Cat proofing your garden on a budget

We have explored solutions as we would like our Maine Conns to have outside time, when breeding Maine Coons you don’t want the local Tom or outside females getting into your garden. The risk of infection is high through STD’s or other infections and worst case could be death due to feline Covid.

Allowing you Maine coon to explore and experience outside in a safe environment can be great for there mental health, not every home has this option, and we can appreciate that.

Some other options for example are a Catio or cat tunnel or if in an apartment and have a balcony is to enclose this in strong cat netting. Understand Maine Coons like any cat are climbers, we have had to replace our fly screen several times (thank you Indra, Bronté and Explorer).

Now on to the garden..

The first thing to do is check your fencing for any gaps, broken panels or loose fence posts and address these before carrying our any work. Trim and bushes and over hanging plants etc. We  painted our fence to give it some longevity prior to the cat proofing work.

You have options if you google ‘cat proof fencing’ a number of kits will come up like this:

https://www.robertdyas.co.uk/cat-proofing-fencing-security-retaining-kits-catio-enclosure-for-garden-outdoors-black-full-kit-13?cq_src=google_ads&cq_cmp=17714610885&cq_term=&cq_plac=&cq_net=x&cq_plt=gp&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=17337637653&gbraid=0AAAAACf0mw30dI6vqNuUHzUJCahEjqR5m&gclid=CjwKCAjw3_PCBhA2EiwAkH_j4sgIsonQaKj8LdG51S0wD9x2yZBo_7wUaNHWeF8wHuoxchD5w1GZSRoCiEUQAvD_BwE

Or you could look can have someone come fit it but this can cost thousands of pounds, you can get this from supplier like:

https://protectapet.com/pages/cat-proof-garden?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22237728868&gbraid=0AAAAADe5tjF5CxYs3wDYvoJJTpZ-VGjZ0&gclid=CjwKCAjw3_PCBhA2EiwAkH_j4hRTfDxsvvO-vsgVa7XibLbxzXMFjM30VKKjd1dAZ_wGUwAIm2oEaBoCjKsQAvD_BwE

 

However, we are more budget conscious and looking at the above kit for example we would be in for over £1000 to cat proof our garden. This made us think what is in one of these kits, well simply put its netting and a bracket. You need brackets at an angle of 45 degrees and sufficient over hang so the cat cannot jump out, and if it did jump it cannot climb to get out. Other things you will need are listed below.

These are the brackets we used, they are 90 degree and were bent to 45 degrees (40x400mm) for our garden, shed and gate we used 30 in total:
https://peterdiy.co.uk/products/kk1-3?variant=55133223289213

 

For the netting we used:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BRSH3VQH?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

This was cut into 500mm strips length ways, this gave us 4 lengths to use which was more than enough and plenty to spare.

 

You will need cable ties, get long strong ties, a staple gun and staples, some 40mm wood screws, scissors and a drill driver.

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On to the work!!!

This first step is to use one bracket as a template, we have a vice so put the 40mm end in it and bent to the required angel, then put another next to it and bent that to match. This process was repeated until we had enough bent for all the posts in the garden.

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Now simply attach the brackets to the fence posts as ours are wood, this was a simple process, these brackets are not carrying a lot of weight so we only used 2 screws each.

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Unrolling the netting is easier is 2 people are involved, on mine 500mm depth was more than sufficient, you may want to check yours. As the brackets have several holes it easy to attach and tension it. We did top middle and bottom in that order, then just stapled it to the fence panel.

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When we had to join the netting, we just ensured a overlap and on corners, ruched the netting if needs be. As the netting is fine and is black it does not stand out, you could paint the brackets with a metal paint if you wanted them to blend in.

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For our shed, we bent the brackets to a curve to a vertical shape, this projected the netting away, the brackets were attached to the eves.

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Lastly our gate, this was 2 of the original brackets left in 90 degrees the long edge attached vertically to the gate and netting between the two.

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For the final piece was the end of the run, we use a 2” wide piece of dried, treated timber and attached this to a wall, the end of the netting was stapled to this.

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Total cost was less that £100 and took about 4 hours to complete

 

What about Trees?

We did not have to contend with tree’s but we have been asked about it, you would want to trim branches to make climbing limited to the trunk of the tree. To limit impact to the tree you could look at the large veterinary plastic dog cones, these can be daisy chained together with cable ties and stapled to the trunk. Water would run off but when the cat looks up the broadness would prevent them from being able to climb.

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Does it work?

At first our Queen was only allowed out from 30mins supervised, we have allowed her out for longer and she has enjoyed her time with no escape attempts. Some cats are like Houdini so please watch your fur baby. We cannot guarantee it works for all.