What do you love or hate in your catio?

[crowinghen]

About to put up a catio. I have quite a bit of space - a 6x18 (ish) covered porch plus an 8x6 corner of the lawn (shaded - may grow cat-friendly plants there if I can find some.) With so much space I wanted to put some things in the catio for them to enjoy. I was thinking of some kind of outdoor litter accommodations (any advice on that is welcome as well) but didn't have any other thoughts on what to put in the space for kitties to get maximum enjoyment out of it. What do your cats love in their outdoor areas?

 

[GoldyCat]

Give them some vertical space. Cat trees, shelves, elevated walkways, etc.

 

[Kieka]

1. Vertical space - definitely increase usable space in the catio.
2. Don't create dead ends - make sure any vertical pathway has at least two ways to get on and off.
3. Wider paths are ideal - while cats can walk on narrows ledges, wider ledges will be used more. Unless something about the space means you can't, you should make any ledge big enough for a cat to sit in a loaf position on.
4. Wrap vertical surfaces in rope to create scratching surfaces whenever possible. Cats will scratch regular wood, might as well make it something you can replace easier and want them to scratch.
5. Give yourself at least one sitting spot to hang out with them in.
6. At least one litter box but ideally two or three.

 

[basscat]

Mines about 40 x 40..Figured he needed room to romp. Discovered that's not the case though. There is such a thing as too large.
Mine paces, fast, like an excited puppy. SO, around the edges....is a worn in path.
He likes vertical more than anything. Poles and Perches. And launching himself from perch to perch. Seldom does he climb, mostly he just runs up stuff...any stuff.
He's got a hollow log and loves to scratch that.
Litter box with sand. It's more of mess than anything else....and he'd rather go on the ground in a corner. Which is his 2nd favorite place to do his business.
He had a kiddie pool and that was great fun for about 15 minutes......which brings us to his VERY FAVORITE place to do his dirty work....Yeah, kiddie pool a bad idea.
It has an upstairs for him, similar to an attic. He spends most of his enclosure time up there.
He's got a bunch of toys, but....he's taken them all up to his attic area and I've gotten tired of getting a ladder and climbing up to get them down. So that's where his toys stay now.
Has a water spigot in his enclosure. That's a great thing. Clean his bowls up, wash things down, fill his water bucket right there.
Has lots of poles, cedar tree poles with bark and short limbs still on them. Lots of perches. Poles and boards up high, horizontal, from pole to pole (cat-walks). He loves all that stuff.
And all that would have gone in an area 1/3rd that size and he would be just as content.