Keeping our kitten in our garden

A friend has a wire thing at top of hers that leans towards her garden so that her cats can't get out of it.

I’m with mbody on this one.
Why have an animal that is out on its travels most of the day or night? Apart from the ‘mess’ they leave in gardens, I’ve seen cats take out baby birds early morning just fledging - it might be nature doesn’t bode with me ... and ... I hope ... your cat wears a bunch of bells.

mbody

You’ll be happy to know that ours goes out to play quite happily, popping back every now and then to have a snack and use the facilities! He just doesn’t ‘go’ in the garden!

Granof5

Have you looked at protect a pet

Thank you. I was thinking along those lines but suspect that is rather expensive. I'll have a look.

I'm not worried about him making a mess in neighbours' gardens as he comes back to his litter tray in the utility room.

I think Granof5 is on the right track with suggesting Protectapet. Having said that the breeder we get our cats from managed to have an escapee once.

Through my life I have had 15 cats and each one was (and is) different. I have had a few that never left the garden and a few that would disappear for days on end who either turned up days later or never returned at all. Once you open the door you have to be prepared for them to do their own thing. The last 6 cats I have had in my life have been housecats (and 2 still are). I would add that if you let the kitty out please oh please keep him in at night. Having lost one to the road on a dark evening the vet told me that is when they are more at risk . Your cat is young so it will want to explore but he may well be like my DS two cats that now they are adults only venture to the end of the garden then back in for the sofa.

www.purrfectfence.com/#:~:text=Purr...fect%20Cat%20Fence,your%20cats%20won't%20escape.&text=Give%20your%20cats%20the%20freedom,Houdini%22%20cats%20from%20getting%20out.

We used the purrfect fence - if you have an existing fence you can purchase just the top bit. It is expensive, but we feel it was well worth it.

I have two 'home and garden' cats. We have wire mesh on the top of the fences that is angled inwards at about 60 degrees. The angled brackets came from Wickes and the mesh from The Range. Look on Pinterest for pictures. My neighbour has a ball bearing gun and bowls of rat poison around his garden to ward off straying animals so I have to keep the cats in. I also walk them on a lead. They havent escaped in nearly six years and have the garden to play in. Cats are an emotive subject! Good luck with yours.

I would suggest, if at all possible, that you get a "catio" built. We have 4 cats and two years ago we had a lean-to built against our house so the cats can come and go through the kitchen window. They love to sit out there in the sun and watch the world but we know they are safe.

My neighbour is building a cat run at the side of his house, it will be accessed through a conservatory and have climbing and hiding places. I know quite a few people who have done similar to keep their pets safe from roads etc, whilst letting them enjoy fresh air and exercise.

surely it's not legal to use a ball bearing gun or poison where it could harm wildlife, not to mention pets. Your neighbour sounds a derranged t**t.

mbody. I’m with you. Fed up with other people’s cats using my garden as a toilet.

The saying that you don't own a cat they just choose to live with you seems a truism to me. Our current cat is 5 years old and wanders at will, I can't imagine keeping her in. We do live on a main road but she only goes round back gardens and seems quite scared of the noise of traffic, thankfully. My DS has 2 cats and one of them clearly graces another home with her presence too, my DIL was furious when she came home clearly having had a flea treatment - which they had done about 3 weeks before. She's tried social media, putting a note round her collar, talking to neighbours but no one is owning up - the cat is getting very fat!

I am not a cat owner but we had cats as a child. I like cats but don't want them in my garden and neither does my dog. All the solutions which work do cost money and there are plenty of options and links on youtube. Its all very well for cat owners to say that they let their cats wander and its a calculated risk but its often not the cat's owner who has to deal with the dead or injured cat. A few years ago I had a horrible time when I found a newly dead cat in my front garden which is less than 50 yards from a main busy A road. It was on a friday night at the beginning of a bank holiday and the cat had no collar. I had to store the corpse until my dustbin day and then the owners papered the area and I had the joyful job of phoning them and telling them what had happened. Their garden backs onto my garden and as the human travels, its about 15 minutes by car to the main road so they thought it would be too far for the cat to travel....cats, however have their own routes which are much shorter

Our cat Harvey came to us age 18 years old. He belonged to the lady next door who believed he visited various homes in the neighbourhood, because he was gone all day. When I told her he spent all day in our house, she was most surprised. He had chosen us except for food, which he went home for morning and evening. We adopted Harvey when our neighbour died. We lost him recently age 21 years. We miss him still. Yes cats will go where they want to. They have complete free will.

It's why there is no legislation re. cats ! Law unto themselves.
Love 'em or hate 'em you have to admire their total disdain towards homo sapiens.
Your young cat will learn that people are not always a threat , just give him a little time - they learn very quickly in my experience !

Hello Liz, we have an eight month old kitten and live on a busy road, although the house is set well back. Our rear garden is very well fenced with 7ft high wooden fences and when the kitten started walking along the shelf at the top of the fence panels we put spikes (bought on Amazon) just at the bit nearest the house and road. Its worked so far. She turns round at that point and goes the other way. She cant yet work the cat flap and so I prop it open in the day and dont let her out at night. She goes 'to bed' at 10pm and is let out at 7am. I am hoping by the time she learns the cat flap she will be relatively sensible. I had two cats run over several decades back, but my last two both lived for over 15 years with free acccess day and night.

SunnySusie, I did look at the spikes on Amazon but some reviewers said their cat just sat on them! I think initially we may try some near the end of the fence that leads to the garage roof.

I caught him yesterday contemplating going on the roof and that could lead to the front of the house and the road. I called to him and he must have been a bit nervous about it because he fell into the neighbours garden.

Luckily the people either side of us have had cats in the past so wouldn't mind visits from him but the man at the back of us has a huge garden where he keeps chickens.

We built a catio for our 3 cats after we lost 2 cats in quick succession. I just couldn't go through that again. The catio gives my cats the opportunity to go outside but they (and the birds) are safe. They have "kennels" to sleep in if they want to and things to climb on to give them exercise. There are sheltered patches and sunny patches, a bench to laze on and bushes to climb through.
Liz46, cats will not usually bother with full sized chickens but will go for chicks.

The only thing our kitten has tried to catch so far has been flies. I think he would be terrified of a chicken!

My daughter's garden is enclosed all round with a 6 foot fence. She adopted two cats Both climbed the fence so she got a local handyman to put rounded guttering pipe a foot from the the top of the fence. He threaded a thinish rope through the pipe so when the cats jumped up and put their front paws on it, they rolled back off it.
However, they decided to climb the side of her shed and got on the roof so what she did was bought some clear perspex sheet and screwed it on each four corners of the shed. so when they attempted to climb up, they slipped off.
Hey presto, they've never escaped the garden since.

Another idea is to keep the ends of your kitty's front claws clipped regularly so he can't get a grip. Be very careful if you do. Just take the ends off and be very careful you don't cut the quick of the nail.

I think unless you are prepared to take the risk and let your cat be free you shouldn’t have one. They are free spirits and I love them for it. My two cats were rescued house cats and to see how much they love being outside is wonderful. It’s their nature to roam and to think of any cat contained in four walls with a litter tray seems cruel to me.

There's a few ideas on YouTube. One guy just uses drainpipe. #Go Jo DIY.

How high is your fence? If it is a good height, about 6ft, you could get hanging basket brackets to screw onto the fence and then run a good quality wire netting (chicken wire, but stronger) over the brackets, tying it to the brackets and stapling the wire to the top of the fence between brackets. Or you could maybe consider building a catio, it would give him some fresh air but not the full range of the garden. By the way, I sympathise with the crying to be rescued. Our 11 year old hates outside but still gets the odd rush of blood to the head, gets a few yards, panics, hides and then cries piteously to be rescued. Daft boy!

Squirt a water pistol on him when he hoes near or attempts to climb the fence. Heard varying reports about sonic collars, you may be lucky and it works. Keep him in for another 3 months to make inside his norm. Do not allow him out at night. You do have to be persistent, no sentimentality allowed jf you are serious about keeping him in the garden and off the road.

One of my friends had a cat with a tracker on its collar. It went literally miles every night. Best to keep him in overnight - bribe with food so you can catch him in the evening, and also put a bell on his collar so the birds hear him coming!