Cat-Friendly Backyards

[kibasgirl]

(I didn't know what section this belonged in) ~

Despite the fact that my kitty is indoors, I would like to feel comfortable roaming around the yard, if only for a few supervised hours a week. Which brings me to this thread's topic: Building a cat-friendly yard. <3 ~

I know all the basic things I need to do, like remove any plants hazzardous to cats, but I'd like advice about building my kitten-approved garden. So, if you have any advice, post away! Thank you! <3 ~

 

[goldenkitty45]

You'd have to talk to a florist I would think for the best advice on plants. Or do a search on the net for plants that are poisoneous for animals.

However, if you really feel your inside cat needs to be outside, why not either train to a harness/leash and stay out with him/her or get one of the ready made cat enclosures that are sorta like a long tent.

IMO your cat's been inside so far, why rock the boat? Besides being outside you have to worry about picking up fleas/ticks. And that means now having to put flea preventative on him.

 

[pee-cleaner]

My cats have almost 1/4 of an acre of shrubs, grass and mature trees to play in/on. I have the yard fenced with cat proof fencing and it's wonderful. They let themselves in and out at will with a cat flap.

I can't imagine trying to do supervised outside time as once you let the kit out, she will want it all the time---BADLY. You will probably have a "door diver" and possibly a "yowler" when she thinks she NEEDS to be out.

Doing the enclosure or fence seems the best plan to me. I don't do flea preventive on any of my pets (2 dogs and 3 cats.) I'm in Texas but I find that unless my pets get around infested dogs, it is not a problem. In the 12 years I've been at my current home, I've only had flea problems once and that was easily fixed with a dose of treatment from the vet. There's no sense in spending money and giving kitty a "chemical cocktail" in the offchance a flea will get on her, IMO.

Hope this helps,

Cally

 

[newf93]

What kind of cat fencing do you have? I have 15 week old kittens, plus two adult cats. I cannot keep all of them in the house, so I was thinking of buying one of those in ground fences to keep them in our backyard. If you (or anyone else on this forum) has one of these, could you please let me know if they work well or not? Thanks!

 

[kuntrykitty]

Once you start letting your cat outside, they get a craving for it and will start yowling or tearing up your door to alert you that they want out. I mean, who in their right mind wants to be indoors all the time when there is a beautiful day outside?! I live way out of town, about 35 miles, and Zoey has 6 other kittens to play with outside in our yard, which she can easily escape. But in the mornings, it is gorgeous out! So I let her out all morning to play with Chloe, Starbucks, Sherbert, Lucy, June and Rose. She climbs trees and runs through the grass and has a jolly good time! Every 15 minutes or so I go out to check on her, and inbetween I check on her through the windows. I'm sure there is some plant out there that if she ate it would make her sick, but I'm not too worried really, because all we have is grass, some weeds, hollyhocks and wildflowers. So she gets plenty of outside time, and in the afternoon she wants to be in because it's hot out and cool in here. If you have a situation like mine, I think that is what you could do. If you live in a civilized area, I'd just take a book outside with me one specific hour a day, and read and watch your kitty. And no matter what, don't let her outside except for that one very specific hour. She will cry for a good while, but soon she will learn that this specific time is when she gets to go outside, and no other time. She'll look forward to it and so will you, and she'll have lots of fun with nature!

 

[panther pride]

I've been having the same issues with Bindi, he cries and wants to go out all the time, At first I really enjoyed it but its getting old, fast and it is annoying when I have other things I have to like releasing butterflies or tending to my cecropica caterpillers. I'm keping him inside because he has run out of flea medicene and I'm saving up for a cat fene, the purfect fence, advertzed on this site.