Monty’s New and Improved Cat Enclosure

By Ruth Young

Monty had some adventures this summer, but not of the kind I would like to see repeated. My husband and I spent some time beefing up security in his cat enclosure in order to better keep him in and other cats out. Since cats cannot get over a fence topper placed at a 45 degree angle, we created some of these with some thin landscaping poles, plastic ties and green chicken mesh. We cut the mesh in half and Jeff installed the orange poles to tie it to. We also put a sturdy wire mesh in the shape of a cone part way up any tree near the fence.

Monty’s New and Improved Cat Enclosure
Monty’s New and Improved Cat Enclosure

Monty is not happy about his movements being restricted. He used to love to climb some of the trees near the fence. But we left him some other trees and all the trees have an area near the bottom on which he can exercise his claws. The metal shed he used to love to walk on top of is gone. We cut it apart and I took it to be recycled. They gave me fourteen dollars for it!

Monty’s New and Improved Cat Enclosure
Monty’s New and Improved Cat Enclosure

Without the shed the yard seems more spacious, but Monty seems a little hesitant to climb the tree that was next to the shed without the shed being there. Perhaps it just seems higher.The other thing we did was to block any and all possible exits through gaps in the fence. We think Monty had actually escaped through a hole at the bottom of the fence rather than by going over. While we were working he came out and walked straight toward that hole. Jeff covered it with the mesh using a staple gun. Monty tried to breach the hole, and when he could not he walked away with his tail down.

Monty’s New and Improved Cat Enclosure
Scratching

Since adding the fence toppers, coning the trees and blocking holes in the fence we have not seen any strange cats in our yard. We have also not seen as many rabbits or possums, which is a good thing on both counts. Monty still has access to lots of birds, mice and chipmunks. He has suddenly turned into a furry killing machine. But at least his activities are now restricted to his own yard.

Monty’s New and Improved Cat Enclosure
Monty’s New and Improved Cat Enclosure

Over the summer, more than once I caught Monty outside of his enclosure and he was not easily coaxed back into his own yard. I got scratched pretty seriously in one instance. He seemed completely wild and attacked me as I came near him. I grasped him firmly and carried him into the house, dropping him onto the floor. He didn’t even look like himself, his fur was so puffed up. I thought in that moment that perhaps this was not Monty at all, but that I had grabbed some random feral cat and had just thrown him into my house. But the cat walked right to Monty’s room where his food dish is kept, so it was in fact Monty who had behaved like a wild animal, growling at me and attacking me. It’s like his adventure outside of his enclosure had restored him to his feral state, bringing out the little wild kitty in him.

He also had gotten dirty under my car, so when I returned home later I held him over the sink and washed the greasy spot at the base of his tail. I poured warm water on him and all he did was clutch me a little tighter. I dried him with a towel and he just meowed a little with impatience, but let me do what needed to be done. I don’t understand how one minute he could have been completely wild and just a short time later he would let me hold him and pour water on him with barely any reaction.

But it was after that incident that I knew I needed to find a way to make sure he did not roam. If he could so forget himself, would he forget to return home? Would he revert to being wild and not come back? My sister didn’t think so, since Monty does love a full food bowl. But what if he got lost and didn’t remember to come home until it was too late and he could not find his way back? What if he got hurt by fighting with another animal or hurt by a mean human who didn’t like cats on his property? We had to take action.

The other reason I wanted to improve security in his yard is because of his altercation with a cat early in the summer. He really injured the other cat. There was nothing I could do for that cat, who quickly retreated over the fence, and I felt somewhat responsible since Monty’s enclosure did not prevent her from entering. I also felt responsible for his roaming because I had started throwing his kills over the fence onto the yard of the vacant house next door. No one lives there. And I was really tired of burying things.

Honestly, living with Monty is like living with a furry little serial killer and it’s my job to dispose of the bodies. I fear that Monty saw me flinging his chipmunk over the fence.

I had to make a decision about Monty’s enclosure as to whether it is our responsibility to completely protect local wildlife from him. This would involve a very different model– a smaller area, enclosed on all sides and on top. This would provide him with an outdoorsy experience, but would severely curtail his freedom. I understand that some people feel cat predation of birds and other small animals is a problem. But for me, given a question of a good quality of life for Monty over the chance to save a few creatures from his clutches, I have to side with Monty. I have to allow him to be what he was created to be. I do attempt to scare away his prey when I can, but once he got a bird in his mouth while he was on his leash! I started out putting him on a leash when he was a kitten, thinking that would keep him and other animals safe. He was so quick that before I had seen the bird, he had it. That one did get away, because Monty let it go in order to have the fun of catching it again, and I was able to hold him back. I don’t like that because of me, he hunts for sport and rarely eats his kills. But it is because of me that he is alive. Feral cats live about one to two years tops around here. Monty is six.

I have managed to save animals from him on other occasions by alerting them to his presence. Monty probably thinks I am a very stupid cat who cannot hunt. Only once did I try to facilitate his hunting and that was when he brought a mouse into the house, let it go, and I could not find it. We hunted for that mouse together. I also did open the back patio door for him once when a chipmunk was coming right up onto the step by the door, shaking his tail at Monty as if to say, “Ha, ha, you can’t get me!” I think the chipmunks have figured out Monty can’t get out when the door is closed and they probably routinely torment him this way. I felt anger at the chipmunk for teasing Monty, so I opened the door and Monty bolted out after him. The chipmunk escaped with his life, but barely.

Fences, toppers for fences and even complete enclosures can be purchased online. For those not able to construct something themselves, it is very possible to purchase what is needed to create an enclosure for cats that provides safety while giving the cat some freedom to explore the outdoors. Although I know it is sometimes necessary, I don’t like the idea of indoor only cats, because I would not want to live my whole life indoors. Monty, as an ex-feral cat, is naturally going to desire time outdoors. I applaud efforts people make to give their cats the outdoor experience in a safe way. I think it is important to remember two things about our cats: They are absolutely smarter than us and will find ways to outsmart us and do what they want to do. They are also little idiots. They don’t know the dangers of humans who can’t be trusted, automobiles that aren’t going to stop for them, things outside they absolutely must not try to eat or drink and that if they fight with other animals they absolutely can lose the fight and get hurt. Just as we wouldn’t hand our fourteen year old the key to car because he asks, we don’t have to give our cat every desire of his heart if we know that doing so puts him at risk.

I do feel sad for Monty that he can’t climb every tree in the yard anymore. But is it not normal in life to have things we once enjoyed doing no longer be available to us? They become happy memories. I will never again get to push the merry-go-round at recess and listen to the kids shriek with delight when I got it going really fast. I’m never again going to climb up that huge pine tree in my parent’s ravine, because although I gained two inches in height since age 13, the tree grew so that the branches are completely out of my reach. Also the top of it snapped off in a tornado. My days of climbing up and standing in upmost branches of that tree are long past. So believe me when I say that I know how Monty feels to be denied access to his favorite tree. I feel his loss, because I know that loss and a million others like it. Sometimes new pleasures replace the old, but sometimes not. I cannot, in trying to give Monty a good life, make the world anything different than what it is. It is not always fun. It is not always perfectly safe. I can only do my best to give him both fun and safety, because I love him.


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17 thoughts on “Monty’s New and Improved Cat Enclosure”

  1. The author of the best comment will receive an Amazon gift of their choice at Christmas! Please comment as they can add to the article and pass on your valuable experience.
    • There are some things cat lovers and those who have never bonded with a cat are never going to agree on, and predation by cats is one of them. Humans created this situation by domesticating cats and taking them from the farm into their homes. We provide them all the food they need, so now they hunt for sport. Hunting for sport is a terrible thing when humans do it, but a cat can’t help it. He acts on instinct.

      On the other hand, he killed a mouse in our basement this week and we all were quite grateful to be living with such a fierce little predator. My sister had seen the mouse and was actually afraid to go into the basement to do laundry. Monty wasn’t afraid. He killed it and put it in the hallway in our apartment. I picked it up thinking it was one of his toy mice. It was cold, dead and slightly damp. (He does not eat his kills, but he licks them.) I wish my sister had told me about the mouse before its demise or I would have been more careful about picking up that small gray object in the darkened hallway.

      Reply
  2. Well Michael, I don’t know what you’re dealing with. I just lost a cat with whom I had 5,840 days of true and loyal friendship with. I don’t think I’m taking that out on anyone. I mended my misunderstanding about Ruth. I’m sorry that one off comment after so much time elicited such damning ire, but I respect what you do overall and therefore I’ll save you the trouble of banning me from your site; I’ll unsubscribe to avoid temptation to contribute my thoughts any further. I won’t unfriend you nor remove you from my facebook group. I’ll also continue to refer people to PoC for great info and commentary about cats. Keep up the good work.

    Reply
    • We are okay Albert. I was unsure whether you were a regular and it seems your comment was a misunderstanding. Ruth is a great person and she cares deeply for Monty. You are not a troll but there are trolls about and if they insult cat lovers and regular visitors I don’t like it.

      Reply
  3. Firstly, Ruth I’m very impressed with what you have done with your husband. An enclosure like this is a perfect solution to allowing a cat to express his natural desires and instincts in an enriched environment while at the same time being safe from the usual dangers. In the Facebook comments above there is a comment written by a troll. Please don’t be upset by it because unless it is rectified promptly I will delete the entire section of Facebook comments.

    Reply
    • Don’t worry about it, Michael. It is more a comment about how it was written, because I didn’t hit on that aspect of my relationship with Monty. I saw you shortened it, as it did get very long. I think some of what you cut may have contained what that reader was looking for– that Jeff and I really enjoyed making the elclosure and spending time out there with Monty.

      I do feel really sad for him that he can no longer climb some of his favorite trees, but he was routinely getting stuck in them and I would have to help him down, often getting scratched in the process as he hurtled down at me, a twelve pound car bomb with claws out. It all had become an issue not just for his safety but for mine. Usually scratches are not serious, but my health issues make any type of antibiotic quite hazardous for me if one should become infected. And the day he had escaped and I tried to collect him from the neighbor’s yard he tore my palm open really deeply. Confrontations with other cats also have lead to my getting scratched as well as injuries to the other animals. Monty’s feral roots are strong in him. He’s a tough little fighter and I admire him for it.

      So to restrict him to being an indoor only cat would be wrong. Outside is his birthright. But keeping him safe is my responsibility. It doesn’t look like it in the pictures but we live in a very urban area.

      Thanks for publishing my article, Michael!
      Ruth

      Reply
      • Not car bomb– cat bomb– darn autocorrect!

        Also, I wanted to say that Monty had been going out the hole in the bottom of the fence that I did not think he could fit through while I was out there with him! I would think he was hiding under some plants. I’d call and call and not find him and then there he would be, always near that hole, but I never saw him actually going through it. But he’d have a guilty look on his face.

        Reply
      • Hi Ruth,
        I love your enclosure! I have a coupla tips for tree-stuck cats. They probably won’t apply in all cases. But, when they have gotten too high for me to reach I go up the ladder as far as I can with a large doubled-over quilt…usually to about 2 1/2 ft. square. I hold it directly under the cat and then talk it down. In my case I’ve never had one refuse to come down onto the ‘platform’. I can’t say I’ve ever had one hurl itself at the platform. But, that sounds rough even landing on a quilt!! The other thing I find if I have to retrieve a cat on a ladder…. is to hold it VERY tight. I might even say ‘squishing’ it. I’ve never had one object and it keeps them from digging claws deep into my skin out of fear of falling. The tight hold seems to make them feel secure. Have fun with Monty in your ‘new’ yard!

        Reply
        • Thanks for the great tips! The trees we left for him are ones he is very adept at getting out of on his own so we should be ok. Monty must really trust me because he will just hurl himself out of the tree at me. Sometimes I bend over and let him jump into my back and then onto the ground. But he doesn’t always wait for that. He once jumped onto my head. I had scratches on my face and scalp. Ever since he was a kitten, if he got too high, his logic has been, “Mom will catch me!” and down he comes, hurtling at me with claws out. He seems to want to come down head first like a squirrel. When he can’t he just jumps toward me. If he can land on me he will be ok, I guess. I hate to spoil his fun, but his days of jumping out of trees onto my head have to be over. He’s still got his indoor cat walkways that we built in January. There is another article about that on this site.

          Reply
          • I understand your situation more fully now Ruth, and yes you were correct, something was missing in the original story that you made whole. I had a different picture altogether. I applaud your cat sense, common sense and in accomplishing the right things for you and Monty.

            Reply
            • I guess I felt like I was just writing to the PoC crowd who are very familiar with Monty and I. The previous articles about him give a fuller picture. I think this article raised other interesting, though difficult questions. How do we give cats that outdoor experience and still keep them safe? What about predation? Is it ok that our cats kill local wildlife? Is this situation not made worse by the fact that many pet cats, like Monty, now hunt for sport so that their kills are wasted by not being eaten? It is truly upsetting to bury chipmunks, squirrels, mice and birds constantly. Yet Monty has never been happier. Whose rights take precedence here? The right of my cat to enjoy the outdoors or the right of other small animals to stay alive? I just know that I will always side with Monty, so he will continue to enjoy outside time.

              My husband and I are going to make an indoor scratching post out of part of a tree we cut down and put it in the basement for Monty. Then in the winter months he will have a little bit of the outside in the next best place to outside, our basement.

              Reply
              • Right again Ruth. For some reason I had not seen your prior posts and I’ve been following PoC since June. I haven’t been called a troll until now, so you do have a special place in Michaels’ heart. Again, I’m sorry for the misunderstanding. I hope one day someone will fiercely support me that way, for I am not a troll and I know my heart is in the right place.

                And rest assured that though I know I could let some of my cats outside today and they would stay in my back yard, I’m not letting any out due to Halloween.

                Reply
          • Monty sounds like a hoot!! Sounds like you’ve got it fixed!!
            I think you could have used a quilt …..on your head….in the past!! Still, it wouldn’t have solved that 12 lbs!!! ?

            Reply
      • Ruth I did not shorten it. I forgot to tell that the end was curtailed for some strange reason. I added the last 3 words. If you email me the end I’ll add it in.

        Reply

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