Cats and railway lines

[biscuitbadger]

Hi cat people.

We're seriously considering getting a cat but we back onto a busy main line, with trains passing every few minutes, including fast pendelinos, and I'm not sure how much of a danger that would be.

Other than that, it's a quiet suburban road with decent sized gardens front and back. A few neighbours on our side of the road have had cats with no problems afaik.

We've had a cat in the past (in our old house) and would totally love another one. We didn't even think about the railway in relation to pets when we moved, we just loved the house and went for it. I'd be gutted if we could never get a cat, but equally I don't want to get one and then have it knocked down by a train.

I've seen some adoption places specify they don't let you adopt a cat if you live near a railway or main road, so I guess they consider it a big enough risk.

Indoor cat isn't an option for us as I live with the back doors wide open all summer long! I would be prepared to try and secure the garden, but not sure how realistic that is...

Any experiences or opinions gratefully received!

My cats are indoor only for health reasons, so when I bought a house with a garden I had cat proof fencing installed. The fence was already 6ft wooden panels and the 'cat proof' part is another 2ft of strands of wire that are on springs so that if the cat tries to climb it, the wire bends back towards the garden and they jump off. I don't know if I've explained that too well, I'll try to find a picture.

It looks very similar to this but stands a little more vertically.

I live backing onto a railway line and have recently adopted a 1 yr old female rescue cat. My neighbours have 2 cats and next to them has 3. All cats have been fine. The lines are very noisy, I struggle to see how a cat wouldn't hear the train coming.

Get a Persian! Mine go in the garden but are not bothered about it and can't climb, so I don't worry about them escaping.

I've emailed a couple of rescue centres. RSPCA just replied to say they'd advise against it and suggested getting a house cat.

Our neighbours a few doors down adopted theirs a while back but not from rspca. They said the cat never went near the railway line, and could hear the trains coming a mile off.

Torn on this one. I really want a cat!

Cat proof fencing is something to look into, though I don't think it'd work for us as we have trees that a cat could climb to get over the fence.

Adopt an older cat who's less likely to want to go far?

Cat proof the garden.

Accept that most cats are actually quite clever creatures when it comes to self preservation.

Find a rescue that realises the above point.

That cat proof fencing is a little out of our budget.

Our old cat was a rescue and she barely left the house let alone the garden. She was a soppy old thing.

Railway lines vibrate so even without sharp hearing I would have thought a cat would know a train was coming. As feral children in the 70s my sister and I were allowed to wander the 5 miles to town across public footpaths, over fields from the bottom of our garden, which included a main railway line which you crossed on foot via a stile. We never saw any dead animals of any kind on the line.

We back onto the met/piccadilly line. Our BSH has survived so far - probably helps that she doesn't climb!

I've talked to a couple of rescue places now, one of them was totally ok with the railway as a staff member had experience of living next to one. So looks like we'll be getting a cat :)