Hello all! I have a 1 year old Bengal named Bianca, and I'm having trouble keeping her from jumping on my neighbor's roof. We created a "catio" in our backyard for our cats (we have one Bengal and two other cats, and we've never had a problem with them getting out of the yard until this week). There is a 6 ft. privacy fence all the way around the yard, a small section of it is 8 ft. tall and separates our backyard from our neighbor's house. There is a tree right next to the 8 ft. fence and less than 12 inches separates the roof of our shed, the tree, and the privacy fence on our property from our neighbor's roof. For the past week or so, Bianca has been climbing up the tree, jumping on our shed and then jumping onto our neighbor's roof. I've climbed a 10 ft. ladder to get her off their roof 5 times in the past week. Luckily, our neighbors don't mind, but it's still been pretty embarrassing.

Before the past week, she never climbed the tree, and she would spend most of the day outside just lounging or chasing insects and leaves on the ground. We've considered putting aluminum sheeting around the tree to prevent her from climbing up, but today she actually scaled the 8 ft. privacy fence and jumped directly from the top of the fence to the roof without using the tree at all. She is very used to being outside, and when we don't let her out, she will sit by the door and meow for hours.

She is an indoor cat, NOT an outside cat, and we only let her out in our small completely closed in backyard when we are out there to supervise. We have kept her in the house since she started climbing, but she can also slip out the door when we walk outside and she is up the tree (or the fence) before we can stop her, which is the reason that this has happened 5 times and not 1.

Has anyone dealt with anything similar to this or do you have any advice on how to create a good catio for a Bengal that they can't actually get out of? I know how much she enjoys being outside, and I hate to take that away from her. But obviously, we can't keep allowing this to happen. Any tips or advice would be very much appreciated!

Bianca is having the time of her life out there, isn't she! We all know Bengals love to climb. Hopefully, she would be able to climb back DOWN from the roof by herself. Cats seem to have no problem jumping up on a fence. There isn't much that can contain them unless you have a roof over it as well. A large cage, so to speak! We actually built a 12'x12'x9' high enclosure for our Bengal. We had a lower level on our deck that we didn't use and my husband just extended some framing up from the existing railing. We put translucent panels for the roof and used wire fencing to enclose the three sides of the enclosure. Added a full-size screened security door so we could access it and added an acrylic panel with a cat door that fits under an open window so Raiden can go out there 24/7. It has two cat trees, a 2-level cat house, steps for climbing (he also loves to climb the fencing). It's actually perfect for multiple cats, but he gets it all to himself.

He cries to go outside since he was a free-roaming cat with his previous owner. I do walk him with a harness and leash, although he got away from me this past week to rough and tumble with the same cat that caused him to become an indoor cat in the first place. You're doing the right thing in trying to keep Bianca safe. If there is a way to make a small, covered cat enclosure for her, at least you know she would be okay in there.

All I can say is life is NEVER boring with a Bengal.

hi.
Could you restrict her from climbing top branches that lead to the roof?
Perhaps cut some of the branches and wrap up other ones in alliminium metal sheets ?

She sure is having a great time, Sherry! We figured she would probably eventually come back down if we left her up there for long enough, but I just can't leave her up there since she could possibly try to jump off the roof instead of climbing back down the tree or fence and hurt herself.

Life sure is never boring with a Bengal. Now that she's locked inside, she's literally jumping and hanging off the top of the door frame inside...I think she's trying to open the door from the top! It's amazing how high they can jump.

That's a great idea on the enclosure. I watched that show "My Cat from Hell" on Animal Planet with the cat behaviorist, Jackson Galaxy, and he said something about putting a piece of material at a 45 degree angle from the top of the fence and then when they look up they see that over their head and won't jump, but we really aren't sure how to even make that. That seems like about the only way to keep her in besides creating her own enclosure. Although when he was talking about that, he wasn't talking about using it to keep a Bengal in so who knows if she would even react like a normal cat to that!

Laurel, I think if she was just climbing the tree, we could just cover the main branches with aluminum sheeting or enclose the tree with bamboo privacy fence, but now she's started climbing the 8 ft. fence without even using the tree which is why I'm at a loss for what to do! If she is going to climb the fence, I feel like we don't have a lot of options to keep her in anymore other than making an enclosure like Sherry suggested or figuring out how to attach a piece of material to the fence at a 45 degree angle and then hoping that she doesn't try to climb from there.

Thank you both for your responses!!!

When I took her in to get her shots last month at the vet, he asked me if she was an outside cat, and I told him that she is inside most of the time and only outside supervised in our enclosed back yard, and he said she was not an outside cat, which is why I said that. Apparently, they give additional shots to outside cats at the vet than they do to inside cats, and he said she didn't need any of them.

I may try bringing her out on a leash and see how she reacts to that.

She is the same way as yours, she seems to be getting bolder and bolder every time she gets on the roof. We'll keep trying to think of some way to let her come outside though.

Thank you all for your responses!

_________________
Kindest regards

Colonel Cornelius Karahi
Honourable East India Company
The Feline Dairy of Bengal
http://colonelkarahi.blogspot.co.uk/

To stop her getting over the fence you need to create an overhang with brackets and posts with something fixed between them.

....or look at http://www.katzecure.com/index.php?opti ... 5&Itemid=7

Also if she goes outside (even supervised) and other cats use your garden, she could still pick nasty things up.


Heather