Product Review - Pet Safe Invisible Fence Shouldn't Be Used on Cats

About eight or nine years ago, I had more cats than I do now. And I needed a way to keep them in the yard since I was having some interesting problems with my cats running loose. When one of my cats went missing, my mom went around to the neighbors with a picture asking if they'd seen her. One neighbor told my mom that their neighbor had that cat locked in their house. I called the police, and her captors released her and she came home that same night. Another problem was that my cats were fishing in a different neighbor's goldfish pond. When the lady told me about it, she laughed it off saying that she didn't believe they ever caught anything. However, I didn't like that my cats were terrorizing the fish. There was always some drama because of my cats where I used to live.

When I heard that Pet Safe's invisible fence could be used on cats as well as dogs, I went to the store and bought it. I also bought enough extra receivers for all of my cats. We dug the trench in the yard and buried the cable. Part of it went into the woods some too. It was a lot of work burying all of that wire. After we hooked up the system and turned it on, I put a collar on one of the cats. The receiver was too heavy and the cat's head dropped to the floor. I had to take it off, it was too heavy to be on her neck. And, these were the ultra-light receivers too.

I only had two cats that were big enough to wear the receivers. They were both long and tall, and approximately thirteen to fifteen pounds each. One of them, Spunky, he went out there and sat where the cable was buried. I don't know if he was being continually shocked so I turned off the system. (Note: For more information on why Spunky acts the way he does, see my article, "When the Mother Vanishes: How to Care for Kittens Too Young to Be Weaned.") I removed his collar, but I did leave the collar on the other cat.

The other cat, his name was Cupid. After one week, he figured out how the system worked. He went outside of the invisible fence and then sat on the neighbor's fence from where they used to have horses. He sat there for many hours. I turned off the system, and called to him, but he refused to come. He made me walk out there and get him. Needless to say, I removed his collar after that. I was lucky in that I was able to sell the invisible fence and the receivers, meaning I didn't lose any money.

Pet Safe Invisible Fence is, I believe, the only invisible fence that claims it can be used with cats. But I could be wrong since it's been a few years since I looked at invisible fence. But, it shouldn't be used with cats for three reasons.

First, most cats are too small to have something that big on their neck. If you love your pet, you don't want to torture it. Secondly, cats are too intelligent for this system. They'll cross it and not come back because they know they'll be shocked if they return across it. And lastly, invisible fence doesn't keep other animals out of your yard. I've had dogs come into my yard and try to attack my cats. I stopped them before any harm could be done, but really, this system is a bad idea when it comes to cats.