Second Floor Balcony

[lily-claire]

Gigi is my new house cat. She is ten years old and I have had her for 5 days now. We are settling in well and getting along.

Her former owner died, I have her medical history but not much else. Gigi will come on the bed and sleep with me, however, she does not jump on chairs, counters or window sills. I suspect the former owner trained her not to do that.

Gigi will be an indoor cat, however, I live on the second floor and have a marvelous long balcony. Yesterday afternoon I let her out with me as I did some chores. She loved it. This morning I let her roam around too. I checked and found her on the railing. Cats are nimble I know but I was surprised to find her up there as I haven't seen her jump like that yet. IS there any danger of her jumping off? I have a tree that is close to the deck but quite a stretch to reach. I can touch some of the branches.

 

[MoochNNoodles]

I'm sure she could jump to the tree if it is close enough. Cats are smart about that stuff. I know you can get a type of net/screen if you are concerned about that.

 

[solaritybengals]

We like to think of cats being sure-footed. They sure are brave. But many cats do fall. A second floor fall onto ground she might be fine, a second floor fall onto pavement might not be. I have a coworker (MC breeder) who has one of those second floors that look down on the living room with a railing on the inside of the house. Her cats get up on the railing all the time. She said in retrospect she would not have built the house that way as the cats do fall from time to time. She has had one broken leg so far.

Is there a way you could have the porch screened in? I know many people do this and the cats adore being outside (I hope to do this someday when I'm not renting). Another thing is to get one of those tent/tunnels to let her out in:
http://www.wildwhiskers.com/

 

[eilcon]

I'd recommend trying to get balcony screend in if you can or at least rigging some screening material around the railing to block her access if possible. Would depend on how your balcony is set up. I have a railling that goes around my entire second floor porch that's about 2 1/2 high, but with openings that are wide enough for the cats to get through. My younger two have done this and enjoy laying in the gutters.

My male cat jumped off last year. He wasn't hurt and hasn't tried it since, but before I let them out there for any length of time this year, I'm going to figure out a way to block the railing.

 

[jcat]

Have you heard of "high-rise syndrome"? Cats very definitely fall from balconies and open windows, particularly when they see birds, bats, or butterflies. The balcony should be screened in, or some sort of enclosure put up for her safety. We have ours secured with "cat net", which is actually much the same as fishing net.

 

[bab-ush-niik]

Just a thought, if your railing is wide and you get sturdy enough fencing, you might want to put the netting outside the railing. That way she can still jump on the railing, but she can't fall off. I'm not sure how feasible this is, but it's something to look into.