Dan M wrote:

Actually, with a small animal fence charger there would not a risk of
harm. They do sting when you touch them, but that's the idea. Once a kitty
touches the "magic wire" and learns that it bites, said kitty remember
that and avoid the wire in the future.

I may be wrong, but I got the impression this is a fence charger rated
for livestock. Fence chargers aren't created equal; and a charger
designed to keep in a half-ton bull is going to deliver a hell of a
bite to an 8-pound cat. The chargers marketed for small animals
delivery a very low charge. Not to mention what is going to happen if
the thing gets wet and malfunctions.
I can see we are becoming divided on this issue; and first I want to
make clear I don't think Pat would deliberately harm her cats in a
million years. But I don't think she has thought this through.
A cat who is accustomed to free roaming, who is displaced into a
strange, new, unfamiliar territory is going to be upset already. Then
to receive an electric shock every time they try to do what's been
coming naturally to them all their lives is going to make them
downright neurotic, and manifest behavioral problems. Cats just don't
respond the same way dogs/cattle/horses do. They're such a different
critter.
It's not that hard to re-train most cats to stay in an enclosure. I
have free-roaming cats, too. They've been indoors for the last month or
so since the skunk incident, and quite honestly, after the first week,
they adjusted very well.


Sherry