(I’ll also note that I don’t know how well I’d be able to see it. For some time now, whenever I try to look at a facebook page it gets covered by a very large box asking me to sign in or sign up. It has no close button that I can find. It does have a ‘not now’ button; but clicking that doesn’t make the box disappear or shrink to a narrow bar, it only makes it reduce in size by about half, so that half the page is still covered. I can sometimes see around it enough to get whatever info I came there for, but not always.)
We’ve had coyote issues the last few years, and I’m always seeing reports on our NextDoor app of cat parts being found in people’s yards. Once, a little girl found just the head of her cat on the neighbor’s lawn. Since you say there are coyotes around, this is a real possibility. If that’s o.k. with you, let him roam.
So she didn’t speak to me for two days. She mentioned a cougar sighting she’d read about on the neighbourhood network. Turns out it was about six miles away, the previous day. First cougar sighting I’d heard of in the just-under 16 years I’ve lived here. Coyotes are also rare to see, though I can hear them miles away sometimes.
Long story short: She wins. I do not believe our cats are in danger here, especially when we take him in if there are raccoons or coyotes or whatever around. She said I could build a catio.
The roofed part of our deck is 16 feet wide and 24 feet out. I can get wire fencing in four-foot and five-foot heights for under $300. I’ll have to pick up for or six pressure-treated 2x4s. I want to make sliding gates; two on the ‘deck’ side (i.e., the uncovered part), and a pair for the back of the deck at the steps. I’m thinking painted 2x2s running in aluminum channels, with little wheels on the bottoms of the gates. Tonka is old, and he doesn’t seem to be able to jump like he used to. Goo is a climber, so we’ll have to see if we need to close the tops.
I really believe she’s overreacting to the raccoons and the neighbour; but whaddya gonna do?
Whew! I’m glad that’s decided. Sounds like you have workable plan. Good luck.
Sounds like you’ve got bigger issues than a cat.
There are things I don’t share.