Grief: How expensive is it to cat-proof a garden?

[its2346]

Our beloved cat was killed on a road this morning. We live in a rural area, with fields abd woods around us, and have allowed the cats to roam. I’ve always believed we’ve given them the richest life possible. But we had no idea they went as far as the nearest road.

I am now worried about our remaining cat. Our garden is large - 1 acre - and I don’t have any spare cash.

I don’t even know if I’m thinking straight. My grief is raw and I am struggling to find my feet. I have two devastated children.

So so sorry. It would be very expensive to cat proof an acre. I've seen it done once whereby the builder surrounded the top of the fencing with pipe, which rolled when someting tried to climb over, hence the cat got deposited back onto the floor if it tried to get out.

Catios cheaper for an acre you could build a big one but something like katzsecure would be very pricey.

lost mine on the road too.

First of all my deepest condolences on the loss of your cat. Take the time to grieve, I still have a few "moments" about having my Boycat pts (terminal ckd) well over 2 years ago. Also consider how much extra cuddles & fuss the remaining cat will need, Girlcat was inconsolable until she finally settled OK with the new toy boy I brought home to keep her company.

A much cheaper DIY-able thing would be to build a catio if your garden allows. Can be made out of chicken wire panels just bolted or nailed together & attached to the back or side of the house. OK nowhere near as great for a cat who is used to roaming, but a decent compromise until you can manage anything else. And it can be extended over time with more sections added on as & when, possibly until your whole garden is caged!

I have a catfence (having lost too many beloved felines to the road) - the current overlords and ladies got used to the collars really quickly and still live life to the full decimating the rodent population within the confines of a large garden. It was much cheaper than fencing over a large area - works like an electric fence for horses really - so you could have it over a smaller area than the full garden to keep the cost down - you can't see it once it is installed.

I’m so sorry. It sounds like your cat had a lovely life roaming the local area.

We bought the brackets & fence like this from EBay wasn’t that expensive but I think it would be for an acre! You could maybe do part of it?

Oh & I’m so sorry for your loss! 🥰 We lost a cat, turned into a saga for months with a cat trap etc but we never managed to catch him & he disappeared! Got 2 new rescues with every intension of letting them roam but just couldn’t! So we put this round the garden & know they are safe!

If you’ve already got a six foot or whatever fence you just add an overhang. Mine worked out at something like a fiver a metre plus the cost of screws and washers.

If you don’t have a high fence then you’d need to buy one. That’ll be dear.

I’m so sorry you lost your lovely cat.
Cat fencing is very expensive, we recently got quotes, and the cheapest was £2k I seem to remember, and about half that if we fit it ourselves. This was for our small 10m x 10m garden, which already has high fences, so we just for a ‘topper’ above that’s already there. Would it be worth buying a tracker for your cat? You might find DCat doesn’t wander as far, not ideal I know, but it might be helpful to know. Other than that a catio might be the next best option as I imagine that will be cheaper than fitting cat proof fencing to a 1 acre garden.

I'm so sorry to hear about your cat. We were in a very similar situation to you. We are rural with a huge garden and fields nearby. I have always let my cats roam. Then we had two killed on the road within two years.

It was impossible to catproof the garden, for a start we don't have fences, it's all hedges. So we built a cat enclosure which is the size of a town garden. The cats no longer have a lovely life roaming around, but they are still alive, and they can catch small rodents and lay in the sun. I don't like enclosing them, but I like it better than them being dead.

We used Protectapet.

It’s so variable isn’t it? Possible your other cat doesn’t roam. Wonder if a cat gps collar in first instance is a good idea so you can see if your other cat is, in fact, roaming?

so sorry, we’ve lost three pets over the last few years due to old age and it’s so sad however they go for everyone.