Do Fences Make Good Neighbors?

Merlin here on this beautiful Midsummer Eve. It’s no secret that I love summer. All winter, I dream of the long, warm days scented with all things green and brown. I like to patrol the grounds of our property but cats have no sense of land ownership. We don’t care about land surveys or property taxes. We mark our territory with tiny spurts of urine at about nose height (makes for easy sniffing). It’s our version of a Blackberry to keep in touch with the comings and goings of other cats. We also instant message who is welcome (or not) in our territory when we scratch trees, leaving our scent as a marker or calling card.

My territory is about three acres and that suits me fine, but according to Jeff Horn, who conducted a two-year study for his master’s thesis at the University of Illinois would say that’s on the low side. For his study, 42 adult cats were fitted with electronics to track their movements. Cats with owners had an average roaming territory of 4.9 acres, while feral cats roamed a much wider territory. One feral cat covered 1,351 acres but that must have been a pretty randy un-neutered dude. Domino certainly never roamed that much!

My mom, Layla doesn’t like it if I go on the neighbor’s land so I don’t, except for our next door neighbor because they don’t mind. It’s so annoying not being able to roam freely, but I can’t see too well anymore and there’s always a hooman trailing nearby. I know it’s for my safety but enough already. Maybe it’s time to get one of those purrfect fences from purrfectfence.com