Cat-proofing a garden??

[stitchwitch84]

Is it even possible?!

Details: DH and I have two kittens (well, cats - they're nearly 1 year old). We have a big house on the corner of a very busy crossroads of two main roads, and we have a large garden which is rather a good playground.

I'm worried about the cats and the main roads (the boy in particular has a strong interest in roaming in that direction), and also about my cats impacting on neighbours. Not that we've had any complaints from the latter, but I want to avoid upsetting anyone with antisocial pooing in flowerbeds etc. They do have a litter tray but lately have decided that they'd rather go al fresco, and we haven't worked out where yet - quite annoying!

I wonder if anyone has any tips on how to cat-proof our back garden so they stay inside it? I realise this is probably ridiculously complicated, but thought it worth investigating nonetheless. We've just found them both out the front of the house on next door's bin-shelter thingummy, and we'd really rather they didn't 🤦‍♀️

Keeping them indoors isn't an option, as they can't have the run of the house when we're out and it would be cruel to shut them into one room when they've been used to so much space.

Yes, absolutely possible and a great idea. You just need solid fences, ideally 6ft but 5ft will work too, with no gaps under or on the sides.

The fence-top systems are best - you can get a company to do it (Sanctuary SOS, Protectapet etc.) or buy brackets and netting and do it yourself if you're DIY-skilled... It basically involves angled brackets at intervals with plastic (not rigid) netting overhanging inwards. Ours was done by Sanctuary SOS and has been up for about a year now. No escapes and no other cats or foxes have got in.

A friend did theirs for about £200 with DIY materials.

That's great advice, thank you ever so much! We do actually have a semi-resident deer and a fox's den in the garden so we will have to go about cat-proofing with care, but I'm delighted to know it can be done