Posted on 01/11/2023 11:05:45 AM PST by allen592
We live in far N. Scottsdale, AZ. I could tell you stories. A mountain lion sunning in the bed of my truck. A rattlesnake teenager saying HELLO while I was peeing in the master BR. A pretty, wild cat, looked like an ocelot trying to romance my male kitty, coyotes in a 3 pack stalking my dog and I on a walk. Sweet little Javelina pups, with giant daddy with tusks, just a few yards away, etc. Today I woke to see a very large deer on the drive way, in the moon light. He was beautiful in silhouette, dark with the moon behind him. I love it, and respect nature.
Where did you get the materials to construct that?
A rich diet of toy poodles and housecats, no doubt.
Oh, and the plastic lattice was from Menards too.
Yep! Watson is a barn cat that was rescued, and the other one, Crick, was discovered at an auto garage. They were both brought in to the shelter the same week in April one year, so we chose April 25th (DNA day) as their birthday. They’ve only known each other since they were two weeks old, and our daughter fostered them first. Our first cat had passed about 5 months before she brought them with her for a visit that year, and we decided to adopt them. They really think they are brothers. This catio gives them good vitality without having to be around so many predators (owls, hawks, snakes, bobcats, etc, besides the coyotes).
That’s really painful.
Except for the mountain lion, your surroundings sound a lot like ours. We have skunks, possums, raccoons, ground hogs, deer, foxes, etc. You get the picture. When you’re around this much wildlife, you respect and enjoy it.
Typically they are called Catio
Real opportunity for a clean shot and a little bounty money.
That’s a good looking coyote. 😉
Oh no you din’t say that.
Found the website. I think we used (4) components from here. The freedom window door, the tube, the tube to door connector, and the tube to cage connector. Roughly $250, as I recall. The enclosure itself was less than $250 back then, and we bought our own wire cutters plus the plastic lattice. Maybe with everything it was closer to $600. Still worth all the peace of mind we get from it. The cats use it every day, except for when it gets to the single digits and below. They love when it snows, and especially if we have a thunderstorm with heavy rain. They really enjoy being out there but protected. They have a great view of all the birds and critters. We don’t keep their food outside so as to not attract the wildlife up to the deck. We have enough visitors as it is.
https://www.customcages.com/accessories/freedom-connector-kits-and-tubes.html
He is looking to eat their pets.
He is more than healthy, he’s a chubby boy.
Thanks for digging up the info. One of our girls loves to go out and sleep outside during the day and come in at night. There are no predators here other than owls and she is too chubby for them to take.
When we make a final move to Arizona she cannot go out unsupervised and I will need to build a catio for her royal highness.
You will not regret building an outdoor space for her! I’m so happy that I could be of some help, whatever your design plan becomes. We had started thinking about one for two years before we saw the 3 coyotes that fateful day. It was the impetus for us to actually make it happen. We are 3-1/2 years in. I had to make a new weather guard this year. The other shower curtain got brittle from the elements, but the cats absolutely love having that bit of a cover. They can hang out in the loft where they are very protected, and the other animals hardly ever see them up there. It’s a great hiding place.
We lived in a development of small acreages and everyone had timber behind their homes. He was probably cleaning up on all the road kill in the neighborhood. We had a couple deer end up in our yard that were probably hit on the nearby highway. We’d hear them every once n a while.
Neat job! Cats love to climb to a perch.
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