How do I keep cats off the balcony railing?
October 19, 2018 1:10 PM Subscribe
I am moving into a 4th floor apartment with a balcony and no screen doors. How can I keep my cats from plummeting to their deaths while still allowing fresh air into the apartment? The balcony doors are the only windows.
One option is to look up the term "catio" - you will find many many designs, you may want to try "balcony catio" to refine your options. A lot of the designs use this wire shelving, making it extremely portable for apartment dwellers. (Tip: I just found a similar set at BBB for $20 last weekend.)
You could also DIY a screen you could put up over the door using something like deer fencing or "mesh rolled fencing". You cannot rely on traditional screening as cats can destroy it pretty handily.
posted by Lyn Never at 1:20 PM on October 19, 2018 [5 favorites]
You could also DIY a screen you could put up over the door using something like deer fencing or "mesh rolled fencing". You cannot rely on traditional screening as cats can destroy it pretty handily.
posted by Lyn Never at 1:20 PM on October 19, 2018 [5 favorites]
Response by poster: The balcony ledge is concrete, no gap between the bottom and the floor. It's solid, no bars. The balcony is small, but I'm fairly sure they could jump onto the ledge from a standstill if they tried.
posted by torisaur at 1:28 PM on October 19, 2018
posted by torisaur at 1:28 PM on October 19, 2018
The balcony ledge is concrete, no gap between the bottom and the floor. It's solid, no bars. The balcony is small, but I'm fairly sure they could jump onto the ledge from a standstill if they tried.
Then the best option is to have a sliding screen door fitted and block them from ever accessing the balcony.
posted by DarlingBri at 1:40 PM on October 19, 2018 [9 favorites]
Then the best option is to have a sliding screen door fitted and block them from ever accessing the balcony.
posted by DarlingBri at 1:40 PM on October 19, 2018 [9 favorites]
You can attach netting or that rolled fencing to the concrete balcony ledge with a few screwed-in hooks set with concrete anchors, and to the ceiling above and both sides. It won't be pretty, but it should work for your purposes. Chicken wire would also work and possibly be less unsightly than the bright orange safety netting.
posted by juniperesque at 1:50 PM on October 19, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by juniperesque at 1:50 PM on October 19, 2018 [2 favorites]
As a note about pet gates; one of my cats regularly (at least once every other day) will vault himself over our "extra tall" 41 inch dog gate. The other three don't bother, but this guy has to taunt the dog and eat our chives. This gate is much taller than standard baby or dog gates.
I think you need to add a screen door.
posted by nobeagle at 1:50 PM on October 19, 2018 [3 favorites]
I think you need to add a screen door.
posted by nobeagle at 1:50 PM on October 19, 2018 [3 favorites]
Tall baby gate?
I had a cat scale two baby gates stacked on top of each other. I would not trust any baby gate to be sufficient for a determined cat. I think a screen door is what you need. (Although I would not leave it open to the screen door without you to supervise, especially at first, because cats can rip through screens.)
posted by litera scripta manet at 2:47 PM on October 19, 2018 [1 favorite]
I had a cat scale two baby gates stacked on top of each other. I would not trust any baby gate to be sufficient for a determined cat. I think a screen door is what you need. (Although I would not leave it open to the screen door without you to supervise, especially at first, because cats can rip through screens.)
posted by litera scripta manet at 2:47 PM on October 19, 2018 [1 favorite]
If you get cat grass for them, they will be less tempted to dash outside. I have observed this myself.
If you search for [cat railing guard] you will find some solutions, including instructions for doing stuff yourself (might not apply to you, but other instructions might), and products designed to go on wooden railings - these might be adapted.
What I didn't see when I searched just now was this produce I read about previously: a series of longish wooden dowels/spikes (not sharp) that angle up and in from the railing to discourage the cat from landing / standing on it. Those looked like they would work, but I haven't tried them myself.
posted by amtho at 2:53 PM on October 19, 2018
If you search for [cat railing guard] you will find some solutions, including instructions for doing stuff yourself (might not apply to you, but other instructions might), and products designed to go on wooden railings - these might be adapted.
What I didn't see when I searched just now was this produce I read about previously: a series of longish wooden dowels/spikes (not sharp) that angle up and in from the railing to discourage the cat from landing / standing on it. Those looked like they would work, but I haven't tried them myself.
posted by amtho at 2:53 PM on October 19, 2018
It really depends on what you can get away with landlord-wise. You could cage in the whole patio (even the roof as if it were an aviary) with nearly invisible netting or chicken-wire. Basically instead of a screen door to keep the cats off the porch you screen the porch so the cats can go out and enjoy the view from the railing like they really want to.
If not that, just an extra foot or two of netting type thing running around the outside of the ledge so the cat can safely jump up and not fall and be cat-smart enough to look down and go OMG I'm not going to try and get over that, I'd fall to my death.
Or various large cages that you can put the cats in when they want to go out an peek.
Or just a screen door to the patio. You could build your own if there's no provision for a screen door in your patio doors design by just building a square frame to fit the door in a narrow enough space. Screen the frame and then you can open the door and wedge the screen between the door and the frame and slide the door back to hold it in place. Presto! instant screen door.
posted by zengargoyle at 3:18 PM on October 19, 2018 [2 favorites]
If not that, just an extra foot or two of netting type thing running around the outside of the ledge so the cat can safely jump up and not fall and be cat-smart enough to look down and go OMG I'm not going to try and get over that, I'd fall to my death.
Or various large cages that you can put the cats in when they want to go out an peek.
Or just a screen door to the patio. You could build your own if there's no provision for a screen door in your patio doors design by just building a square frame to fit the door in a narrow enough space. Screen the frame and then you can open the door and wedge the screen between the door and the frame and slide the door back to hold it in place. Presto! instant screen door.
posted by zengargoyle at 3:18 PM on October 19, 2018 [2 favorites]
I have seen temporary screen doors (maybe like this?) which might work. But I also just wanted to mention that I often cat sit, and I've taken care of cats that walked along ledges on patios (with their owners' permission) hundreds of feet above the ground. I was freaked out, but cats seem perfectly able to handle this without falling.
posted by pinochiette at 3:24 PM on October 19, 2018
posted by pinochiette at 3:24 PM on October 19, 2018
Assuming it's a sliding door, check if there are channels/tracks there to add a standard-sized aluminum sliding screen door. These can be picked up from your local big box hardware store.
Remember, if you do catch them out there, they are sure-footed and likely not in imminent danger. Breathe, don't yell, and calmly grab them. Yes, they can fall, though if they are like ours, the biggest danger is taking off voluntarily. We've got one that likes to go down (just from the 2nd floor) but hates to come back up, so she just whines at the first floor door afterwards.
posted by troyer at 3:25 PM on October 19, 2018 [2 favorites]
Remember, if you do catch them out there, they are sure-footed and likely not in imminent danger. Breathe, don't yell, and calmly grab them. Yes, they can fall, though if they are like ours, the biggest danger is taking off voluntarily. We've got one that likes to go down (just from the 2nd floor) but hates to come back up, so she just whines at the first floor door afterwards.
posted by troyer at 3:25 PM on October 19, 2018 [2 favorites]
I have a similar balcony and an HOA that will not allow any of the modifications to Catio-ify the balcony. For me what worked was at first to only ever let the cats on the balcony when I was also out there. If either cat got up on the ledge I immediately picked the cat up and they both went inside. I honestly don't know how long it took for them to 1) figure it out, 2) decide it wasn't worth getting brought inside or 3) stop caring but I realized a couple years ago I was letting them out there unsupervised and was not concerned and a couple times left the door open overnight! (oops)
Anyway, my suggestion is to see if you can get some sort of screen door attachment for now, to control access and be out there as much as you can with the cats to see how they act regarding curiosity about the ledge. Any interest is immediately met with banishment from the balcony and maybe yours will be like mine and graduate to unrestricted balcony privileges!
posted by CoffeeHikeNapWine at 3:54 PM on October 19, 2018 [1 favorite]
Anyway, my suggestion is to see if you can get some sort of screen door attachment for now, to control access and be out there as much as you can with the cats to see how they act regarding curiosity about the ledge. Any interest is immediately met with banishment from the balcony and maybe yours will be like mine and graduate to unrestricted balcony privileges!
posted by CoffeeHikeNapWine at 3:54 PM on October 19, 2018 [1 favorite]
At my last place, we had no screen door or window screens and asked the landlord to put them in because bugs were getting in when we opened the windows. He did it no problem. Couldn't hurt to ask.
posted by radioamy at 9:20 PM on October 19, 2018
posted by radioamy at 9:20 PM on October 19, 2018
Get a pair of ratcheting cargo bars an appropriate width to fit your window at the top and bottom. Stretch between them whatever fits your aesthetics such as shear drape material; chicken wire; macrame; dowel rods; bird netting; wire shelving; slatted shutters; etc. Personally I'd use a black bird netting if you don't have a bug problem and window screening if you do.
I don't know about your particular cats but ours have no problem jumping onto a 4' high mantel.
posted by Mitheral at 10:36 PM on October 19, 2018 [2 favorites]
I don't know about your particular cats but ours have no problem jumping onto a 4' high mantel.
posted by Mitheral at 10:36 PM on October 19, 2018 [2 favorites]
I’ve never tried a magnetic screen, so I don’t know how strong the magnet is. But based on my experience with a magnetic latch on a sliding closet door, my cat would take it as a personal challenge to get it open and would emerge victorious. I have to block the door with a box; I don’t know if that would work with a screen door.
posted by elphaba at 10:55 AM on October 20, 2018
posted by elphaba at 10:55 AM on October 20, 2018
I was like some of the other posters here and thought my cat would be okay with not jumping onto a balcony railing. He wasn't. He fell 25 feet onto hard ground.
He survived, but please don't allow your cat onto an unscreened balcony. It only takes one fall.
posted by all the light we cannot see at 1:37 PM on October 20, 2018 [2 favorites]
He survived, but please don't allow your cat onto an unscreened balcony. It only takes one fall.
posted by all the light we cannot see at 1:37 PM on October 20, 2018 [2 favorites]
This thread is closed to new comments.
How big is the balcony? Does it have bars, slats, an open area at the bottom between the floor and the balcony wall?
posted by Hermione Granger at 1:19 PM on October 19, 2018