Suggestions on how to "cat proof" a balcony?

Hi!

I hope this is the right forum, I'm still getting used to this.

So I live in Texas, and it can get ridiculously hot during the day, but my RB has discovered the balcony (my fault, I was re-potting his cat grass and left the door open a crack). Now that he's gotten a taste of fresh air, I've been trying to come up with a solution that allows him to roam the balcony, but will keep him safe from falls. I was thinking of putting up sheer no-see-um grade netting, so both he AND I could enjoy the outdoors in the morning and evenings (when it's cooler), but I'm not sure if that would withstand his claws, if he were determined enough to try and escape.

My apartment complex is one of those prissy types, where all the balconies have to have the same aesthetic. I put in a query about it a week and a half ago, with no response, so if I can find something (or someone suggests something) that could go floor to ceiling and not be too obnoxious looking (I live on the third floor looking inward, so I have a little leeway with visibility), I'm just going to go for it.

My question to y'all is, has anyone here found a breathable, near invisible netting that prevents bug flow through, but lets their kitty enjoy the outdoors? I'm a mosquito magnet, hence why it would need to be a full balcony enclosure.

I imagine this is a lot to ask of y'all, but any advice or suggestions would be ever so helpful!!! Binx would especially love it, because he gets mad at me, now, when I go out there alone

V/r,

Raksha

I use to live in a condo with lots of bylaws, most of which were ignored. That said:
My balcony was on the top floor of a three story building. The balcony had vertical, narrow metal railing (for lack of better description), and there was a very narrow horizontal top flat surface. Ritz conceiveably could have squeezed her head in between the metal metal railing. I and a friend put up what was essentially deer netting along the entire metal poles. But we remained concerned about the top of the metal railing--what if she tried to jump up on it and lost her balance: death sentence. So I ended up not allowing her on the balcony unless I was with her. She didn't particularly enjoy it, so that was good.
Now, she did love jumping up on the window sill with the screen opened, and looking outside. In my condo I had windows that opened horizontally with screens. As added protection from her pushing out the screen, I put cooling racks (the kind you put hot from the oven muffins/cakes on). Worked well.
A word of warning: if there is any kind of screen, i.e., glass door with screen door behind it or screen windows, make sure there are NO holes in the screen and check frequently. One day I came home from work and saw Ritz looking at me from outside on the balcony. There were a few tiny ones in the one leading to the balcony. She was able to open the hole large enough for her to fit through, but couldn't figure out how to get back inside.
You can buy pet proof screening, it works to a degree, but when I was fostering Hercules and at the stage where he was behind a screen door, with pet proof screening, he nevertheless punched some holes in it. But this was a cat who had lived outdoors for months, so his claws were extra long and sharp.
I have since moved to a one level townhouse, and she (and Hercules) love sitting on the cat condo, looking outside, smelling the air and seeing squirrels/birds/foxes/deer/rabbits/mallard ducks. The screen is "guaranteed" to be child proof, i.e., a child 40 pounds or less can't fall through the screen. Ritz has charged the screen several times when we first moved in (I see chipmunk, I want chipmunk), and the screen held, thank goodness.


I briefly considered buying an outdoor enclosure but knew that the condo association would really frown on that. Good luck.

We use so-called "cat net", but I don't believe it's available in the U.S.. It's basically nylon fishing net or deer net. From what I've read, a lot of people in South America use nylon netting on their balconies. Is your balcony roofed? If so, you'd want to have it reach from the underside of the roof to the bottom of your railing, or even the floor. Our balcony only has an overhang, so we had to use specially designed poles for the netting. These photos were taken as we were replacing the poles and netting two years ago, before I cut the zip ties:

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We've had different netting over the years, and in my experience olive green is the least conspicuous, white the most. Black is in-between. There's so-called "transparent" netting, but it doesn't hold up and is very difficult to pull taut.

You may find something sold in your area by looking for "safety net systems for children".

There's also the Kittywalk Outdoor Net Enclosures Ritz mentioned you might get away with using without permission, since they're not mounted: https://www.kittywalk.com/deck_patio.asp