Cat Containment Options

Immediately after our cat was found, we decided that until we had found a solution for containing our cats within our grounds, we would ensure the cats were kept indoors at all times. We looked at a number of solutions and I have detailed these below.

House Cat

Our first option was to consider keeping the cats indoors. However, knowing how they reacted when we did this for a short while when we first got them, and having seen how badly they can rip up your carpets, we decided this option was not one to consider. It also seems incredibly cruel to keep your cat confined to a house with no chance for it to roam relatively freely in its natural environment.

Cat Run

We looked at installing a cat run, in fact, we had a cat run constructed by one of our local decking suppliers. They built a frame and stapled the neccessary wire mesh to the run to prevent the cats escaping. It was well made and ran the full length of two sides of the house with a width of roughly 3m. Within it we built climbing frames, added logs and more. Their interest was peaked for a while but it was only a few short weeks later before they became bored and had no interest in going into it despite being connected to the house by a cat flap. They also continued to try to escape when doors or windows were left open. A large sum of money wasted it would seem!

Cat Fencing

Option three was cat fencing. The physical kind, not the cat collar type I will go on to discuss. This is a flexible dangly mesh that droops around the top of each fence panel around your garden. There are many good reviews on these products and apparently work because a cat won't climb on something flexible and definately will not climb upside down to get over it and thus over the fence. The major disadvantage from our point of view was just how ugly they looked. It is worth considering that there is always that slim chance that they may just find a way across, especially if you have left an unintentional gap or an item for the cat to jump from such as a table near the fence. If you can put up with the ugly design and make certain the area near the fence is secure, then this is the ideal cat containment system as there is no training involved. There are a few further disadvantages though: Substantial initial outlay; regular maintenance to ensure no breaks; no ability to secure areas such as the front door which the cat could escape through if left open.

Inground Cat Fence or Wireless Fence

Our final option for a cat containment system is the static correction collar. This operates either wirelessly or with an inground cat fence. The wireless system is reasonable and can protect the whole perimeter or your house easily. These put out a virtual fence in a circle around the unit, although the distance to the perimeter can be adjusted, you cannot adjust the shape of the perimeter to suite your garden. We wanted to ensure the cats did not leave our grounds at all and for that reason, an inground cat fence was more configurable and suited our needs better. There are several systems available, the most friendly option emits a sound to alert the cat it is too close to the perimeter and if the cat does not move away, only then does it produce a static correction. We were initially concerned how cruel this may be but I go on to explain what I found out on this in the next page.

NEXT: Cruel or kind? My opinion on static correction collars.