Wanna Meet My Cat Fence? PART II
The other day I introduced what the famous cat fence would look like.
Some people liked my color choice (charcoal) and some didn’t.
But nobody quite seemed to understand what the fence would look like upon completion.
I mentioned that it would be very simple, kinda like a Richard Serra sculpture.
Desiree mentioned that in Australia “colorbond fencing” is popular. But my fence will be MUCH simpler. There will be no visible posts or trim.
Karen wondered if I could add lattice. I replied that the cats could jump up to the lattice, climb over the top of the fence, and escape.
This is the closest I could find to what I plan, but my metal panels will be horizontal to complement the horizontal siding on the Cross House. Note the total and complete lack of posts and trim. I love this elegant simplicity, and mysterious quality.
I want my fence to appear as a decidedly modernistic contrast to the 1894 Cross House, and am excited about this interplay of eras and styles.
In addition, I look forward to keeping my cats safe, having privacy on the highly visible but postage-stamp-sized lot, and receiving some acoustical improvement from the adjacent four-lane highway.
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I can appreciate the contrasting styles, but YIKES!!!!
The yikes is the fun part that can give design that extra something.
Works for me. And it is not a permanent feature. Years down the road, if you want to change it, you can. That is how I look at these things. You are going to wonderful extremes to keep all bits of the Cross House intact. Do what you want/need with your fence.
I really like how there are no posts showing. However, are the cats able to climb the posts from their side? Sorry for not quite getting it. I do like the color!
That’s what I am thinking. If the metal fence is installed with the grooves horizontally, it will a t like a ladder for the cats to climb out. My cats need the slightest of purchase to climb.
As a fellow cat lover, I would test drive a piece of horizontal fencing to make sure the cats can’t scale it. It looks like there are little ledges and some cats can climb without using their claws. Their little paws are quite nimble. 🙂
I have the same kind of metal fencing at my current house.
The cats cannot climb it. Their paws slide right off the ridges.
When it is finally installed, you can get a clear coat that prevents vandals from spray painting graffiti. It will rinse off with a pressure washer or strong garden hose. I’ll look up the brand I saw and send you a link.
Hi, Blair!
Graffiti is not an issue in Emporia.
We had an akita who regularly climbed the 8 foot high chain link fence. My husband kept blaming the neighbor kid for letting her out of her kennel when we were gone. Then one afternoon with a house full of 4 sick children, I put her in the kennel because the crying was making her nervous. Within about 4 minutes of putting her outside I watched her climb the fence and leap out!
You might listen to NonaK and test out a piece of your metal to see if they can indeed climb it. Animals are Houdini-esk and with a highway right next to the house, they would be flat kitties quickly.
Horizontal will be kitty ladders and also have visible seams.
I have the same kind of metal fencing at my current house.
The cats cannot climb it. Their paws slide right off the ridges!
I suspect that, since your cats are largely ones that you have rescued, they might have enough life experience to be wary of cars and streets. If they find a way out it is not an immediate death sentence. You will likely be able to do what is necessary to keep them in before they get hurt. you plan, using your skills and knowledge to make what you believe is the best solution. Every plan needs some revision when it comes up against reality, however, the idea that being able to get out a time or two before you can adapt the plan is incredibly pessimistic.
Welcome back, Stewart!
Most of my kitties were rescued as babies. And they have spent their life safely behind a Cat Fence. They have no idea of how dangerous a car is.
I had several beloved creatures killed by cars when I was a child. This is NEVER going to happen to me again.
Also, I live in a log cabin, and when I have vertical wood and beams next to horizontal logs, it looks better than competing horizontal things like shiplap.
I imagined the cat fence as corrugated steel, and it seems I wasn’t far off. This is great, Ross. And, if I ever want to build an outside space for kitties, I now know what works!
Glad you are going solid and simple. Fence should not detract or compete with house. My husband and I recently installed similar metal, panel fencing in black and like the way it just fades into the background.
Simple, safe, esthetic like Richard Serra & cat 🐈 escape proof! Perfection!
Is a metal cheaper than a wodden one? If not a solution could be to make an overhang that the cats cant get past. It would also give you a place to hang flower pots and lanters and stuff.
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Hi, Elin!
As I wrote above. cats will climb a wooden fence. This option is out of the question.
Also, my cats would easily escape from the images you link to!
You need to get the spinning things for the top to keep them in. They will be able to escape what you have planned. Even more, other cats will jump into your yard. I think the spinner things are made by Ocillocat. Not sure of the spelling
I have had an 8-foot-high solid metal fence for over twenty years now at my current house.
It keeps the cats in.
I guess I was thinking of the standard 6-footer we have where I live. Good job! and by the way I really like the modernist contrast to the house.
The main thing is to get the fence up at a price you can afford. The simple style fits the bill, plus you have proof (having used it for the last 20 years.) that it will keep the kitties in. You can upgrade later if you wanted to. Get the fence done, so you can move into the Cross House, it will be so awesome waking up and not having to commute to work on your home.
Um, can you plant some bushes to kinda hide it?
Maybe the cats WANT to stay?? I mean who wouldn’t? Ross is a pretty cool cat dad. Frineds to play with, all the food a kitty can eat, safety and toys. What’s not to love? Ross, you could probably remove the fence and they would all stick around. LOL!
HAHAHA, I LOVE this take on the situation. So maybe what the fence is REALLY for is to prevent every cat within a 20 mile radius from getting in?!
I’m visualising Ross waking up one morning in the long bedroom at the Cross House, looking out of the window and the house is surrounded by a sea of felines, all sat patiently waiting for breakfast. No lost pet posters required, everyone knows where their kitty has gone…
Ha, Ha! Had to laugh out loud imagining the Cross House lawn packed full of hungry cats!
Where will the cats stay in the winter or at night? I’m confused
During the winter they will have access to a small portion of the basement, fully protected against the, ah, pissers.
During the rest of the year, there will be a covered Cat House inside one of the two small outdoor rooms. But I expect most of them will sleep on the covered rear porch during the nice months.
I don’t have any photos, but what you’re proposing is a fairly common thing in my mid-size city in the southeast. I’ve never seen it with the ‘upscale’ corrugated panels that you’ve mentioned, but it’s super common here with galvalume or similar. I’m no designer, but given what I’ve seen and the material you’re considering, I think it’ll look really nice!
As I’m owned by a pet who was quite the escape artist in her younger years, I certainly empathize with your fencing dilemmas. In my case, she is a digger, so I attached and buried 4 feet of hog-wire to the bottom of the fence of a rather large yard. Oh the things we do for our critters!
It’s not the most beautiful fence I have ever seen but it going to keep the furbabies safe! 🤗 You can work with it by planting some thing tall like hedges fountain grass or what every you want or painting a mural on it if you choose to at some point in time, the most important thing is that it’s up and it’s climb proof and doesn’t look trashy. I’m so excited it’s getting closer to you moving in you have work so hard.
and will it be clad both in and out so posts won’t show on the outside. if no cladding on the inside, couldn’t they just scale the posts?
Yikes! I am having a very difficult time envisioning this sort of industrial-looking monstrosity complementing that beautiful house – it looks like a tractor-trailer box! Maybe if you surround it on the outside with a hedge of boxwood or arborvitae, which would also help with the noise…?
I also cannot imagine YOUR feline family being so eager to leave home that they would jump an 8′ wood fence – but you know them better than I do!