Invisible electric fence for keeping a cat in the yard?

I have serious doubts that it would work for most cats. I mean, there's a decent percentage of dogs that don't stay in the yard with an invisible fence, and it's not the type of training cats respond to very well. It might even make a cat nervous and scaredy. Personally I wouldn't try it.

IMO its not gonna work like it would for a dog. Cats determined to leave the yard to chase after the squirrel, rabbit, bird, will ignore the "shock" it gets when it crosses the line. And I would not even want a shock collar on my cat in the first place.

Best thing to do if you won't keep the cat inside all the time is either:

1. build/buy a large cat enclosure for the cat to sit in and be safe in your yard.

2. Train to a harness/leash and take the cat out a few times a day and walk with him.

Well lets put it this way - NONE of my cats would ever have a shock collar on them and neither would my dog. There are much better alternatives to do such as the two I suggested. To me those are the only ones you really should consider for your cats.

BTW I've only had one outside cat and he was supervised outside after he got into a fight with a neighbor cat! The rest of mine are 100% indoors.

Like others, I wouldn't use a shock collar on a pet either.

If your looking for a fence alternative that won't take extensive construction or digging, look into Purrfect Fence. There's a link for them right on this very page.
Not only will it keep cats in, it can keep some animals out.

I only have experience with dogs, and a different brand.

Combined with a good physical barrier in the first place, they work for dogs. Most issue a warning and that suffices, and while dogs tend to be more intelligent than cats, I see no reason a young feline would have difficulty making the association after a couple corrections.

I have no experience with cats, but my concern would be that due to their very small size that the device not be too heavy or bulky, and it would need to be setup in such a way that when the correction is made (remember they can find creative ways to get over and UNDER a fence fitting through tiny gaps) that there is only one avenue for retreat which is safe inside the yard. If there is any other possibility in the way it is setup, then the cat would get locked out rather than in, and the alarm of the shock with being outside of territory could frighten the kitty and cause them to bolt for safety elsewhere and be very difficult to find.

There are many good arguments for why a dog might need to be in a back yard unsupervised.

However, I can't think of any for cats. They are territorial animals and instinctively use litterboxes, so are perfectly happy remaining indoors only once they recognize this as their territory so I would argue to just leave them inside in the first place, and for sunning put shelves on a high perch by a window or install a cat door going to an outdoor enclosure.

Hopefully someone can chime in with first hand experience for you.

I haven't used it personally, but one of my pet sitting clients uses it IN their house to keep their cats in a certain area. They put it under the house. I guess they just laid it in the crawl space but I'm not really sure. Anyway, they tell me it worked fine with their two previous cats who I never sat. With the current batch of cats, they use the collar on the diabetic cat to keep him confined to the kitchen with his special diet food and out of the general cat food. The other two cats can come and go at will. Every time I've sat him, I've had to hunt through the house to find him as the shock of the collar is less powerful than his desire to eat all the cat food in the house. I have to take his collar off, tote him back to the kitchen and then put the collar back on once we're where he's supposed to be.

I think that like with dogs, it will work if they don't have an overwhelming drive that makes suffering through the discomfort worth achieving their goal. Knowing how focused cats are just before an attack, I wouldn't think it would be very effective in an outdoor situation.

Hope this helps!

I realize this is an old thread and the OP has probably long since made their decision about whether they intend to use a containment system such as IF. But I wanted to respond since I have a fair amount of experience with the IF system and cats exclusively and hopefully it will benefit somebody else looking for information.

As I stated, I have three cats, two males and a female. I live in a fairly rual area, with a fenced backyard of about a half-acre. The fence is a 4 foot high linked wire affair and is enough to securely keep my two dogs (a Schnauzer and a Chihuaha) contained. But not my cats, they can and will go over it.

I do not want my cats to be indoors only. They are happier being allowed outside to hunt and play at least twice a day. They are also calmer/more serene when inside if allowed outside to work off excess energy (not to mention taking care of their "business", apart from the two inside litter boxes).

There are lot of semi-feral cats roaming around here. Also predators, coyotes, feral dogs, large owls, etc. Not to mention traffic up and down the farm roads in front of and around my house. I have had to pick up at least one dead neighbor’s cat off the road in front of my house and seen others by the road in the general area. Allowing my cats to roam the area around my house is not going to do much for their chances of living very long.

So, I had an IF system put in shortly after I bought the house. Transmitter wire is mostly above ground and runs along the fence in the back yard. Transmitter signal is set to trigger receivers at about 3 meters. Receivers are IF "Microlite", the new model designed for cats. I put the collars on the cats when I let them out in the back yard and take them off as soon as they are ready to come back inside (they do not wear them inside and there are no "trigger zones" inside the house).

Does it work? Heck yes it does. Better than I would have ever imagined. I have been using it for four years and the only time I had to go outside the fence to retrieve one of my cats was when the batteries in the receiver for that cat became discharged enough that it failed to trigger (a total of three times in four years). The cats VERY quickly learned to respect the system. I have seen them chasing a bug or bird, run right up to the point the receivers will start to trigger and then -- stop. They will test it on occasion, not very often (I know because of the rate the batteries discharge). You DO have to make sure your batteries stay fresh, I get about 3-4 months per battery per collar. People whine about how expensive the batteries are; it's $60.00 per collar per year for a replacement every 3 months, that's $15.00 per battery. Yeah, I guess, like I said, I get 4 months out of them so not as bad. There are off-brand compatible batteries out there that are cheaper, I tried them and they are not as reliable as the IF brand.

The IF system is NOT a plug and play solution; you have to train your cats on it using flags in the yard, be out there watching them, giving positive re-enforcement, etc. My cats learned it in about two sessions. Is it cruel to put "shock collars" on your cats? Not as cruel as allowing them to go prowling and get run over by a tractor trailer or torn up by a coyote, IMO. Am I leaving my cats at the mercy of anything that decides to come in my yard? Not really, that would be an issue with or without the IF system. And my cats are NOT declawed (something I would never do) and as capable of defending themselves as they would be with or without an IF system. Oh yes, I have subjected myself to the “shock” of the collars many times, maximum level. Not bad but I am 10 times bigger than a 14 pound cat so I try to imagine it amplified by a factor of 10. Yes, that would get my attention. That is the whole idea; I would avoid any activity that I associated with bringing that on. It is also why I set my collars for a “4” on a scale of “1” to “5”.

The IF system is endorsed by my vet and the AVA. The ASPCA doesn't endorse IF specifically, but doesn't have a problem with electronic containment systems, in general (with some exceptions, depends on how it is used). PETA is of course totally opposed to it but then they are opposed to anything that doesn't put animals on a totally equal rights level with human beings.

SUMMARY: Four years with an IF system, three cats who go outside twice a day, hour or more each time, cats stay in the yard, cat love having a big back yard to play in, I am confident that they are going to not go roaming/prowling outside the yard. Use the Microlite collars, change batteries every three to four months, test the receivers on occasion and keep an eye out and the system will work fine with cats.

Hope this provides some useful information to anybody in need of it.