[brezofleur]

How many of you have a catio and live in an apartment/rental?

We're on the 1st floor and have a decent sized patio. The apartment above us has a deck that is two feet short (in width) so ours extends past it.

We recently adopted a yorkie and purchased a patio doggy door and I know it's only a matter of minutes before Ody figures out how to use it too. He's an indoor kitty only and is only allowed outside under supervision or on a leash. He'll stay in our patio when we're there unless he's chasing birds in which he proceeds to jump right over the "fence". Little bugger.

Below is an image of what our "fence" looks like along with one of the corners. What we're planning on doing is putting up two metal poles on each end and in the center and put up plastic chicken/bird wire of probably 7-8 feet tall. Because the deck above us does not extend the width of our patio, there will be space at the top.

Is that smart to do? Leave the top free of any netting? Do you think Ody will be able to jump this plastic fencing? I know that cats find something sturdy, but because it will be up against the concrete, I'm afraid he'll find a way (unless I'm over-reacting and that he will not be able to jump up past the concrete with the plastic). Would it be better to create a "top" too?

 

[Pixall]

We are planning on doing something similar. Seymour LOOOVES going out on the deck, no matter how cold it is. We would love to have a doggy door. We have not figured out if we are extending the lease here, but if we are, we are going to put mosquito netting around it(The bugs in the summer are TERRIBLE!!). Once we have the netting, we might do chicken wire, too, and then put in a doggy door. Then the dog and the two cats can have the patio whenever they want!

Our plan is to fully enclose it, though, so I don't know. Is Ody a climber?

 

[brezofleur]

Ody's a jumper rather than a climber. But I haven't seen him climb so I'm not going to say that he isn't. He can easily jump to the concrete and jump to the top and right on over. But if there's an extra 2-3 feet of plastic, I don't know if he can/will.

 

[jusjim]

Any way of fixing it so that the top bends inwards? That way it would be hard to get over.

Zenobi (otb) fell off my balcony and dropped about twelve feet soon after I adopted her. I think she was going through the bars after birds and jumped at one. I covered the bars with metal chicken wire to a height of three feet and she never tried to go over. But then she was an older cat; who knows what she would have done as a younger cat.

 

[The Divine Miss M]

They sell cat fence toppers. I'd go with one of those. It's specifically designed to keep them in, and if you get a double keep others out. It's also easily installed and uninstalled which is a must in an apartment. Your idea sounds really good, but I would worry that the landlord would not appreciate 7-8 feet of chicken wire on his property. A topper should in theory be covered by those bushes, or at the very least barely be seen past them.

 

[brezofleur]

They sell cat fence toppers. I'd go with one of those. It's specifically designed to keep them in, and if you get a double keep others out. It's also easily installed and uninstalled which is a must in an apartment. Your idea sounds really good, but I would worry that the landlord would not appreciate 7-8 feet of chicken wire on his property. A topper should in theory be covered by those bushes, or at the very least barely be seen past them.

I was worried about chicken wire (sturdy) but if I end up getting the fence topper, I think it would work out the best.

And lucky for me, I have an 8 foot hedge the borders my patio.