Well have just emailed every cat fencing company I could find to get some quotes, so excited! I have let my 2 boys out into the newly re-landscaped garden as they have no concept of jumping over the fencing (yet!) and they love it. But I want to have the peace of mind that I can leave them out there and go back into the house and know their safe! So it's a decision between the netting system and the rollers, will see what the quotes come back with and make my decision.

 

I guess the measure of success of any cat enclosure is how many breaches occur ! I am pleased to say that the system I installed in my 40ft garden has now been in place for two years without any escapes. On the fenced part of the garden I purchased some brackets from Protectapet and did a DIY job as per the instructions on their site. For the rest of the garden I purchased 8ft green garden stakes from B&M (£1.87 per stake), some cloche hoops and a roll of 8ft deer mesh.

The stakes are pushed into the ground at two metre intervals. I cut a couple of inches off the top as they are hollow inside. I cut the cloche hoops in half and insert them into the top of the poles (overhang inwards towards the garden). The mesh is then simply rolled out behind and fastened to the poles using cable ties. Tent pegs are put across the bottom at half metre intervals. The only adjustment I have had to make is a roll of wire mesh (50cm) along the bottom length of the fence as the rabbits would come in from the fields and chew through the plastic mesh !

All in all though, a cheap way to contain the cats and doesn't look too unsightly. I would add that the catalyst for doing this was that we had both cats run over on the road outside of the house. Fortunately one survived - a Russian Blue cross. The other cat we now have is a Norwegian Forest cat - a renowned climber I am told. He hasn't been able to escape yet !

Mat

 

I know this was mentioned some time ago (possibly on this thread, maybe on the old forum) - if you use cable ties for any of your security systems, you need to check them frequently as they degrade and break.

I replaced mine with wire.

 

We're looking to buy a new outdoor cat run for the HBs and want something custom built ideally.

Probably 10ft x 6ft pressure treated timber, heavy duty galvanised weld mesh front and sides and panelled back, half covered with a roof (possibly cedar tiles or onduline roof) and full height front door. Skirting/dirt board all round.
Solid shelves and ramp to take the weight of the MCs.
Would love a finial or two!!
It needs to be robust and aesthetically pleasing at the same time.

Not asking much lol
Can anyone recommend a good shed/animal housing company that would do bespoke orders? I live in Bucks.

 

Well I have got a quote from:

http://cherryacresanimalhousing.co.uk/

They got back to me really quickly and discussed all my wish list. Nothing is a problem and so far the quote is very reasonable inc vat, delivery and installation.

I have asked for something similar to this in shape.

But with no bedroom and a large shelf that runs the full length and ramp up.

Full height door at the front.

Either onduline roof or cedar shingles (hoping for this but dependant on cost)

With a few added arches and coving to make it look more like a hen house/summer house and painted baby (huckleberry blue).

Would have much preferred a pitch roof but our neighbours are stroppy and would moan!

Just love this colour combination.

Delivery is approx 3 weeks from ordering so should tie in nicely with the new patio.

Just finalising details.

 

Lucky HB's Gold Star outdoor facilities with all mod cons and best of all total safety and peace of mind for you.
Can I just add a little concern , knowing what Meeko is like when I open his run door if I didn't have an "air lock" between the run and the outside world there is a chance he would be out and away if I didn't use all hands/feet and anything else available to prevent him .
Maybe there is one and I just havnt seen it but if not it might be worth a thought.

 

This is a great call and something I would worry about with the smaller runs.

Tali can shoot out a bedroom door faster than a bullet when she is in the mood

 

I did think of this Buffie but luckily they are all "fairly" well behaved. Huck will walk out and wander back to the house of his own accord lol. If Grace pushes past she runs onto the lawn and chews and chews and chews so I can always pick her up. Holly goes mental running around for 2 minutes then panics and runs back to the house especially if I shout at her! Little H stops at the doorway waiting to be picked up because he has no idea what to do if he went a step further..he knows he's not really allowed and is well behaved enough not to try.

The back garden is enclosed enough that I think we're ok.

Now I could do with an air lock on our front door mind you!!!!!!!

How lucky are you to be blessed with sensible felines .
I don't think Meeko would be hell bent on escaping anywhere but his curious side would take over and he would be halfway down the garden before he realised that if he kept going he would be lost
We do ,thank heavens,have an airlock on both front and back door , one of the benefits of older houses

 

Looks lovely especially painted. Pity about the neighbours and the roof though.

I must do something like this soon I take Jango out every night on a long leash but it's not ideal and it would be nice if he could go somewhere unsupervised.

We've got an old garage which no longer has the roof and just has three walls which are rendered and now form part of the patio. I'm toying with a rather ambitious plan to put a pergola type top on it and give it a trellisy type side to enclose it with a gate to make a sort of enclosed patio a bit like a beer garden at a pub. I thought it would be nice to make a sort of garden room with table chairs and things to share with the cats with perhaps a Cat Tunnel to the house.

 

Well slight change of plan - we ARE going to go for an apex roof but a low pitch one. Some where between 6 foot and 8 foot. Stuff the neighbours lol!! And this means I can go for the shingle roof too.
Just about to put my deposit down and so excited!!

 

I've been trying to work out how to cat proof my balcony for a few years now and going round in circles because I worry about the safest way to do it. Time is passing and my cat's 10th birthday is coming up. I would so love to get this done for him.

When I had the pigeon netting installed, they told me it would be good enough quality to contain a cat safely. But their standards and mine are very different. I am 5 stories up and I don't trust fabric mesh to contain a cat.

This is my balcony and the mesh that is already installed:

There are already steel wires in place which I think I could attach the metal mesh to. They seem very sturdy, unlike the mesh.

I was thinking about gauge 15 / 1.8mm galvanised metal mesh from a roll, with 1 inch holes.

The other way I have been thinking about it to use a couple of solid welded mesh panels. They're a bit thicker gauge (12 / 2.5mm) which is appealing and two of them would almost exactly fit the width of the balcony.

I don't think my cat is at an age where he wants to climb or chase. I'm more afraid a seagull will startle him. So I am not sure it matter if the top is reinforced.

I think I could attach them to the wall at one end, to each other in the middle and maybe the metal divider at the other end, or build a wooden frame to attach them to. I think they might be easier to fit because I wouldn't have to fiddle with the steel cables, but I'm a bit worried the wind might take them, or they make rattle and bother the neighbours.

Thank you so much to anyone who read this. Suggestions about how best to go about this very gratefully received

 

50% deposit paid so everything crossed.

 

50% deposit paid so everything crossed.

How exciting! I can't wait to see it as I suspect it will be like a palace

 

Hello Cat Lovers!


I would need a little bit of help, from cat owners who managed to secure the balcony in any other way then using a cat net =)

I know it is a bit unusual, but where we live, the landlords don’t support us to put a cat net on the balcony. Our little fury friend is very much alive, he is definitely not scared of jumping up to the edge, to the roof, or even walking over in any possible ways to the neighbours.

I would really appreciate if I could get some idea how to secure the balcony without using anything like a net.

(Basically we are not allowed to build anything up on the balcony =()


Thank you: Kriszti

 

@Zori - if you are not allowed to put anything on the balcony to keep your cat in then I don't know of any way to make it safe for your cat. Sorry. Only netting, bars or perhaps perspex panels would be suitable. All of those would be visible.

I can only suggest you make a light weight mesh door (or get one made) to put in the doorway to the balcony so at least your cat can have some fresh air, but still be safe. Perhaps train her to walk on harness and leash and take her to a safe place (such as a friend's private garden) so she can wander around and explore.

 

@Zori I understand your dilemma. Balconies are tricky to secure even when you are allowed to put somethings on them. I've been pondering how to sort mine out for a few years now.

Would you be able to use a freestanding cat enclosure that could be out there temporarily and only when being used? Perhaps something like a very large dog crate

so your cat has some space to move around. I think you can buy some sorts of pop up catio too, but they are very expensive.

 

The new cat run arrived today.
Overall I am pretty happy with it.

It is a good size, solid and well built and the roof is great!
BUT
I am a just a little concerned about the gauge of mesh they have used as it feels very flimsy compared to the old run (and our hen house run too). I really should have specified it needed to be strong at least 16 gauge. The HBs do have a tendency to stretch and sometimes to climb up the mesh so I just hope it holds out ok.
The shelf is a strange one. It is made from plywood with a sort of thin piece of plasticky board on top. I assume this is because they were concerned about the holding weight, as it is a long shelf. It does have one support strut and I would have been happy with more than one if needed (as I can adapt them to become a scratching post with rope) I'm not sure how well the plastic/plywood shelf will last and would have preferred a more solid shelf really.
I did ask for a ramp as well - not that they need one but as they get older they may do especially as they will be jumping down onto a patio. I think they forgot about it.
I'm not 100% keen on the cream accent colours so will probably have to get my paintbrush out at the weekend!!!!

 

The new cat run arrived today.
Overall I am pretty happy with it.

It is a good size, solid and well built and the roof is great!
BUT
I am a just a little concerned about the gauge of mesh they have used as it feels very flimsy compared to the old run (and our hen house run too). I really should have specified it needed to be strong at least 16 gauge. The HBs do have a tendency to stretch and sometimes to climb up the mesh so I just hope it holds out ok.
The shelf is a strange one. It is made from plywood with a sort of thin piece of plasticky board on top. I assume this is because they were concerned about the holding weight, as it is a long shelf. It does have one support strut and I would have been happy with more than one if needed (as I can adapt them to become a scratching post with rope) I'm not sure how well the plastic/plywood shelf will last and would have preferred a more solid shelf really.
I did ask for a ramp as well - not that they need one but as they get older they may do especially as they will be jumping down onto a patio. I think they forgot about it.
I'm not 100% keen on the cream accent colours so will probably have to get my paintbrush out at the weekend!!!!

View attachment 321326 View attachment 321327 View attachment 321328 View attachment 321329 View attachment 321330 View attachment 321331

Love it, I.m quite proud of my home made catio but that looks lovely. Lucky cats. X

 

That's a really beautiful catio @huckybuck

 

I have posted a bit about my cat proofing on a different thread, but thought I would add it in here with the others.

I have 2 young cats (just over 6 months old). They have been having escorted trips into the garden for a couple of months, but they had started to get to the size where fences were looking appealing and until they are fully grown I don't want them disappearing over the fence/wall.

I decided to use the Securacat system for my cat proofing, I looked at quite a few and it seemed really good and was also the best price.

When dealing with Securacat you get to speak to Roz, who is a lovely lady. She works very hard to make sure you have the right parts that you need. I found that with some of the other systems you were left to try to work out how many brackets etc you needed. Roz sells kits, so if you measure your garden you can see what you need, but she is actually very flexible, so if for example your garden isn't a standard 'kit size' she will adapt it for you. Mine was 50m, so I needed the size 3 kit and a bit extra.

The hardest part was preparing the garden, we had quite a bit of overgrowth, a large rambling Ivy that had taken over an old tree, a fallen down wall and also different levels with some lower fences as below:

So it took us a couple of weekends, rebuilding the wall, cutting down the old ivy infested tree, clearing fences etc, and the eventually putting up the cat fencing.

I like the Securacat system as it's very flexible, it coped well with the changing heights and weird areas of the garden and went up easily. Here's the finished result.:

Pathway and gate:

Change in garden levels:

Rebuilt wall, horizontal wood batons used to attach cat fencing to:

Old ivy infested tree gone and fences cleaned up:

Low fence height increased:

So hopefully all safe and sound.

 

That looks wonderful @LJC675, I am quite envious of your garden

 

Aw, thanks

 

That looks great @LJC675 - and lovely they have so much space!

 

So I deceided to go with SanctuarySOS after getting all the companies in to quote. The cost was very good and after thinking it through the netting would work better as I will have to have vertical sections going higher than the fencing so the netting is less obtrusive. So they are coming next Tuesday 29th will take before and after pictures for you guys here as my garden is a right pain to do lol so you can see how they have handled it.

I have also ordered some large cat flaps for my MC's so going to have fun fitting them tomorrow and then trying to teach the boys to use them ha!!

 

ive just had a catio palace built for my boy; mr shadow as he cant roam outside due to his special needs,my dad built it entirely from scratch with wood/ roofing from b & q and wiring mesh from some guy on ebay [tons of it left-good value].
i was quoted over 700 quid from woodenart-and that was after several weeks of no communication to my support staff,he then sent no further communication after my staff phoned for a new quote,and it seems from other people who have used them he is terrible with contacting as well.
so my dad,seeing my frustration [and mr shadows] decided to build the patio run for me as im on a ground floor flat within a care facility,i bought him a brand new fairly decent laptop as a present to say thankyou to him.

i feel sorry for those who dont have relatives/friends who are handy with DIY and relie on companies to do it for them which hikes the price up massively, for my dad its also got him out of the house and in a different environment for the past few weeks so hes enjoyed it just as much as myself i think.
i will get some good photos of the run [still work in progress-needs toys hanging ,platforms on the steps screwing down so forth],its great as im now able to leave my patio door open and not suffer with the heat,same for my boy.

 

Looking forward to seeing photos of your cat enclosure @MrShadow. I hope your cat is enjoying it.

 

hi chillminx! thankyou he loves it-i have to drag him in at 11:0pm every night as he wont come in other wise,he sits on the highest step patrolling his territory from oncoming tom cat attacks,he seems to have partaken to the hobby of mosquito batting/eating as well,im glad about that they keep coming in and biting me.

ive added a photo of him in the previous post while chilling on his high step,but i will do a full shot of the run tomorow when its brighter.
my dad did a fantastic job.

 

Awesome! I had to do my own one, (single mum with limited did skills!!) would like a better roof at some point but fairly happy with it!

 

Diy skills not did skills!!