Keeping young cat within garden

Howitzer

Hi there,

My cat is almost 5mths old and not spayed.

We let her into the back garden under close supervision.
It is well fenced and walled - but she is now old enough to get on top of the walls and frisky to go wandering.

She will be spayed in due course, but is there any way to train her as to what her boundaries are?

Would cat deterrent sprayed around the walls of the garden work?

At the moment I am trying a sin-bin approach. If she goes up she gets put back in the house and collar removed for 5 mins.
(I think she knows collar on = going out)

Anyone any other ideas?
She is primarily a house cat and we don't want her on the roads and wandering off for 3 day trips etc.
(need to plant some vegetation for her in the garden too).

Someone in another post mentioned lion faeces from the zoo to keep cats out. Does it work? could keep them in too....

mikedragon32

To keep her in, the best bet would be to put some brackets on the top of the wall and attach plastic mesh along the length of the wall, so that it's at right angles to the wall and overhanging.

I can't explain it very well but it means that the cat would actually need clear the mesh to make it to the wall. I'll see if I can find a diagram/image of what I mean. But basically it would look like a ledge protruding from the wall into your garden.

Another idea might be bushes around the perimeter.

I tried to find images, but came across this, which might be useful... http://www.cats.org.uk/catcare/leaflets/530_cats_and_gardens.pdf

Okay, there's images of what I was trying to describe here: http://www.catfencein.com/brochure3.php

Hope all that helps!

M

FranknFurter

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Im told a bracket fence shaped like that (the I being the wall the fence facing into the garden and mesh wire stretched from bracket to bracket of course) usually works.
She would still need watching though.
Cant help but ask, why isn't she neutered, shouldnt really let her out (imho) until she is, no matter what you do, cats are great escape artists and will find the one tiny mistake you made and vanish through it.

b

Howitzer

thanks for the advice guys.
She isn't neutered yet as she is just at the 5 mths mark. Will be booking her in this month.
When she's out - we are with her and always catch her when she scales a wall.
So no panic for the moment.

Would be nice in future to leave her unsupervised / less supervision.
Not until neutered though!

Thanks again

Gordon Gekko

Howitzer wrote:

thanks for the advice guys.
She isn't neutered yet as she is just at the 5 mths mark. Will be booking her in this month.
When she's out - we are with her and always catch her when she scales a wall.
So no panic for the moment.

Would be nice in future to leave her unsupervised / less supervision.
Not until neutered though!

Thanks again

She is plenty old enough to be neutered. Book her in now. Cats can go into estrus (heat) much earlier than five months - if you let her out, she WILL get pregnant, guaranteed - no amount of deterrents will stop a cat in heat, or a tom getting to a cat in heat

cotton

Have you thought about building a catrun? That way she can outside but completely safe.
I was originally going to inclose my whole garden for my lot but it would have been impossible as it's too big so I built a run instead.

FranknFurter

Actually, unless somthing else is wrong, there is no reason not to have her spayed at this age she is now.
A lot of people are beginning to realise, that unfortunately some vets are still stuck in the old idea of 6 months.
If a vet can anestesize a hamster he / can do it to a young cat. That idea dose'nt wash these days.
The whole "first heat" excuse is as bad as the whole "first litter" myth.

When it comes to female cats, once they go into heat once, or have a litter, the blood supply to uterus has been increased dramaticly, (obviously males are different)......when this happens the operation is actually *more* risky (and probably why is so much more expensive).

b

FlutterinBantam

Once your cat is neutered you will have less problems with wandering...but... it is very difficult to stop a cat in a garden expanding his/her horizons... Consider taking a chance ...they will come back to base

artieanna

A short term solution is, before you let the cat out put a little butter or fish oil on her fur and while she's out she be so busy licking herself that she won't be thinking of jumping that wall.

Let her out for short times only, until she's neutered. After that, you have to trust her as cats do tend to roam a bit. You must get her into a routine of going out and coming back. when you call her in, feed her, it will encourage her to come, when you call her. It works for my cat, she comes in around 11.30pm every night when i call her. I feed her and she stays in for the night next morning off she goes again and she pops in during day for naps and food. She may not stay in your garden full time though.

good luck:)

Arcadian

I'd suggest either building a run for her or keep her indoors, a housing estate has too many dangers for a wandering cat.

FranknFurter

http://www.kittenadoption.ie/resource.htm
Dont know why I didnt notice this before.

B

cotton

Yep, that's a fantastic link.:)

Happy indoor/outdoor run cats are the only way to go imo.