Electric fencing for cats??

[Sandstone1]

Is it possible to use electric fencing to keep cats in garden?
Thinking of fitting a couple of strands to inside if fence to stop them climbing out.
Is this feasible?

 

[s4sugar]

It would work if you added it to inclined clematis mesh.
I looked into doing this for my cats but buzzards & the red kites mean I keep mine indoors or in runs.

 

[Sandstone1]

Thanks just want to keep them in garden. Will be looking in to it.

 

[wkiwi]

Wouldn't recommend due to the things that could go very wrong.
It would be much safer and more humane to use the type of fencing that nature reserves use to keep cats out i.e. similar to prison fencing with a sloped top bit (like an overhanging cliff) that they cannot get over.

 

[9tails]

Wouldn't recommend due to the things that could go very wrong.
It would be much safer and more humane to use the type of fencing that nature reserves use to keep cats out i.e. similar to prison fencing with a sloped top bit (like an overhanging cliff) that they cannot get over.

What sort of cats do you have? It may keep big cats in, but mine would use it as an exciting climbing frame. I think the only way of keeping normal, active cats in a garden is to build them a run with a roof.

 

[Blackwijet]

its actually quite easy and cheap to cat proof your garden boundaries (assuming you have proper fencing in place and no overhaning trees) . You can buy expensive versions but I did it with garden mesh and some metal struts bought from a local builder's merchant. bent them into shape so that they angled inwards (like a lion's enclosure) - attached to all fencing and then attached the mesh (about 2inch suare mesh). the mesh is about 2 ft deep so it's quite intrusive and makes your garden look like a prison yard! You will need access to a drill and a method of shaping the struts but it's not that difficult.

My Tonkinese watched from the windowsill and then prowled round the garden trying to find an escape route (she was rather annoyed !) but she has never managed to get out and it has also stopped other cats coming in.

 

[wkiwi]

What sort of cats do you have? It may keep big cats in, but mine would use it as an exciting climbing frame. I think the only way of keeping normal, active cats in a garden is to build them a run with a roof.

Have never tried to keep mine in. However, i did have a discussion with a guy designing a cat-proof fence to protect a nature reserve (with ground nesting birds) from the local neighbourhood cats and he was 100% confident that no cats would be able to cross the barrier. It is also a method i have seen at other nature reserves, so I guess if you find out the proper dimensions/materials etc. then it will work for small cats too.

 

[hackneylass2]

Kaufen, I so agree with your last two paragraphs!

A poster on here made a 'catio' They are the ideal solution and won't make your garden look like a prison. Safe indoors and safe access to the outdoors, catios are the best way to go. I would never use an electric fence, for a start, how would you calculate the 'strength' of the shock for a cat?! I would not want any of my cats to suffer pain anyway.

 

[Sandstone1]

Thanks for all the replies, garden has been cat proofed using brackets and wire etc.
Electric fencing was just a thought. Decided it wouldn't be right for cats.

 

[MagicMelon]

I had a 6ft high chicken wire fence put up to keep my 2 Bengals in the back patio. It does generally work, although I do have to be careful to push certain places back, like I have 3 gates leading off my patio so where the hinge is, I have to make sure the wire is pushed to fill the gaps either side or else the cats get out! The fence doesn't look great but I luckily have a high hedge round the inside of it already so it's not that visible from the house (it is when you get outside the patio into the rest of the garden obviously).

My mum used to have a cat pen on the back of her house, it was fully chicken wired (giant cage basically) and led off from a cat flap so they came and went as they wanted. It worked extremely well.