# Advice on How to cat proof the garden



## Webster (Apr 17, 2007)

How do you make the garden cat proof? I would love to be able to open the door and let them roam free without the threat of roads etc it is always a worry to me.


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## Fixx (May 6, 2006)

How about something like this:


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## PendleHog (Dec 21, 2005)

Someone was talking about this on one of the forums a while back.. she has a fence with an overhang all round her garden so the cat cant jump onto the fence and get over. I cant remember who it was but will have a look for you.


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## Robbie (Dec 4, 2006)

I don't mean to sound rude but why would you only allow your cat the option of your garden? I used to liv right off a very busy road and mine died at a very good age due to feline cancer.


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## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

robnissmith said:


> I don't mean to sound rude but why would you only allow your cat the option of your garden? I used to liv right off a very busy road and mine died at a very good age due to feline cancer.


I posted that I'd cat proofed my fence nearly 20 years ago and none of my cats have escaped it. 

Why I did it was because,
a) traffic is much worse nowadays than it ever was
b) there are incurable diseases out there that you cannot vaccinate your cat against 
c) People steal cats - not always because they think they're pretty and want to keep them, or because they think they're lost. There are other nefarious reasons - such as dog fighting (Siamese in particular are considered good, so I'm told, because they will fight to the end) and badger baiting to train the dogs to be savage and kill.
d) I was about to start breeding and couldn't risk my queens picking up any of the above mentioned diseases

Need I go on?

To cat proof your garden you need to have a fence at least 6' high. Around that you put an overhang (1" chicken wire is good) which needs to extend by a minimum of 18". Through the edge of the chicken wire, you thread fine galvanised wire so the edge is taught, but the chicken wire itself is slack. If the cat runs up the fence and grabs onto the wire, it 'gives' a bit and the cat feels insecure and lets go.

I had 3 male neuters, one went missing for 10 days and came back thin, scruffy and covered in healed scabs. What I went through in those 10 days I NEVER wanted to go through again. Also not long after this happened I bought my first breeding queen and as you can't get a pedigree female mated without blood tests, I couldn't risk her picking something up like FELV (which you couldn't vaccinate against in those days). 

One of my males in particular loved his freedom and was out all day. After we finished the fence, he patrolled the garden for maybe a month trying to work out how to get out, but he never succeeded (and he was a very agile, adept cat) - after that he settled down and never attempted to escape. None of my other cats have even attempted it.

Of course you have to accept that you can still get outside cats coming in and getting trapped and we had a few in the early days. Only 1 ever came back a second time and after that second time he didn't come back either! We've never had a cat stuck in now for over 10 years!

Here are some photographs detailing how we did it which I loaded up onto a cat forum I'm registered with.











This is how we negotiated corners










This was how we dealt with the height difference on the party fence










And this is how we dealt with the gate.










If anyone has any questions, I'm happy to answer them.


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## Webster (Apr 17, 2007)

Thank you for this I have always wondered how it is possible when I see people advertising their cats/kittens and say they have cat proofed their garden.

For the person who asked why! We have lost 3 cats through traffic accidents, where we live although we are not on a main road and we have allotments at the back of our house, people still use the road as a cut through with little respect for anything that gets in their way.


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## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

Glad to help! Like I said, if you have any more questions, please ask here or pm me if you want to talk it over on the phone and I'll give you my phone number.


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## Shell195 (May 31, 2007)

So glad you explained it saved me alot of typing. My garden is cat proofed very similar to yours. Out of my 15 cats 14 cant escape(mostly mogs but also a persian,oriental and Devon Rex) My newest boy a MaineCoon just practically steps over it. He is like a squirrel straight out of the garden and up the trees in the woods. I really dont want him to escape so we are going to try a new way...........................Suspended drain pipe so it spins if they try and get on it.Lets hope it works
Easier to sleep at night if cats cant escape.


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## This is my Clone (Jul 8, 2007)

feorag said:


> Glad to help! Like I said, if you have any more questions, please ask here or pm me if you want to talk it over on the phone and I'll give you my phone number.


I have a question! Will you come round to my house and cat proof my garden for me? :lol2:


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## Meko (Apr 29, 2007)

i will Eddie, you can borrow Rio for £10 a day. No cats will enter your garden, totally cat proofed : victory:


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## This is my Clone (Jul 8, 2007)

Meko said:


> i will Eddie, you can borrow Rio for £10 a day. No cats will enter your garden, totally cat proofed : victory:



:lol2: Nice idea, but I want to keep cats *IN* the garden :lol2:


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## Meko (Apr 29, 2007)

be cheeky with it and ask the neighbours to help finance it. When they ask why remind them that your cats will never be able to bob in their garden again,


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## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

Meko said:


> i will Eddie, you can borrow Rio for £10 a day. No cats will enter your garden, totally cat proofed


Well, we never had cats in our garden when we had our GSD, except for the hard case 2 door away who chased dogs! He came in and made himself at home upstairs!




EddieLizzard said:


> I have a question! Will you come round to my house and cat proof my garden for me? :lol2:


Ooh, I'll have to ask my 6'1" built-like a brick sh*thouse husband that one, cos he did all the work. I took on the role of supervisor. He had the best known *rse in Cramlington by the time he'd finished diggin out 3' deep fencepost holes!!!


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## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

Meko said:


> i will Eddie, you can borrow Rio for £10 a day. No cats will enter your garden, totally cat proofed


Well, we never had cats in our garden when we had our GSD, except for the hard case 2 door away who chased dogs! He came in and made himself at home upstairs!




EddieLizzard said:


> I have a question! Will you come round to my house and cat proof my garden for me? :lol2:


Ooh, I'll have to ask my 6'1" built-like a brick sh*thouse husband that one, cos he did all the work. I took on the role of supervisor. He had the best known *rse in Cramlington by the time he'd finished diggin out 14 3' deep fencepost holes!!!


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## SiUK (Feb 15, 2007)

my mum used to have cats when they were younger and they lived by a busy road, two of them got killed on the road, also when I was little our next door neighbors had a really nice cat and that got killed on a busy road next to our house, I can see the sense in cat proofing a garden


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## Graham (Jan 27, 2007)

Ha, I was going to say get a dog too, but then I realised the intention was to keep cats _in _the garden, not out!


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## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

Graham said:


> Ha, I was going to say get a dog too, but then I realised the intention was to keep cats _in _the garden, not out!


Well, it did work when we had our GSD, cos he kept our cats in line too!




Shell195 said:


> Out of my 15 cats 14 cant escape(mostly mogs but also a persian,oriental and Devon Rex) My newest boy a MaineCoon just practically steps over it. He is like a squirrel straight out of the garden and up the trees in the woods. I really dont want him to escape so we are going to try a new way...........................Suspended drain pipe so it spins if they try and get on it.Lets hope it works
> Easier to sleep at night if cats cant escape.


I'm more surprised that your Devon didn't manage it as they are little b*ggars and climbing is a trait of theirs. The Maine **** I am surprised at as they are so placid and laid back. Is the overhang 18"? and the fence high enough that he has to climb then hang on to reach the edge of the overhang? Cos I have Somalis and they are extremely acrobatic and dextrous and they've never managed to escape from mine?


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## lin888 (Jan 6, 2011)

*How To Install Cat Proof Fencing*









This is a photo of cat proof fencing in my garden. I have 2 Siberian cats who are good at jumping. The fencing has been up for 2 years and it definitely works! Read instructions for your own DIY cat proof fence here. It was very easy and cheap to install.
How to Install Cat Proof Fencing


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## *H* (Jun 17, 2007)

I've got the problem of trying to work out how to cat proof my garden when I have 5 foot hedges around half, and a 2 foot wall with 2 foot fencing ontop around the rest (which is joined to a neighbours garden and their garden is lower on the other side with their front room window not far away, so sticking up a higher fence isn't an option as it will block out their sunlight). 
I don't really want Onion to go out, but he's been trying to get through the back door everytime the dogs go out, so I've got to do something for when it warms up


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## mandi1234 (Mar 13, 2009)

its nice to know that their are people out their trying to keep their cats in their own gardens. we have a sneaky ginger bloody cat that comes and dumps in our front garden. we know where it lives so my OH gets the shovel and throws it in the owners garden. we cant let the dogs in the front to keep it away.
electric fence might be the only thing for it, i reckon :lol2:


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## Kare (Mar 9, 2010)

I agree, the social acceptability of allowing a pet out to roam with the dangers of cars (and the danger of people getting injured swerving, as much as people know they shouldnt it is human nature) the possible poisons in other gardens (and the threat your cat is to pets people may keep in their own gardens or their children if your cat poops near their childrens toys) not to mention the damage that so many cats per mile is doing to wildlife. I simply have no idea who gets a small kitten nowadays and thinks allowing it outside their door is safe or appropriate.


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## Tds79 (Nov 6, 2010)

Im going to be cat proofing the garden over next few months as putting new fencing up, My lil girl has never gone out and shows no interest in wanting to, but my neutered male always goes out with the dogs, although he has never attempted to get out I dont want to risk it.


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## lin888 (Jan 6, 2011)

*H* said:


> I've got the problem of trying to work out how to cat proof my garden when I have 5 foot hedges around half, and a 2 foot wall with 2 foot fencing ontop around the rest (which is joined to a neighbours garden and their garden is lower on the other side with their front room window not far away, so sticking up a higher fence isn't an option as it will block out their sunlight).
> I don't really want Onion to go out, but he's been trying to get through the back door everytime the dogs go out, so I've got to do something for when it warms up


If you have a fairly large lawn with no trees or shrubs for a long lead to get tangled around, you could use a cat harness and a long leash fastened to a dog tie out stake. These are metal hooks on a giant corkscrew which go into the lawn. Alternatively, build a cat run out of chicken wire - you can even buy wooden framed panels specially designed for building a chicken pen - they are usually 6' x 3' each.


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## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

*H* said:


> I've got the problem of trying to work out how to cat proof my garden when I have 5 foot hedges around half, and a 2 foot wall with 2 foot fencing ontop around the rest (which is joined to a neighbours garden and their garden is lower on the other side with their front room window not far away, so sticking up a higher fence isn't an option as it will block out their sunlight).
> I don't really want Onion to go out, but he's been trying to get through the back door everytime the dogs go out, so I've got to do something for when it warms up


I think your best bet is to build an enclosure with an entrance from the house - probably by window.

4' isn't high enough for an overhang to work and you'd have to build a fence alongside the hedges, because again you couldn't put an overhang on a fence.

I sold a kitten to someone 20 year ago who came to look at my cat proofing to work out how to do it. Theirs was much more complicated because they were a detached house in the centre of a huge garden and they needed access all around for delivery of coal etc. They built an enclosure in the garden using natural tree poles rather than fence posts and green plastic mesh so it kind of disappeared into the greenery of the garden, but they couldn't attach it to the house. As the garden was on a slope they knocked a cat flap through the wall of their son's bedroom, out onto the concrete path at the point where there was a step down because of the slope, then dug a hole from the path underground to the enclosure. Then they put a large drainage pipe from the cat flap into the enclosure, putting a metal grid across the top of it so it could be stepped on from the step and it worked brilliantly. They also had mature trees in this enclosure which they 'collared' with mesh to stop the cats climbing.

However, that example is very extreme, but shows that it can be done. Most people who don't need access to the back of their house will build an enclosure against the house and window and just open the window to let the cat out.



lin888 said:


> If you have a fairly large lawn with no trees or shrubs for a long lead to get tangled around, you could use a cat harness and a long leash fastened to a dog tie out stake. These are metal hooks on a giant corkscrew which go into the lawn.


Me personally I would never tie out a cat - they are very different to dogs and easily frightened. If an aggressive cat (or any other animal) got into the garden they would effectively be trapped and if they weren't injured by the visitor could very well end up injuring themselves in their panic.


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## *H* (Jun 17, 2007)

Thanks Eileen, an enclosure does sound the best option. I had hoped he wouldn't want to go out, but he just wants to follow the dogs and it's a mad dash to get to the door before he does now. He's having the jingles off in a few weeks, so that his need to see what's out there stays at just curiosity rather than a calling to make little Onions 
I refuse to let him free roam, learnt my lesson with that one.


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## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

Well my cats have always been indoor cats and had access to my garden only ever since I started breeding and what I can tell you is that I can go out and leave my front door open and a cat may walk to the door and look out, may even step outside and then go back in again. It seems that as they've got older they've lost any urge they might have had to escape.

My foundation queen though was a very intelligent girl and she would be out the front door like Jack Schitt if she saw the front door open. She would go onto the pavement and walk down the side of our neighbours house and sit and wait for me to go and get her. Then she would happily walk towards me and be picked up and brought back home - like she had to prove a point! :flrt:


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## ukphd (Mar 29, 2008)

I cat-proofed my garden last summer (well the OH did :lol2. It's the best thing we've ever done - the cats love being able to go out there and we're safe in the knowledge that they can enjoy the fresh air without risking their lives or bothering the neighbours etc. We've installed a cat flap now too so when I'm home they can have free access to the garden. I don't let them out there at night or when I'm not home though, just in case a neighbouring cat or fox got in or something. So far we've had no escapes and we've had no accidental visits from other cats (although sometimes the neighbourhood cats come and touch noses with my ones through the fence  )



Here's a thread about it with piccies

http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/forums/other-pets-exotics/528133-finally-cat-proofed-garden.html


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