I have decided to catproof my garden.
I have lost two cats to RTAs in the past - the last once was about eight years ago. As I didn't like making my cats be indoor-only cats I have always lived with the anxiety. Cat owners will sympathise: that moment of fear every time there is an unexpected knock at the front door and the cats aren't in view, that twinge when one of them deviates from their normal routine and that look of resignation on the OH's face when you can no longer contain the comment 'I hope the cats are OK' when you are driving home after a night away.
I think Blacken and Mini are reasonably sensible about the road. Blacken is ten, Mini is seven and they have always lived here.
This year has been hard catwise. I lost Nike unexpectedly to cancer (she was Mini's litter mate) and Willow to old age. I got two kittens just before Christmas. They are delightful. Mitzi is a Siamese/Bengal cross who looks very Oriental. Flynn has a lot of silver Egyptian Mau in him (not sure how much). I am very fond of them, particularly Mitzi, who was very ill soon after I first got her - there is something about a cat you have snatched back from the edge.
There have been changes since I got Mini and Nike seven years ago. First, there are the local changes: much more traffic, much more parking in our street and a housing estate on what was a field at the end of the garden. Second, I have found the internet: cat forums filled with people who feel like me about their cats, some of whom actually keep their cats indoors.
Blacken would probably adapt to being kept indoors. Mini would hate it. As for the kittens - if you have experience of Bengals or of Egyptian Maus you will realise that keeping them indoors would mean changing the way we live. Flynn can climb anything, and does. Mitzi wants to follow Flynn and if that means knocking stuff off shelves then so be it. They run very fast. On the internet it says that Egyptian Maus can run at 35 mph and you don't have to watch Flynn for very long to believe it!
Then someone posted something about catrpoofing gardens on the internet. Catproofing the garden - the perfect solution!
I did some research. There are two companies that provide a product: Purrfect Fencing and Securacat. Purrfect Fencing are US based but have an outlet in England. Their product is a whole fence. Secruacat are based in East Anglia, where I live. Their product is to be added to conventional six foot fences.
Then I plucked up the courage to mention it to my OH, David. I expected a negative reaction. He was unexpectedly positive. I realised that he was relieved: he had thought I was going to insist on having Mitzi and Flynn permanently indoors.
At this point I am going to go off on a tangent. Whenever you start a project like this, people start telling you how it can be done with a screwdriver and a ladder for a couple of hundred quid. Let's just get a few things straight: (a) David and I work full time and time to us is more precious than money - we already hire people to clean the house, do the garden and decorate, (b) we spent one precious holiday redecorating the bedroom in our first house, did a great job and decided never to spend another holiday that way and (c) we have no friends who wish to give us materials at cost or will offer labour for free.
Back to the catproofing. Purrfect Fencing would probably be a cheaper options but (a) meant establishing a periphery 6 inches inside the current boundary, (b) would mean hiring other people to install it as the company only sell the product and (c) my gardener, Frank, loathed the idea of having an untendable 6 inches around the property. Securacat was local and would install the catrpoofing as well as sell us the materials. They would also consult about the modifications necessary to the garden. I think Purrfect Fencing would be ideal if you had a lot of land and needed to fence off a section of it.
We decided to go with Secruacat. They have been very, very helpful. We are now trying to get the garden ready for catproofing in the second half of May. It is going to cost between £2500 (if three days) and £3000 (if four days) for them to come and install the catproofing.
But that is the least of our problems. We have to get the garden ready. That means (a) build 25 metres of new 6' larch lap fencing down each side of the garden, (b) remove two large trees, (c) cut back another five trees, (d) reduce the height of a conifer hedge from eight feet to three feet, (e) prune back assorted bushes, (f) move a pergola and (g) work out how to build a 'kitty lock' across the drive. Frank the gardener thinks it will cost £3000 and take him 10 days.
Remember, no comments about how you could get it done cheaper by a man you know.It hurts to lose the trees. We are keeping a huge ash and a tall crabapple, both of which will be catproofed. The ancient and beautiful Laburnum is going - partly because it is so difficult to catproof and partly because Flynn will eat
anything (e.g frozen peas, raisins) so I don't trust him not to eat the Laburnum seeds. One of the plums is just too difficult to catproof. We are going to plant silver birches away from the periphery to replace the Laburnum - I have always wanted silver birches.
David is still on board. Aren't some husbands amazing?
