The Catio

I have had cats as fur-babies for years and years.  When my kids were young, we always had at least one, sometimes as many as three at a time.  They were mostly inside cats.  The first one we had, Fluffy, was an indoor/outdoor cat. She was poisoned by a neighbor (at least that's what we thought at the time).  So for their safety, our subsequent cats were always all indoors.  

I had been eyeing catios for quite some time, looking at pictures and plans online.  I knew I had the perfect place for one - a small concrete patio on the 'wrong' side of the house (the side that has no real purpose other than an alleyway out to the bigger back yard).  The patio was sort of a junk catcher for off-season outdoor furniture and other items.  It has a window to one of the empty bedrooms --perfect cat access to a catio!

As luck would have it, in the summer of 2022 I needed to keep my sweet grand-kitty Piper while my kids went on vacation.  Piper is quite a shy cat.  And my kitty Sheba hated her! So we knew we needed more cat-space to accommodate them both comfortably in my small house.

Thankfully, my son-in-law is quite handy, so he and my grandson built a catio structure in just one weekend!  It is 6x8 feet and covers the full patio. It has a person-sized lockable door so we can get in there to clean, and a solid clear roof to keep out the rain.  I added cat shelves of varying heights, a scratching tree and toys, and some other fun features.  Kitties enter thru the window with a cat door.

The catio was a hit with Piper!  She especially liked sitting out there in the evenings, although she would pop out there several times a day just to look around. I was very glad we had that secure space for her to play!