3 easy ways to keep your pets safe indoors

Along with the joy of keeping a pet, comes few basic responsibilities.  Pet owners are expected to care for the well-being of their pets, and also ensure that they don’t be a nuisance to fellow residents.  In Singapore, authorities such as the AVA and animal welfare societies like SPCA have well published guidelines and education programmes for pet owners to refer to.

It’s imperative for a homeowner to make sure the doors and windows of the house are adapted to cater for their four legged inhabitants.

So why and what should we do to ensure that our furry friends stay indoors when they ought to, without disturbing our neighbours and also for their own safety?

Why Shield?

Few reasons to guard your windows and doors –

• High rise safety for pets, especially cats must not be taken lightly.  If your apartment is located on a high floor there’s always a risk of cats jumping thru the window and falling from a height
• Corridor windows and doors also have to be guarded if you have a cat or dog in the house.  There’s always a possibility that the pet may walk out unattended causing a nuisance or worse run away
• Even if you do not have pets in the house but stay in a landed house or your HDB unit happens to be on ground level there’s a likelihood of stray cats entering your home.

What options are available?

The first step is to install Grilles for your Windows and a Gate for your entrance door, that’s a must.  However, common grilles and gates do not suffice since the animal can easily pass thru.  There’s 3 ways you can shield your grilles and gates –

1. PVC Panel

A simple PVC panel fastened to the grilles can effectively restrict access.  Transparent panels can be fixed if you feel that coloured/opaque ones will obstruct the view.  Get a panel that is cut as per the length of your grille.

To fasten, you can either use simple plastic harness after making a holes in the panel.  Alternatively, some Grille Contractors can weld a customized latch on the grille frame whereby you can simply slide in the PVC panel.

2. Wire mesh/screen

Plastic or metal wire mesh is another option.  The mesh can be tied to existing grilles with a cable harness.  Again check with your contractor if he can fuse a hook or latch to save you the trouble of using a separate harness.

3. Customized Grilles

A more sophisticated and durable option would be to install customized window grilles and door gates.  Your contractor should be able to fabricate grilles with closely spaced horizontal/vertical bars which would provide narrower gaps in the grille design.  In fact, some grille designs such as the square lattice layout may suffice without the need to even customize.

So which should you go for?  Here a simple comparison matrix to help you make up your mind!