Space for studs

I have a question about housing for stud cats. Tsekani has officially started to spray so he has to be enclosed when I am not around. For some reason (maybe because my roomie is not fixed!) he runs into my roommates bedroom and sprays on the side of the bed if the door is left open for even a minute.

For now I have him in a extra-large wire dog crate in the living room as I don't want to ban him to a basement or outdoor run. The crate is large enough for litter, food bowls, a donut type bed and quite a bit of space for him to walk around. I know that cats sleep a lot of their time away, but I'm wondering if there is a limit to how much time I should be allowing him out to exercise. My plan was to let him run around in the evening before I go to bed, and then enclose him while I am at work and while I am sleeping.

If I get my new house, I plan to have a ferret-cage type set up for him to have multiple levels and more space. Since he is a pet and a part of my family, he will always have time out from his cage to explore and stretch his legs. But I just can't have him destroying my home with the spraying )=

I had hoped to avoid this, some cats never develop the habit...

Let me see if I can find a "bigger" stud type cage. Is there any room that is not carpet that can be turned into a stud room? Even if you have to take the carpet up and put down washable linoleum would be good.

I know at one of the shows, they had some custom build type of cages that were walk in type - really cool.

Here's some ideas for you

http://www.sarcenet.com/tour.htm

http://www.nitewindes.com/catterymgmt.html

http://www.cfainc.org/articles/cattery-build.html

Yes, if my roomate leaves, which I think he soon might (he's at his gf's all the time anyway), I'll turn that spare room into a cat room. I'll put chairs in it so that I can go in and visit him to read or do crafts. I'll probably put my altered DLH in there for company as well, they romp around and play so it will exercise them both if I have cat climbers in there.

I use a 4'x4'x6' covered outdoor dog kennel for each of my boys. I have a 3-tier cat tree, 4' shelf, and hammock set up. Studs need to have room to jump and move around during the day or else they get mushy, so the cat room would be a much better idea.

From what I have heard and witnessed, Maus are bad sprayers when they are young and later they cool off it. Niles was terrible for a while there, but now that he lives with my brother, he doesn't seem to feel the need to claim every surface as his own. He sprays his litterbox like nothing else--but he has the open kind with a very tall back, perfect for vertical peeing!

For me the only acceptable alternative (except from a stud house with an outside run) is to give the stud a room of his own. I've been lucky to have large bath rooms where I've been able to keep my studs. When I'm home I let the stud walk around freely in the apartment with stud pants on. During the night and when I'm at work, he's in his room.

Do you know anyone who is handy? My husband built our stud enclosure and was able to keep our carpet down. He made a 3 inch platform over the carpet and then we put linoleum stick down tiles that can be mopped. It is perfect. I will post pics as I am pretty proud of it. The girls (even when not in heat) beg to get in and play because it has so much room and we designed it pretty well. I will post pics tonight when I get home.

Thanks all. I'd prefer to have him in a cage (hate that word) out in the living room, but I can see the benefits of having him in his own room. If I get my new house I'll build something as I'm having the renos done, and if the deal goes through then I'll renovate my current house to be better set up for cats.

I think for now I'll use two extra large dog crates stacked on top of one another with a hole cut through for jumping up. I hadn't considered stud pants, so I'll look into getting some. There are no females here for him to terrorize, so I'd prefer him to have free run while I am home.

There are some really nice plans for making enclosures, online, which I'll look into when I have finalized my living arrangements.