Cats - need to stop them going into road

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

OK here's the problem. We live in the middle of nowhere but there is a lane going past our farm which is used quite a lot.

One of our pussies got knocked by a car and was killed the other day

We've got some kittens, and don't want the same thing happening to either them or our other cats. I might add that in over twenty years of living here we've only lost one cat on the road, but that's enough basically. The blessed things WILL go out there, can't imagine why as we've got a ten acre field for them to explore and plenty of hedgerows not on the road side.

Anyway, a friend knows someone who had a similar problem with their dog running into the road; so what they did (apparently) was to put a collar on it and they installed a "beam" across their gateway, and every time the dog got near the "beam" it would get an electric shock, and this sorted the problem. If the owner had let it persist then Fido would have been killed, there's no question about it, now it won't go anywhere near the gate. So a case of having to be cruel to be kind basically.

Sooooooooo ........... now I'm wondering whether we could do something like this with the cats. We wouldn't want to use the voltage (obviously!) that a dog would use, BUT we have got to do something.

Any ideas anyone? Does anyone use this remote training system? What's it called? Where can we get it? And is there one specifically for cats?

Please: no lectures on how "cruel" this is or the fact that we're barbaric to keep cats with a lane outside ............. practical solutions needed, not nitpicky lectures . Thanks.

 

[cava14una]

What I would say is I have never heard of this used with cats and one of the problems with dogs is an adrenaline surge can take them through but then they can't come back

 

[Archangel]

My friend did this with her cats and yes it did work. She had to do the entire garden (which was huge) but like you she couldn't face another one killed. They wore collars with little boxes on them. I think it was called Freedom Fence or something. The cats are quite elderly now so it did work.

 

[JillA]

So sorry about your cat - it is very upsetting when that happens. The trouble is cats wander quite a way so even if you can find some sort of barrier to your frontage, they will very likely go round it. Mine does cross the road from time to time but not often - he has plenty of hunting on our side. It's a question of motivation, if they have no reason to go there they will stay on your side

 

[MagicMelon]

Personally I'd never consider electric shocking my cat, I think these things should be banned and yes I will say that. I watched one dog with one on and it simply ran so fast through the beam that by the time it realised it was zapped, it then couldn't get back in again.

Can you not make a big pen attached to your house or fence in an area? My mum has the pen idea, where basically they have a fully enclosed chicken wired pen leading off from the cat flap in the house, they use it as a toilet mainly but can go out anytime they want (add branches and stuff for interest), they go out when people are around to watch them but otherwise at least they have the pen. We've lost cats before to the road so I will not risk my current two going out - we're about to fence round my patio with a high chicken wire fence and then saggy stuff at an angle-in along the top so they cant get a hold to climb over. Then mine can come in and out as they please but they're nowhere near the road. Losing a cat to the road is just awful so fencing IMO is the only way to guarantee their safety. Cats don't stay where you want them to and they're never great with the road - we had one cat who just turned up at our door and basically moved itself in, it had lived outside I guess all its life and would walk up and down the road all the time (we let it keep its freedom so it came and went as it wanted), I genuinelly thought this cat was totally road-intelligent as it went years doing this. BUT it then got knocked down and killed last year, ONE day after one of our other cats was killed as well - 2 cats in 2 days, that was pretty horrific.

 

[cloverleaf1985]

I am about to get a quote for an enclosure for the back garden as one cat is deaf and the other only has 1 eye, so I can't risk them getting onto the road. It will be human height so I can get in easily. Look up Moore space for pets on eBay or Facebook to get an idea.

 

[MagicMelon]

This is the sort of idea we'll be putting up - http://www.purrfectfence.com/images/information/new-arch-bg.jpg

 

[cava14una]

This is the sort of idea we'll be putting up - http://www.purrfectfence.com/images/information/new-arch-bg.jpg

Saw something similar suggested on My Cat from Hell

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

Mmmm yes that does look a good cat-proof fence but the problem is we're a farm here and so need the cats to be able to wander through the barns and sheds as they please.

Have had a look at, and read some review of, the "electric collar" idea and the more you read the less you become enamoured, sort of thing, so that idea is getting to be dead in the water. I don't like cats to wear collars - around here it just wouldn't be viable as I'd worry they'd get hung up in something, and so we need to think of another solution. But donno what!

We have two entrances, so maybe we will have to think about a different gating system......... off now to research!

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

OK here's the problem. We live in the middle of nowhere but there is a lane going past our farm which is used quite a lot.

One of our pussies got knocked by a car and was killed the other day

We've got some kittens, and don't want the same thing happening to either them or our other cats. I might add that in over twenty years of living here we've only lost one cat on the road, but that's enough basically. The blessed things WILL go out there, can't imagine why as we've got a ten acre field for them to explore and plenty of hedgerows not on the road side.

Anyway, a friend knows someone who had a similar problem with their dog running into the road; so what they did (apparently) was to put a collar on it and they installed a "beam" across their gateway, and every time the dog got near the "beam" it would get an electric shock, and this sorted the problem. If the owner had let it persist then Fido would have been killed, there's no question about it, now it won't go anywhere near the gate. So a case of having to be cruel to be kind basically.

Sooooooooo ........... now I'm wondering whether we could do something like this with the cats. We wouldn't want to use the voltage (obviously!) that a dog would use, BUT we have got to do something.

Any ideas anyone? Does anyone use this remote training system? What's it called? Where can we get it? And is there one specifically for cats?

Please: no lectures on how "cruel" this is or the fact that we're barbaric to keep cats with a lane outside ............. practical solutions needed, not nitpicky lectures . Thanks.

Its hard to say without picturing your set up.


Trouble is cats will be cats and even a distance away they will wander.

what about this???

http://www.primrose.co.uk/cat-deter...m=cpc&utm_term=deter cats&utm_campaign=4 cats
or this

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&...=aps&hvadid=2975540430&ref=pd_sl_1l98zs4jmb_p

.
http://www.deteracat.co.uk/index.htm

do they have reflective collars so cars would see them better when they are sides on to the car??
I did hear of something which you run along the top of the fence not electric but something that would shock cats away like an invisible sound. I don't remember where I heard it though.

There is a harness and lead( not being funny my parents had to do this with the siamese years ago.)
or one of the play pen things.

Is there anything you can do to make the other diferction more inviting to them??

could you get one of those bird scarers that could scare them away from that direction??

I also heard of some kind of collar which would show you where the cat was like a phone app thing finds your friends phone.

could you grow catnip in the other direction?? you know how they love it
you could create a cat garden with toys sent treat balls etc somewhere that the cats would keep occupide and play

 

[abitodd]

I had this dilemma. I coped with the 2 loved ones being killed,but when I saw yet another of my cats up on the road(at least half a mile from the house) I decided to do something. I soaked string in repellent and laid it across the drive and I took the cats for twice daily walks in the other direction.......until I found a better place for all of us and moved!

 

[cptrayes]

Sister in law has shock collars that work brilliantly on her two and one other before them.

I love the people who think it's kinder to pen a cat up than to let it shock itself once ( and that's all it takes) to stop it being mashed on a road!!! I know which my cats would prefer if it came to it - the same thing I use to keep my horses in.

 

[Meowy Catkin]

Shock collars are illegal in Wales.

 

[cptrayes]

Shock collars are illegal in Wales.

Do they also ban electric fences for cows, sheep, pigs and horses? No? Why not?

 

[misterjinglejay]

I've been looking into the Purrfect Fence for my coonie cats and it looks fab!

 

[ecrozier]

Misterjay/MagicMelon, we have the purrfect fence, it's brilliant. Our garden is about 30m long by 15m wide, maybe slightly more, and it goes right round. We got it after losing our beloved British blue on the quiet road outside. We now have two British shorthairs - cream and white and silver tabby - and they have never once tried to breach the fence.

 

[misterjinglejay]

Brilliant - that's great to know. 1 Purrfect fence coming up. Thank you