up a level platform for them to sit on:
Cat shelf.jpg
Cat shelf.jpg (152.91 KiB) Viewed 2588 times
I have an idea for a covered sandpit that they could use as an outside toilet, but I can't do everything at once. However, it probably adds interest for them if new things appear now and again.

Mary
Post Reply