Finished the cat fence today! They love it! Running up and down the hill, checking out the pond, sniffing the air, discovering the jungle under the crown ferns.

Willow had been an outdoor-with-supervision kitty for 6 years, then got grounded last fall when he crossed the road two days in a row. With summer here, he's been waking me at 4am every day to talk about it. Rohan and Luna have never been outside in their 3 years, except for 8x15 cat alley. Today, I was able to let them outside in the fenced backyard. Rohan's already proudly sporting a burr tightly tangled in his gorgeous plume tail.

I'm curious as to what kind of fence you have and do you have a pic of it?


I am very happy for the cats!!

Hugs!!!!!!!

Hi -- sorry for the belated reply -- didn't get a notification, just logged in to see if anyone had a commented. I modeled it on Purrfect Fence's design. (www.purrfectfence.com) The key is the shepherd's crook at the top -- even if they climb the fencing, they can't navigate the negative curve, and they flop back onto the ground. The body of the fence is deer fencing. The skirt is a two-foot strip of hogwire: one foot along the fence bottom as a chew-guard, and the other foot flat on the ground so they can't crawl underneath. Zip-ties hold it all together.

The Recipe:
Uprights: 3/4 inch conduit (one every 10-15 feet)
Sleeves: 1 inch conduit (sunk in the ground to hold the uprights)
Fencing: heavy duty deer fencing
Skirting: hogwire (2x3" squares)
Black zip-ties, flat black paint (for conduit) (paint after bending)

Uprights: I bought 10-foot lengths of 3/4 inch conduit pipe, and a pipe bender. First make a 90-degree bend about 9 inches from the end, and then a 45-degree angle another 15 inches in. They're not precise, but it doesn't matter. (A pipe bender is a good upper-body workout: you slide the pipe in the bender, step on the bender's footplate, and pull back on the handle to bend it. Use a long (4') heavy-weight pipe as your handle, and it's all leverage.)

Sleeves: 1 inch conduit, cut into 20-inch lengths. (A Makita with a metal cutting wheel worked perfectly.) I pounded one end shut to keep dirt out, and to make it more blade-like. I hired a young man with strong shoulders to pound the sleeves into the ground. If the edges curl with the pounding, cut fresh tops with the makita.

Deer fencing: with zip-ties, hang on the INSIDE of the uprights. The lovely truth is that the floppier, the better. Even my girl who loves to climb everything hasn't tried to climb the floppy fencing. So there's no need to make it perfect /square /tight. Makes it EASY to hang! I had to navigate a steep hill, so I made a dart, and zip-tied the excess fold outside the fence. (Outside so the bulk doesn't provide a foothold.)

Skirting: two-foot strip of hogwire, bent so one foot runs along the bottom of the fence, and the other foot runs along the ground. I could have used pins to secure it to the ground, but with the slope, and uneven, rocky soil, I just weighted it down with rocks and bricks.

Zip-ties are my friend! I bought a bag of 1000 at Home Depot for $17, and used about 2/3rds of them for 130-foot enclosure. The bulk of them are in the skirting, as I didn't want any gap larger than my little Luna's head. I zipped every 2nd - 3rd hole in the hogwire. I was sparing on the uprights, because I didn't want to add rigidity that Luna could use as a ladder to climb.

Gate: I'll be buying this from Purrfect fence. In the meantime, the only access to this part of my yard is through the house.

End-points: I stapled the deer-fencing directly to the house at both sides. Not elegant, but it works.

Jumping: I wrapped flashing around a telephone pole near the fence so Luna couldn't climb it. My pumphouse shed is close enough to the roof to leap across, so I nailed a short fence of hogwire along the edge of the pumphouse. There's one remaining branch of a cedar tree that hangs over the fence, but it's high enough I don't think anyone would chance it, especially since if they fail, they'll likely land in the pond. If they try, then I'll have to remove the branch.

It was a lot of work, but I just chipped away at it. I'd go bend two or three uprights one day. The next day I'd been three more. (I used 11 total.) After the sleeves were pounded into the ground, I slid the uprights in. (Their final height is about 7 feet.) The deer fencing was surprisingly easy to hang, all done in less than two hours. The hogwire skirt was the time-consuming part, but it was still easy. I just kept doing a little bit, then later, a little bit more. I love zip-ties.... All total, it cost me about $500 (and I've still got 70' feet of deer fencing left -- which is the most expensive part).

Tying the hogwire became a zen-like experience, and I felt the pride of farmers before me, carefully mending fences to keep their livestock safe. There became a pride in craftsmanship, knowing that I was giving my kittykids the gift of safety and outdoor joy. In the end, the shepherd hook tops haven't mattered, since nobody's even remotely tried to climb it. But *I* feel better knowing that even if they do, they can't get out. Pictures soon!

I look forward to seeing your kitty cats playing outside, a happy fur parent makes for the best company.
I loved your description of your Zen fencing experience I may try it sometime.
A job well done.
I look forward to your pics
elaine

They are SOOO happy to be outside! Luna is smiling, I can see it in her eyes. They chase each other, catch things, snooze under the tree, watch the goldfish in the pond... Happy kitties = happy mama.