A touch paranoid? I've got cats, birds that can get into where my plants are but they aren't interested in the least - they have other things to do. The birds get my strawberries and tomatos, but only when they start to turn red.
If you are really worried, you can get bird net at lawn/garden store (I paid $11 for a 14x14 size) and create a structure for it to hang off of/around to surround your plants. It's very thin but durrable.
If you are worried about cats, then use chicken wire on the structure and then drape w/ bird net.
But if you're going to be worried, worry about snails, slugs, grasshoppers, leaf miners, thrips, white fly, powdery mildew....