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Cats jumping/falling off balcony
Due to my unexpected pregnancy, me and my husband moved into my parents house with our dog and two cats in tow. Their house has an inside balcony with about a 20 ft drop to tile floor. My parents have 5 cats and many of them sit on the balcony with no problems, however about 10 years ago we did have a cat who fell off and landed on the carpet stairs and managed to only break his nose.
Now to my cats. We have been here about two months and I have been trying to integrate the cats into the household. One of the cats is a scaredy cat and typically refuses to come out from under the bed. About three weeks ago, he was out and exploring when my brother scared him by walking up the stairs. My cat jumped on to the balcony and then when my brother stepped towards him to try and get him off, he jumped off. He landed on his feet on the tile, with no injuries. I was an emotional wreck about the whole thing and rarely let him out of our bedroom again until recently. Fast forward to yesterday, my other cat got on the balcony. He decided to run on it and slipped. He grabbed the balcony with his front paws (with his butt and back legs hanging off) but managed to pull himself back up. Now I'm extremely freaked out about letting either of them out and I don't know what I can do. Is there anyway to keep them off? Is there any sort of netting we could put up to prevent them from falling?
Re: Cats jumping/falling off balcony
There are definitely products you can use to prevent them from crossing the threshold, so to speak, but I would personally try to keep them in a limited area or to limit their access to the balcony.
I've known families with young children that will install plexiglass in-between spindles. Netting is an option, although not attractive and quite possibly not the safest option. I would discuss this with your Ps and see what they are comfortable with.