Cat Fence

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bikergirl2842
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Cat Fence

Post by bikergirl2842 »

Hi all,

I've posted several times about my cat Tyson who is quite frankly a bit of a nightmare. He is the most loving cat in the house, he greets me at the door when I come home, gives the best cuddles etc but unfortunately, he is not very good with other animals. Even the neighbour's dogs are terrified of him!

We had serious issues with him attacking his disabled brother Mitsy who lives a few houses further down the road. I had him checked out at the vets to see if there might be physical reasons but he got the all clear. In the end, we solved the problem by separating them and introducing a cat curfew. He was allowed out at night and his brother during the day. Not ideal but it sort of worked. He did then fight with other cats but not to the same extreme.

Now we have a new cat moved in just opposite and all hell has broken loose! The other cat is no pushover and now they are constantly fighting. And I mean constantly. The instant Tyson goes out, he is looking for the new one and vice versa. Just last week Tyson came home with an injured paw, missing claws (completely ripped off, not just broken) and this week he had to be at the vets for an abscess. When they shaved him, there were lots of different bite marks at different stages of healing. Apart from the huge amount of money this is costing me, I'm forever worried about him. It's not doing him any favours to be injured all the time.

So much so that I'm considering making him an indoor cat. I don't know if that would work, he loves going out and I'm not a fan of keeping cats locked up but I really am at my wits' end with this cat. I have considered a cat fence so he could go out into the garden. I mean the type where mesh is attached at an angle to the top of the fence, prison style. My neighbours all think it wouldn't work because he would always try to escape and eventually find a way (digging for example). Does anybody have any experience with this kind of fencing and how did it work for you?
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Janey
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Re: Cat Fence

Post by Janey »

Hiya, if you could cat proof your garden that may help, in fact this thread may be helpful to you:

https://www.catchat.org/felineforum/vie ... 002#p52002


Otherwise a shift pattern is a very good idea too. When my own cat came here (she chose us lol after escaping her previous home as they kept her indoors all the time) we already care for ferals and she was trying to chase them out of the garden! We were going to rehome her but ended up keeping her as the two males eventually stood up to her, and she’s fine with them, but not the female. So the only thing I could do was let her out mornings i.e. until lunchtime, then Purdy could come back into the garden then. That’s worked perfectly for us. Best of luck!
Last edited by Janey on Tue Jul 24, 2018 9:04 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Lilith
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Re: Cat Fence

Post by Lilith »

Wow, you've got a problem - aptly named isn't he?

I installed this kind of fence and it's worked very well. With the youngest cat it took a bit of trial and error as she was a Houdini and she too was determined to have a bash at a neighbour cat, but it was a case of eradicating anything, like creepers or bins, that might act as a 'step' to get up on to the wire, and I have to be careful of things like my sunbed, just in case she jumps up on the back of that and takes a leap. I used weldmesh as it's sturdy, neat, bendable and not as visible as plastic covered mesh (to neighbours.)

Sometimes cats have jumped into the garden and I've had to help them out - at one point I built a cat ladder or placed a bin for them to jump out again. So I had to make sure I removed that before I let mine out. I check every morning first thing to make sure nobody's trapped. I don't think a cat would dig under a fence unless there was soft earth and a tempting gap between soil and fence. Mine's flagged/astroturfed.

Yeah lol, I call my yard 'Altracatz'! But it gives me tremendous peace of mind - good luck :)
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MarySkater
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Re: Cat Fence

Post by MarySkater »

I didn't enclose my whole garden, but fenced a stretch 10 feet by 30 feet for my cats. That's narrow enough that I could stretch netting right across the top; however the netting needs to be tight to the fence. If there's any slack there, a cat can go up the fence and head-butt through. Later I realised that the overhead netting meant I couldn't use a ladder against the house wall, say for gutter-cleaning. So for a few feet out from the house, I removed the overhead mesh and used the angled fence fittings to maintain the barrier. I've had my enclosure for more than two years, and my cats don't get out, other cats don't get in (although they do sometimes walk along the top of the fence.

In the first days that I had the enclosure, one cat did get out a couple of times, and I decided she was finding a gap under the fence where the ground sloped, although the space hardly looked big enough for a rat, let alone a cat. I got some stiff plastic garden netting, stapled it to the bottom of the fence, and curved it out in a "doorstep" on the ground, which I staked down. You can get ground stakes in garden centres, or cheap tent pegs also work. Once the existing gap was blocked, there were no more escapes, and I haven't seen any signs of them trying to dig a new tunnel - although I do keep an eye on the bottom of the fence, in case they think of that.
bikergirl2842
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Re: Cat Fence

Post by bikergirl2842 »

Thank you for your replies!

The timed going out is not going to work any more because unfortunately the new neighbour doesn’t want to even give it ago :(

At the moment I’m keeping Tyson in full time until he is fully healed up. The cat fencing is hugely expensive so I have a meeting at work next week to see if they can make something for me - the advantage of working in an engineering office!

My only problem now is that I’m feeling so guilty! He loves roaming around and I feel bad for restricting him. I just bought a big climbing tree for inside and he’s having lots of cuddles and attention. I don’t think cats are made to be kept in but I just don’t know how else to keep him safe.

Incidentally, my other cat who is an elderly timid female is absolutely loving that she can go out into the garden without being pounced on!
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Judy Barnett
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Re: Cat Fence

Post by Judy Barnett »

What a dilemma! We had a bruiser called snowball, (black cat named long before the Simpson's cat)! He was the neighbourhood bully who would let only me pick him up. I married into him and my husband hadn't had him neutered. I insisted he was and that calmed him down a bit. I take it Tyson is already neutered.
I too don't like the idea of house cats. I think its natural for them to have a wander about if its possible. The cat I have now; Georgia, is a tolerant little thing. There's always someone else's cat mooching about but there are certain areas of the garden that are just for her which I protect for her as much as she does. I think that's why she doesn't get into scuffles because that's just for her, her quite place where no one else is aloud to go.
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Judy Barnett
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Re: Cat Fence

Post by Judy Barnett »

Sorry, allowed to go (it is 4.00 in the morning).
Sniper1
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Re: Cat Fence

Post by Sniper1 »

Cat fencing is much cheaper if you diy rather than use a firm but I would not use weldmesh as someone has said because the holes are small and I have known cats to get a toe caught when jumping from the overhang and be left hanging in mid air by a toe so never weldmesh use stuff with bigger holes
bikergirl2842
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Re: Cat Fence

Post by bikergirl2842 »

I am going for the DIY version, they wanted almost £600 from Protectapet :shock: Luckily, I work for an engineering company so they made the fence posts for me in the same fashion i. e. 45° from the fence and then another little bend at the top. I have gone for the rigid wire mesh with approx 1" x 1" holes (60 m for £70 from Ebay!). I will hopefully get it installed by friends this weekend. I am aware that it will look like a prison camp and the grief I've been getting from my mates because I'm german.... :lol:

Tyson is now fully healed up and ready to go out. To be honest he has been really, really good about being locked in. It's been over a month now and he's only twice let me know his discontent by weeing on the carpet. But he's not tried to escaped at all really. I have had the little windows at the top open and he could easily get through them but he hasn't tried.

I bought a massive scratch tree for him and am trying to keep him entertained with play and drugs (cat nip and valerian root). I'm also planning to build an outdoor scratch tree (once I saved up again!). The biggest problem has been me actually. Because when he sits in the window or on his new scratch tree and longingly looks out of the window, I've been feeling so very guilty! It's been difficult, especially as it's been so hot. And for me too, not being able to open all doors and windows to get air in.

I'll try to post some pictures once it's all done :) Thank you all for your suggestions and advice, I've also followed a couple of the other threads like the cat proofing one. I do hope Tyson won't turn out to be too athletic!!
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Kay
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Re: Cat Fence

Post by Kay »

my rigid mesh is 1x1 inch, and I've never had any problems with it since it went up in 2001

it's just big enough for a suicidal mouse to get through, where it finds a welcoming party in the form of a big ginger cat :cry:
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