Thursday 19 June 2008

cat proof fence


Living on a boat with a mischievous cat whose sole desire in life is to get off the boat, down the jetty, and lost in the woods, can be stressful, so i've been building an impenetrable fortress on the back deck so that Vortex can enjoy being outside without us having to watch him every second.

I sawed up a big length of wooden dowel, drilled holes lengthways in them, and banged in lengths of steel rod. A good coat of paint and they were ready to drop into the handy fence post holders that are already all the way round the back deck (how cool is our boat?!)

I then threaded the poles in and out of the netting mesh and tensioned it at the top and bottom with wire

working my way around the deck until i had something beginning to resemble the aviary at London Zoo


Now i just need to add a netting 'gate' next to the wheelhouse so that we can hook it back and get onto the deck, or hook it onto the other side and keep Vortex corralled. He's going to be one happy cat when he can poke about outside without getting into trouble every five minutes...

6 comments:

Melissa Fehr Trade said...

hahah, we've got opposite problems with Bosco. We're only just now able to get him onto the back deck with some coaxing, but if even so much as a butterfly comes by, he's back inside like a shot!

Love the first photo!

IsmilebecauseIhavenoideawhatsgoingon said...

Vortex is a most excellent name for a cat....

rob said...

Tie some pieces of string and "bits" to allow erring birds not to get caught, maybe? or perhaps not doing so might add to vortex`s entertainment :o))

Jamie said...

"Cat-proof," eh? Them's mighty optimistic words! Good luck with that ~ it's looking good.

Dave said...

And the added advantage is that it will stop the rabbits from forming a raiding party and eating all your veg!

Unknown said...

I'm wondering if your device here would also be able to be used to keep cats off of boats?

The reason I ask is that one of my neighbors complained about (my) cats getting onto his boat (of course, if he didn't have a baited trap on there, I don't think it would have been an issue).