Anyone ever use one? Is it a safer option? This new SMOL is already climbing the windows.
I built a cat run when I adopted my current cat about 13 years ago. He and his brother (RIP) really liked it. It’s quite large, 16x16, with some climbing stuff. Brother caught an impressive number of mice and such, considering his limited hunting grounds. The Current Cat was never much of a hunter. Even in his old age, he likes to go out when the weather is nice.
Recommended!
They like it. We have a 15x20 back porch catio with wood-framed wire walls and a clear plastic roof. It abuts a wall with the back door and the cat door, and has a faucet and electrical outlet. It also has a lockable door to the back yard since it’s our fire exit. It’s furnished with a cat tree, hammock, small table and chairs, and a bench.
When I put mine it, I made the base a U-shaped deck, with a large-ish patch of grass in the middle. I usually just let that grass grow wild, so the cats have tall grass to stalk in.
Yeah, we (well, the builder) has to figure out a tunnel of some sort from the cat flap. Thoughts?
We built our first catio 30 years ago when we bought our first home. We haven’t been without one ever since. All of our cats have always enjoyed their outside time, and ours have also caught a surprising number of small critters. My feeling is that if an animal is stupid enough to break into a cage full of predators, perhaps they shouldn’t be breeding.
When we bought this place, there was a small dog door in the laundry room door which lead to the covered patio. It was a simple matter to have lattice walls added. No matter what the weather, they always go out every day.
As a bonus, the only one who shows any interest in the big doors is Gormless George, but he’s still a youngster. He’ll figure it out when he gets older.
So yeah. Highly recommend.
Here are two videos of the first day we let them out:
Oh, good! Jane, I was about to @ you on this thread.
Depending how far the connector needs to extend, it might make sense to frame a larger tunnel/enclosed area that runs along the side of the house and is wide enough for a scared cat to turn around in. I’ll see if I can dig up a photo.
Okay, I’m thinking like this but attached to a larger structure (could run along the ground):
Or this:
Our previous catio was made from AKC dog kennel panels with a chickenwire roof, covered by a bungied boat tarp in winter.
Or this:
“Cat tunnel” is a good search term for the connector.
Those are some great links. I knew someone who did something much like the pic in the first link (what a beautiful cat) and his cat spent many happy hours out there.
@dummygladhands71 are you thinking about cutting a hole in a wall or door for a kitty flap, or are you thinking about a window door? You can buy some very nice looking window flaps or you can fashion one yourself. That’s what we did for our first catio. It was pretty trailer trashy looking but the cats didn’t care.
Yes, we were just talking and a cat is not likely to go down a dark tunnel so it has to be something else.
JaneDoe42, we have a cat flap in place into the fenced back yard, but the coyotes don’t care about fence.
Coyotes are a big reason for our catios.
For a fast and fairly inexpensive option, buy some PVC pipe and build a frame that you can cover with chicken wire. Put that in front of the kitty door, making sure that it can’t move away from the house (duct tape would be helpful). That should buy you time to plan something nice that everyone can enjoy.
If you do this, be sure that kitty cannot move it even an inch because that inch will be enough for kitty to escape. I still think you should get another kitten, but you still need a good catio no matter what you do.
(…and sturdy enough that a coyote can’t move it, either.)
Absolutely. Coyotes are crazy clever when it comes to getting at food and they do consider housecats to be tasty treats.
Ja, could be an argument for wood framing and welded animal lot panels.
Yeah, but making it hard for them, means they’ll move on, hopefully to someone’s little dog. Dogs have fewer weapons, I’ve watched a coyote in my yard drop a fiercely fighting cat. Or maybe it was because I yelled.
Sorry dog lovers. 
I was just suggesting the makeshift catio until you figured out a permanent solution. Do remember that you have control of the kitty door.
Does SMOL have a name yet? Do remember that while kitty is small and cute, kitty will grow up to be big and fabulous. The Fab part isn’t really the issue, but the growing part can be.
You can buy rolls of “kennel wire fence”, which is designed for making these sorts of enclosures. It’s designed to keep dogs in, better than chain link fencing, so keeping cats in is easy, and coyotes out is pretty much the same as a dog. That’s what I used on my cat run.
Your catio is very nice and your cats seemed to settle in very well.
We don’t get a lot of rain out this way so grass needs watering. I’m saying this to explain my ignorance.
How did you stop kitties from going under the catio deck? Is it on the bare dirt or do you have it leveled with blocks or whatever? Our bare dirt catio was a bit of a failure because the cats peed in the dirt (no grass out here) and it was really hard to clean up. The others have had floors.