Outdoor Cat Enclosure, aka Catio

[iamn8]

I have one cat and one kitten. Figured I'd post this since there seem to be a few cat people here. My cats are indoor cats, but my older cat escaped one night. I was lucky to find her. Ever since, she's been obsessed with being outdoors. This inspired me to build this enclosure, allowing her to hang outside anytime. Obviously she'll still want to be outside, but this is a good compromise.

 

[mso489]

Impressive! She is a cutie, and lucky to have such a good cat man for a companion.

 

[papipeguy]

Great solution. Get a couple of pigeons to keep her entertained.

 

[mcitinner1]

Good job Nate. We need more video of the cats though. :worship:
We have a wrap around porch that was great for doing something similar. It's 7' x about 15'. Nobody's outside today because it's 28 degrees.

 

[iamn8]

Wow that's stunning!!!! I'd LOVE something like that! Way out of my budget! I'll take more videos now that Lego is out and about. She's a character and the noises she makes are bizarre. Really unusual kitten!!
Here she is just today seeing the Catio for first time...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BG2PwFvCZmc

 

[iamn8]

OMG!! They finally acknowledged each other without hissing/fighting!!!
ALMOST FRIENDS

 

[fluffie666]

Nate and Stan, you're both awesome human beings. I know to many people that view their animals more like a piece of jewlery than a living entity. I've been meaning to do something similar for our cat Stimpy. He escaped once. Thankfully he came back three days later and never tried the great escape again. He does paw at the window though. Makes me feel bad because I know he tasted the the freedom of the lady cats and crapping wherever, like he's supposed to. We let our other cat in and out because he's pretty smart. He can be trusted to be careful. Stimpy is as dumb as a bag of hammers. He needs a cat enclosure. I'll get to it in the spring. Nice job guys!

 

[iamn8]

Thank you and yes, that's EXACTLY the feeling I had!! She tasted freedom and wanted to explore new sights/smells. These enclosures are great compromise. It's sad how many dead cats in the road I've seen. I can't fathom those who treat pets like a commodity. To each his own, but my kittens will remain safe and sound and live long lives. My last cat lived to 20 and died a few years ago.

If I can help in any way with enclosure info let me know! I am neither a carpenter nor a handyman... actually I won't be of help

 

[iamn8]

Kitten On Crack....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tv5GaCXl500

 

[frozenchurchwarden]

I'm still trying to figure out what kind of enclosure my cat would accept for a heated space, anything too small and he just rejects it, which makes it tricky because in a heated space size and temperature are opposed. Eventually I gave up on enclosures and right now I just have a big heated dog bed on a shelf, which seems to be an acceptable compromise.
With my barn cat he disappears for weeks on end during the summer and is almsot never in the barn during the day.

I keep an open tub full of cat food set out (yes I know of one stray who steals from me), during the winter it gets re-filled twice a month, during the summer it practically doesn't get touched.

Compared to most cats I presume the barn cat is more of the "world traveller" type. The biggest worry is coyotes, but thus far he hasn't disappeared perminently yet so it'll be a few years before the wildlife catch him off guard (probably 50% of the cats around here eventually just "disappear").

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-0n2kxkdJgM

 

[buckaroo]

Great idea. I would have never thought of that.

 

[shaintiques]

Nice, I have a cat that likes to go outside too. He used to be an outdoor cat but our neighborhood isn't safe for him. I walk him on a leash while lunting and he does great, but.I also built him a 12 x 12 cat enclosure too. I'll post up pics soon.

 

[irishearl]

We never "owned" a cat til we moved into our current home and a stray orange tabby who'd at 1 time been someone's pet who lived in the neighborhood began to follow me everywhere whenever I went out & always tried to follow me in. When we discovered it no longer seemed to have a home, we adopted her and named her Percy since she was so perseverant about wanting to join the family. We used to let her come and go outside as long as stuck to the yard. But a few months ago saw she could no longer be trusted to do that. Cats are roamers. Now she never goes out but, with a sunporch to hang out in, she seems content.