FeliSafe came into being as a result of the loss of our family cat Burtie in a road accident in 2007 at the age of two. We were all devastated and, at the time, thinking about getting another cat was the last thing on our minds. However, as time passed we realised that we were missing the company that a cat provides. We wanted to get another but we could not go through that anguish again. I did some research on keeping house cats but felt that whilst cats may become accustomed to being kept in the house it would be far better if they could have access to the outside as well.

A couple of years previous to this I had helped my friend Alan put up a cat fencing system which he had purchased. With this in mind, I searched the internet to see what was available and to my surprise, there was very little. During the course of this research I found out that getting two cats would be beneficial in terms of them having constant company. I also discovered that there are lots of common plants which are poisonous to cats, and that when confined, cats may be less likely to differentiate between the poisonous and non-poisonous plants.

I spoke to Alan regarding his cat fencing and got some further information on it, but my garden is quite irregular and for me to use that system would entail a lot of modifications as it only came with standard brackets and also, more importantly, I felt it was a bit expensive.

I decided to design my own brackets, which enabled me to make them specifically to suit problem-areas rather than trying to adapt the garden or the standard brackets to suit. I also developed corner brackets which are longer and come out at a 45° angle with a left or right facing base, as this produces a much neater appearance. Having designed and installed it the next step was to put it to the test with my two Bengal litter mates, Oscar and Lucy, who have been with me since 2008. Fencing my garden has been a great success and gives me peace of mind. As for Lucy and Oscar, giving them access to the garden really does make a difference to them, as when it’s pouring with rain and they can’t (wont) go out they are noticeably grumpy.

I subsequently made brackets for friends who, like me, found that there was very little on the internet in terms of cat-proof-fencing and they convinced me that I should make my system available to all cat lovers. In the summer of 2009, FeliSafe was launched and within twelve months it was evident that demand was more than I could cope with alone.

Since Alan had been such a help and support to me in the early months, and knowing that he shared my belief that the important thing was to keep as many cats as possible safe, I asked him if he would like to join me, and after some discussion we entered into partnership in 2010.