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Building a Catio


Silver Post Medal for All Time! 267 Posts
June 3, 2019

Koneko enjoying her catio.We recently adopted a stray feral kitten, Koneko. She cannot be allowed outdoors yet, but we wanted her to have some access to fresh air and outdoor views. So we built this enclosure for my son's bedroom. I called this an outdoor pet run until I ran into the term "catio" or cat patio.

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It is nearly invisible from a short distance, as the green fencing is very similar to the color of our house. Here is how we constructed it.

Supplies:

The fencing we purchased had a 2x3 inch grid. Ensure that whatever fencing you get is small enough to prevent escapes.

  • 1 roll green wire fencing
  • 2 metal corner beads with holes
  • 1 roll wire (or use cut pieces from fencing)

Steps:

  1. Remove any weeds or plants in the area, about three feet out from the window. We also cut out a small groove to bury the fencing in the ground.
  2. Attach the metal corner beads to the house, on either side of the window.
  3. drilling the metal corners to the house.
     
    drilling the metal corners to the house.
     
  4. Attach one side of the fencing to the holes in the metal corner bead with twisted wire, starting at the bottom to ensure that about 6 inches of fencing is buried. We needed to connect another piece of fencing in the middle to make it tall enough to cover above the window.
  5. Wiring the fencing to the metal corner.
     
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  6. When one side is attached, start attaching it to the other metal corner bead. This will create a semicircular structure in front of the window opening.
  7. Fencing attached to the far metal corner, to make a semicircle.
     
  8. Cut a piece of fencing to cover the open top and twist the wire together.
  9. Cutting wire fencing to make the top.
     
  10. Make sure the bottom fencing is well buried to avoid digging. Another idea would be to add a bottom piece of fencing to make a fully enclosed cage.
  11. A groove where the fencing is buried.
     
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  12. Add a cat tower or other items to give the cat a way in and out and a place to nap or birdwatch. We added concrete blocks as stair steps and an old planter with a pillow. We plan to build or buy a regular cat tower to place in there soon.
  13. Koneko enjoying her catio.
     

Koneko loves it! She is out there all the time, although she is so skittish that it took a couple of weeks for me to get a picture of her in it. I'm planting cat grass around the perimeter to further hide the edge from the regular grass.

The only problem with this is that it is only accessible from the inside, without a lot of deconstruction. When it is time to paint the house, we will probably unscrew the metal corners in an attempt to keep it in one piece.

Comments


Diamond Post Medal for All Time! 1,298 Posts
June 4, 20191 found this helpful

Very cool name, Japanese for Kitten (read from your other post). Such a nice window catio for her! She looks to be enjoying it too! :)

 
Anonymous
June 6, 20192 found this helpful

I love how you are going above and beyond for this little feral cat! There needs to be more people in the world like you!

 

Silver Feedback Medal for All Time! 450 Feedbacks
June 6, 20191 found this helpful

Thats a great way to let her outside. Just some free advice from a cat lover. Please dont turn her out again. She looks young and will adjust to being in the house.

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Having been feral she will gradually blend back into the wild if turned out.

 

Silver Post Medal for All Time! 267 Posts
June 9, 20191 found this helpful

Thanks! She really loves it. She just got spayed so we have been keeping her inside this week but I think we will buy her a cat tower for the "reopening". They have tall ones at Costco for $89 and that is cheap enough to skip the hassle of making one from scratch.

 
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