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Constructing A Cat Run
Though we live on a Scottish island, we also live along a 'busy' main road where people tear past at up to 70 mph. Cats are often killed on our road and this may be because the traffic is very intermittent and they therefore get no chance to get acclimatised to it. We also love the bird life around our home, much of which is ground nesting, so a cat run was pretty much inevitable if we were to protect both our cats and the local wildlife.
We marked out the cat run to take in a 40 X 20 metre area that included a willow copse, fallen trees and a pond - part of the boundary would be the wall of our garage and office. This would give the cats lots of play opportunities. Having the flat shed roof along the boundary would require additional precautions to prevent escape.
We had to go for a very permanent solution because our location is battered by hurricane force winds and gets wind driven salt spray. We opted for steel reinforced concrete security posts with their tops angled inward at 45 degrees. The corner posts had concrete stays set into them at 45 degrees to take the weight of the fence. You can have the concrete mix dyed and in retrospect we should have had some green dye added to the mix, but the result doesn't look that bad in an Orkney context. Because the rock here is a few inches from the surface, we had to have post holes dug by a fencing contractor with a tractor mounted auger - the driver burned out one auger on the rock. At least the rock meant we had to use a lot less concrete to bed each post. We strung three galvanised wires between each post's vertical section and five along each overhang. The wire was tensioned with 'raddles' which are tiny, wrench operated winches that are normally used to tension barbed wire cattle fences. Chain link was then attached to these wires with steel hogrings applied with a special gun.
There was a possibility of the cats getting under the chain link and of small animals - particularly voles - getting in and being killed by the cats, so we blocked off the bottom of the wire with green scaffolding protection nylon netting secured to the ground with stainless tent pegs. This was a great success as grass and weeds grew into the mesh in no time making it a permanent fixture. For the overhang we attached nylon 1 cm nylon mesh of the type normally used to protect fruit bushes from birds to the top wire with cable ties. This was a lot less successful. It barely made it through one winter. Galvanised mesh, secured by hogrings replaced it. These rings are a very premanent attachment and can only be removed with bolt cutters. The garage roof escape route was secured by placing a length of 4X2" treated pine along it and attaching overhanging hanging basket holders to which we attached horizontal wires to take the same galvanised mesh.
For access we created an 'Orkney gate' - a length of fence not secured at one end which could be drawn back to allow access. We intend to replace this with a proper gate soon, but it has served its purpose well. A wood-lined tunnel allowd the cats to access the run through the exterior wall. This exited into a small wooden porch. The porch had entrances at both ends to give the cats alternative access routes and to keep rain out of the tunnel. This was carefully sealed and roofing felt used to prevent water getting onto the top of the tunnel itself.
We were delighted with the cat run and it stopped all the cats escaping for two years. Then two toms that we christened the Houdinis arrived. As fast as we blocked their escape routes by applying more mesh, they discovered new ways to get out. The only option we could come up with was an electronic fence. We ran a radio frequency ariel in the form of a wire all the way round the perimeter of the run, connecting both ends to the control box in our office. The control box sets the actuation distance enabling us to configure it so that cats patrolling at ground level would not be disturbed. We fitted the two young toms with battery operated collars that would first warn them, then apply increasing levels of discomfort until they moved away from the antenna. In two years not one cat has managed to escape whist the system has been activated. On the few occasions we have tried taking the collar off him outside, Sparky has escaped almost instantly. We give the two toms respite by keeping him indoors for a few hours every day with the collar off.
The issue of how to stop a cat from urinating in the house was resolved by putting a huge mound of sand in the run. Plants soon took advantage of the cat poo and started to grass the mound over. Having to dig it over periodically was a small price to pay. Our main worry was that they would poo indiscriminately all over the run and tread it back into the house as well as having this act as a reservoir of parasite infection. This fear did not materialise as the cats almost always use the indoor litter trays or the sand mound. We have now had the cat run for four years. Plants have obscured much of the lower part of the fence, blending it in. The cats confined to the cat run haven't suffered a single injury, let alone a death. The one cat that does have his freedom did go missing for a few days and return injured - possibly as a result of attack by a dog. The investment of approximately £4,500 is the best money we ever spent.
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