Cats are among the most common pets at home. Although they are different from the charms of dogs, cats are lovely in many ways too. Cat lovers out there know that!
Strolling in and around the house could be one of the favorite things that your cats like doing! Sometimes it depends on how you trained and taught them to live, but you cannot disaffirm that they do love roaming around too.
Cats can be good pets, but you have to be careful of them too, especially those stray cats. (Oops, your neighbors’ cats could be them too.) Why be mindful of them? They can cause troubles and damages to your house’s roof! Yes, you’ve read that right, and that’s because cats often stay on high areas such as roofs. While these cats are just living their lives normally for them, their presence on your roof can be unfavorable to you and to your house.
To understand more of what cats do on your roof, below is a 4-point discussion of the inconveniences that they can bring to it.
Table of Contents
DUNG IN AND ON THE ROOF
Everybody hates dirty and smelly house areas, be it on the ground or up there! Make a list of those who love those, and you will take forever to even write down one!
Just like every creature that needs to excrete waste products from their body, cats inevitably release their fecal matter; unfortunately, when they stay on your roof, they do that right there and then. They are not aware that they should not do that and that you would not like it, so they just do it as they want! Most often, stray cats do so.
Cats are usually great house pets that keep people company and entertained. They are precious pets that can help people by providing emotional support and joy. Those are true, however, cats can be a bit tricky and prickly to maintain and to take care of. Since they need things such as scratch posts to keep them busy, and they throw up hairballs that can be rather annoying, they can be quite troublesome to keep and maintain. The same goes when they are on your roof as well.
They are sometimes very active, playing up there. They use roofs and other leveled structures which they can use for traveling. Cats sometimes might consider roofs their temporary resting platforms as they go from one place to another. That’s especially because high places provide protection from humans that might harm them and other animals that might treat them rivals.
When they are on the roofs, they release their unfavourable secretions, urine and dung. These cause diverse problems for the house owners like you. Those body wastes give off a very unpleasant smell, especially because of the ammonia and the natural stink of their manure. Roof cleaning and maintenance are challenging, and there go cats’ participation.
Moreover, the aesthetic of your roof is affected negatively. Since the urine and faeces of cats do have acidic and corrosive properties, they can damage and wear off the paint of the roof, possibly damaging and weakening the roof itself. They call for numerous roof repairs indeed.
Make sure you inspect your roof of any possible stray cats. Shoo them away to prevent your roof from getting soiled by their bodily products. Promptly clean your roof to wash out their fluids. For your own cats, teach them the proper areas to pee and poop, so they will not have cats’ common habit which is usually disagreeable to humans.
If need be, use suitable sprays and chemicals that will drive away cats that may mark their territory on your roof. Just see to it that they are safe for animals; you do not want to kill them.
HOSTILE INTERACTION WITH OTHER CATS
Cats can usually get along with other cats nicely, except for a few situations. When they play on roofs, that’s good news for their relationship, but they obviously cause damage to the roof they are on.
Sometimes, male cats are on heat, meaning their sexual instincts of needing to find a mating partner are on full throttle, and that leads to situations where they often fend off other males of their species to ensure that they are the victor of the competition. They fight off others of their kind.
Other reasons for cat fights on roofs include battling for food and pushing away others for territory. Yes, some stranger cats might think that your roof is theirs — facepalm really when they damage your roof instead of living there peacefully.
Cats fight with their claws and teeth trying to hurt each other. Since their location is your roof, your roof suffers from the battle that’s not its. Watch out for the cat war aftermath that needs roof repairs.
JUMPING UP AND DOWN
As stray cats and lost cats travel throughout random places in their vicinity trying to scavenge for food and for pleasant spots to stay in, they often use high grounds as a safe means of travelling, well atleast for them anyway.
Unfortunately, your roof is no exception. It’s actually one of their top options (pun intended!) Roofs are the platforms that cats frequently use to go to and from their destinations.
Constant walking is usual, and you would hear it when cats walk on your roof. Yet it’s a different topic when you hear them jump. They startle you undeniably! Your roof becomes vulnerable from the actions that cats do such as walking but even more as jumping on and to it.
Sure, cats’ weight alone may not really be a serious problem, but constantly doing so can degrade your roof overtime. It’s like your roof gets a not-so-powerful but also not-too-weak sort of beating that weakens the roof eventually. Their constant up and down motions can dent and deform the shape of your roof — sounds ouchy.
SCRATCHING
Be it collateral damage from cat fights or just the cats using your roof as makeshift scratch posts, what happens up there can absolutely cause deterioration on the look and integral stability of your roof. Especially if left unchecked and neglected, damages are near, but achieved roof repairs are far from reach.
As cats travel about their days, they move from house to house, roof to roof specifically, and tons of their activities can leave marks of damage on your roof. Some even do excessive damage to your roof because of their prolonged stay. They sometimes leave bite marks on your roof areas. Well, they might be playing with a leaf or a random thing that fell on the roof, and of course, your roof is always innocently involved.
Cat scratches cause more problems by increasing repair costs. They might be catching a rat, scratching their back or stretching. Well, they seem unproblematic, but with a closer look, your roof receives a few scratches right there. These do take a bite of the budget of the house owner — that’s you.
MEOWS AND OUCH!
Although you can be really kind and let cats (even stray ones) live on your roofs, you cannot remove the fact that they cause disturbances and inconvenience there. Do something to safely make them hate your roof!
Especially when they seriously damage your roofs, their presence becomes bothersome. Furthermore, it becomes financially costly for house owners like you since many roof repairs and replacements are to be accomplished as well. Those meows could be cute, but on your roof, they could be ouches!
AUTHOR BIO
Nicole Ann Pore is a writer, an events host and a voice-over artist. Travel, health, shopping, lifestyle and business are among the many subjects she writes about. She also writes for Young & Co Roofing Manchester, an excellent roofing and cladding company in Greater Manchester. She graduated Cum Laude from De La Salle University-Manila, the Philippines with a Bachelor’s Degree in Communication Arts.
