General Question

troubleinharlem's avatar

Would an electric/invisible fence work for cats?

Asked by troubleinharlem (7999points) August 22nd, 2010 from iPhone

We moved to a sort of suburban residential area by a few busy-ish roads. My cats are accustomed to being outside cats, but I’m petrified that they’ll get hit by something if they wander off.
They have electric/invisible fences for dogs, but does anyone know if I can use it for cats, or if there is a cat version of the product?

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12 Answers

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muppetish's avatar

I’m not currently adopted by any cats, but I have lived in a suburb my entire life where drivers can be particularly insane. We live in a somewhat removed community where the cats lounge in the middle of the street and nap undisturbed for hours. Near the busy roads closer to traffic, I have seen cats dash in front of cars and sleep behind tires (that terrifies the bejeezus out of me.)

An electric fence would be inadvisable for the reasons @frdelrosario mentioned – it’s just seems too easy for the cats to get around them, whether they decide to actually leave the property or not. I checked a few Invisible Fence websites and they claim to work just as well for cats, but I do not know anybody who has tested this. I hope someone here has and will give you the thumbs up or thumbs down for it. If not, maybe you can check a few feline-savvy forums? I did that when I needed to find advise on Huskies for a friend who was planning on rescuing one.

If neither option seems feasible, I would unfortunately recommend keeping your cats indoors. Better safe than sorry, right?

tinyfaery's avatar

No. Keep them indoors. (I hope you got your cat to the vet.)

syz's avatar

I have never heard of invisible fencing being successfully used for cats. The collars and battery packs are rather bulky and heavy for something as small as a cat, and I’m not sure that the lowest setting would be light enough. I can’t imagine cats reacting well to electric shocks. I think they’d be more likely to strangle themselves. (Cats like to go through small spaces, shrubbery, and climb trees – all of these things would create the possibility of snagging the collar and strangling the cat.)

Keep them inside. They’ll adapt.

jerv's avatar

Let us not forget that most cats won’t abide by wearing a collar at all in the first place.

majorrich's avatar

<———not smart enough to make the connectuion ‘The closer I get to there the more it shocks’.

jerv's avatar

@majorrich They are definitely smart enough. The problem is that they often are too stubborn to care and thus will keep trying even when they do know better.

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Akua's avatar

Wouldn’t work. Nuff said.

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