Keeping our kitten in our garden

Amberspyglass I love your cat.

Is £210 too much? If not, have a look at this: www.amazon.co.uk/FeelGoodUK-Walk-Galvanised-Chicken-Rabbit/dp/B08F5CM991/ref=asc_df_B08F5CM991/?hvlocphy=1007452&hvlocphy=1007452&linkCode=df0&hvptwo&hvptwo&psc=1&hvnetw=g&hvnetw=g&hvadid=427902882921&hvadid=427902882921&hvpone&hvpone&hvlocint&hvlocint&ref&hvpos&hvpos&hvdev=c&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl&hvdvcmdl&hvqmt&hvqmt&tag=gransnetforum-21&hvtargid=pla-944068628132&hvtargid=pla-944068628132&hvrand=3303050721445729796&hvrand=3303050721445729796&adgrpid=103301428527
or you could try: purrfectfence.co.uk/products/existing-fencing-conversion-system but it's dearer.

If you enjoy DIY or have someone who does, you can make a Catio really cheaply either to your own design or flat pack.

Good luck!

Having never had a day in my life without cats in the house I can assure you he will get out & do his own thing!
I would love to keep my 4 in our garden but I know they like to roam around the neighbourhood. Although we live in a quiet Cul de Sac we have woodland opposite so they roam at will.
Relax & trust your cat to come home when he is ready. Usually when he is hungry!!

There’s a dog in the next garden to us who is usually pretty calm about cats, but this afternoon my boy - of the clay and other women’s perfume fame - decided he wanted to start a ruckus and kept sticking his paws through the garden fence and generally being a nuisance. On the grounds that the poor dog was getting stressed and barking, I brought the cat in and told him firmly that if he gets eaten it’s his own damn idiot fault.

Pippa22

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.

so your neighbours have no say in the matter?

Shropshirelass

Have a look at a Freedom Fence, it is suitable for cats and dogs, It is not an electric shock system I hasten to add! It works on a signal transmitted to a collar worn by the animal, a wire is run round the garden and it beeps when the animal gets within a couple of feet. They learn to recognise the beep and not go any further. If they do then they can get a small static shock. This is approved by vets and as I said before not to be confused with shock collars, totally different, the animal is in control. I have this for my dogs, we live in a rural area with a very large garden. I keep my dogs safe and away from stock and busy roads. Best thing I ever did. Some people will not agree but for me it is being a responsible dog owner, I have had dogs who have escaped numerous times in the past.

If its not an electric shock system, how does it give them a shock? A "static shock" is still electricity! how is the animal in control? do they pit the collar on themselves? Honestly what nonsense

Look into Protect-a-Pet .. they're great! You could also look into 'catios'.

Have a look at a Freedom Fence, it is suitable for cats and dogs, It is not an electric shock system I hasten to add! It works on a signal transmitted to a collar worn by the animal, a wire is run round the garden and it beeps when the animal gets within a couple of feet. They learn to recognise the beep and not go any further. If they do then they can get a small static shock. This is approved by vets and as I said before not to be confused with shock collars, totally different, the animal is in control. I have this for my dogs, we live in a rural area with a very large garden. I keep my dogs safe and away from stock and busy roads. Best thing I ever did. Some people will not agree but for me it is being a responsible dog owner, I have had dogs who have escaped numerous times in the past.

one of our neighboures has fixed inward sloping wire nets on top of their fence, but I doubt that would contain our 7 month old kitten as he is extemely acrobatic. We are beginning to take him out on a lead, and have a ’Cat run’ on order - we’ll be able to sit inside it with him. He is one of the smallest breeds of cats and would not be able to hold his own with larger cat visitors to our garden

AmberSpyGlass... That made me laugh. Re : cat in clay and woman's perfume.

I had two rescue cats from when they were kittens. The vet advised me to keep them in until they could be neutered. By the time they were old enough to be neutered it was the winter and I didn't have the heart to let them out in the freezing cold, I live in the east of Scotland and it was a particularly hard winter that year. Come the spring they both looked at me as of I was completely nuts. They would sit at the windows and avidly watch birds landing on the grass. I let them out they sat at the back door and bolted for cover the first time a bird landed. They were happier as house cats although that was never the intention. Doesn't help you, I know, but if you ever get another keep them in for as long as possible and they clearly don't want to stray too far or maybe mine were just wierd!

I have a friend who has had sort of see-through cage erected over the whole of her garden so that her cat can't escape. Seems a bit excessive to me, but as the cat cost her over £1000 I suppose she thinks it is worth it.

I was a pedigree cat breeder and would recommend the protect a pet fencing and it can be diy fixing. Clipping the cats claws weekly helps and prevents them from clawing the furniture. Make playing interesting chasing games with toys with the cat as part of your routine especially in the evening which would encourage the cat to be home for the night. A fresh bedtime meal should be fed . Personally I feed regular meals rather than free feed, the cat will learn the times and the rattle of the kibble tin

please dont let you sweet kitten out unsupervised. at some point he or she will not come home. you will never know what happened. if you love your cat you will keep it inside . maybe you could train it to walk on a leash or be with it in a safe place while you are around. I have had too many heartbreaks, now I know better.

mbody

It would be lovely if all cat owners confined their pets to their gardens. I would not be ankle deep in cat poo from the various moggies round here who treat my garden as their own personal toilet - horrid!!!

Yes with you there. We've lived in our house 42 years. We had a cat of our own back in the day, but never experienced cat poo lying around. Our own cat never left our garden but she did her business and made a good job of burying it.
Just recently two new cats have arrived and we didn't realise at first, but they were s******g everywhere.
They just left it sitting on top of any newly dug soil.
We purchased a couple of cat scarers that emit a sound they hate.
These actually work to our surprise and the little darlings have stayed away. We watched another cat enter the garden and jump then run hell for leather out the garden, so we actually saw it in action.

I have a 15 year old neutered boy with a gammy leg and I'd love to know where he goes day & night.. We're on day 3 of him out on a wander this time and suspect he'll be back later to fill his belly before sodding off again. He has a collar with his name on so everyone knows he's not a stray but he clearly has more than one home..

Liz46

Thanks for your help ladies. grandtante, we've tried calling him back when he goes near the fence but he puts two claws up at us. My husband tried lifting him back down but that is not working.

He is a gorgeous cat and very loving. He was the runt of the litter but has quickly grown and is huge now. I think as some of you have said - we're doomed as he will do as he likes.

Liz, the woman opposite me has pedigree cats that are never out of her garden. If you Google, I do believe that you can get sloping fencing to attach to your existing fencing. It would slope inwards (downwards) so the cat cannot climb over it. I hope in his travels that some misguided people don’t start feeding him.

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!

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.

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!

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

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.

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.

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

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.