Thinking of building a cat run/enclosure

Hi!

We have two male neutered cats, George 6yrs and Marcel 5 months. George is an indoor/outdoor cat with his own flap. Marcel will also be indoor/outdoor although i'm petrified at the idea of him going outside! We will definetly keep him in at night for a while because he's completly black. They also both have reflecting collars, unfortunaly we don't have the space now to build an enclosure and my hubby is anti-litterbox so they can't be indoor cats! Also where we live it's still fairly unusual to have an indoor cat.

In about a year we will be moving into our house which we are renovating and we are thinking about an enclosure. I have quite a few questions maybe someone could give me some advice!

Is there a general rule for how many square metres it should be for 2 cats? Is fully roofed best or do some cats like rain/snow?
Is it tiled/slabbed or pebbles/soil, what do they like best?
Cat the litterboxes go out there or would they get damp?
How do people deal with the logistics like, cat flap into enclose/back door opening into enclosure/making sure they don't escape when you walk out into the garden?
Will they long to be 'really' outdoors even more?
Can I convert my 6yr old 'free spirit' into staying in an enclosure?

Sorry I know it's a lot of questions but ANY info, comments, experiences would be helpful!

Thanks!
Claire

I do not have an enclosure but I have seen plans for one. Do a search and you will find some easy plans. One plan I saw had 3m by 2m by 2m. The frame was made out of wire mesh that had 2cm by 2cm holes. Though any size will do as long as the cat can not get its head through the hole. A door can be placed on any side, and the enclosure looks to be light enough to be moved by 2 people. I think they had natural grass under the enclosure. They also had several shelves inside the space for the cats. A roof of some sorts is probably in order. If for nothing else to make sure they dont get out and also shade. Hope this helps

Im moving soon so my cats will be getting an enclosure.
http://www.geocities.com/Petsburgh/P...enclosure.html
I found that site doing a search and decided I really like it so when I make mine it will be a bit like that one. Good luck!

You can see mine here

http://www.thecatsite.com/Care/8/Bui...closure/1.html

Originally Posted by conbrio

I do not have an enclosure but I have seen plans for one. Do a search and you will find some easy plans. One plan I saw had 3m by 2m by 2m. The frame was made out of wire mesh that had 2cm by 2cm holes. Though any size will do as long as the cat can not get its head through the hole. A door can be placed on any side, and the enclosure looks to be light enough to be moved by 2 people. I think they had natural grass under the enclosure. They also had several shelves inside the space for the cats. A roof of some sorts is probably in order. If for nothing else to make sure they dont get out and also shade. Hope this helps

Click to expand...

That pretty much describes the one we made for Charlie. Short version - Our 2 year old girl got killed in May this year, so my 8 year old Charlie who was always an outdoor kitty, became indoor and hated it.

The outdoor enclosure is wire (about 1.5cm holes) supported on metal star pickets & wooden stakes. It is about 1.6m high and it's 3m square. We couldn't make it too high because we have units behind us, but that will change at the next house.

The wire is stapled & stitched to the posts, roof is shadecloth, i spent a few hours hand stitching it with wire to the top of the fencing wire so there were no cat sized holes. The bottom of the fencing wire has small tent pegs in the ground so he can't sneak underneath. I left the floor natural as Charlie likes to chew on the grass and lay in it. I did make a tiled corner for warmer days. I used a wooden sidechest as a dry house with a towel in there. There are times he does NOT want to come out even if it is raining so he will hide in there.

I also made a walkway of wooden planks on some bricks so he can walk around if the grass is wet. There are also some scratching logs for his claws that also lean against one of our deck chairs which he likes to perch on. For all of us to get in/out we built a split door. So either the top or bottom can be opened and shut. As we're getting into summer i've just pegged some fabric on the wall that is in full sun as Charlie is white, he loves to sunbake and i don't want him to overheat. A couple of fresh bowls of water, sometimes i put snacks out but he mainly sleeps.

The catch is, i've been carrying him to and from the house, as we have decking and paving in the way. We are moving in 10 weeks, so i am hoping to enlarge the enclosure, and some how make a tunnel directly from the house so i don't have to keep letting him in and out and carrying his fluffy butt to the house lol. Will also be looking for some sort of plastic doggy house (small one) to replace the side chest i put out so it's more weatherproof and comfy.

Thanks for the great links, definetly food for thought!

There is a lot of building work to be done renovating our new house so I figured this was the right time to try and design the enclosure, I definetly would like either the back door of the house to open into it or even better have a sperate cat tunnel so there isn't as much chance of that human error creaping in!

I want to make it as natural as poss for them but i'm stumped about how I would be able to cut the grass, perhaps soil with a thick layer of mulch? Of course they would then think the enclosure was a giant cat toilet though! Has anyone tried putting the litter boxes out there? I thought this would be a good idea because my other half can't stand them but then I thought that they might soak up moisture from the air on misty days.

Somebody has warned me off chicken wire because her cat got his nails stuck in it when he wanted to climb up the wall but lots of other people seem to be using without any problems. Anyone experienced this?

Thanks very much, it's a long way off for me but i'm already getting excited about it

If you really want a nice one, build one that would hold 4-5 people comfortable (sorta like a gazebo) and put lots of cool cat platforms, treehouses, etc. in it for the cats use (and you can add chairs/table too and sit out there.

You could use some covered litter pans out there or cover half the enclosure with a solid plastic flap that can be tied down. If the cats will be on the ground, I would just leave it a natural ground but plenty of shelves they can jump on if its wet on the ground.

Mona - I love that enclosure you posted - its pretty cool