Eileen's Outdoor
Cat Enclosure
This wonderful cat run was meticulously designed and constructed by my Uncle Jim (aka Uncle Yim), who naively agreed to 'throw together a few boards and some chicken wire' only to discover that a carpenter's son is incapable of striking his own hammer without a well-laid plan. My household benefited immeasurably from his efforts.
Long view, end to end. Note door framed in at far end for people access.
Bye now. Hope you enjoyed your tour.
NOTES:
THE SECTIONS OF THE ENCLOSURE
a) First is the pet door installed in the outside wall of my house next to the patio door. The pet door leads directly into.....
b) a wooden 'box' structure sitting right in front of the pet door, on the deck. From the box area, the cats walk right into.....
c) the tunnel that is built across the deck on one side. When I'm outside on the deck the top of the tunnel is a wonderful bench seating area. When the cats exit the tunnel they jump right down into.....
d) the main part of the enclosure, 20 feet long, 6 feet wide, about 5 feet tall. And yes, someday I may need to add a ramp or small staircase if somebody can't jump in or out of the tunnel anymore! They like to walk on the branch I set there too (in picture 2).
HOW DO HUMANS GET INTO THE ENCLOSURE?
a) At the far end of the largest section there is a framed-in door with a sliding bolt (and a padlock, just to to deter roaming kids). It is the height of the enclosure and is big enough for me to pull in a lawn mower, a dolly, any number of things!
b) The lid of the 'wooden box' in the first picture lifts off easily (well, for me it does, not for the cats!)
c) The entire 'wooden box' can be lifted out of place or slid over on the deck. It isn't attached to anything.
d) The center boards of the tunnel lid is hinged and has an oval handhold drilled out of it. It lifts right up, allowing me access the full length of the tunnel.
MATERIAL DETAILS
I don't know many specifics and I'm not sure what the logical questions would be. However if you have any questions please email me - I will get the information from my uncle and you will get a response. I know he used 2 by 4's, 1 by 2's, chicken wire, staples, nails, and screws. All the lumber is green-treated for outdoor use.
HAVE ANY OF THE CATS EVER ESCAPED?
Not when the doors were closed *grin* Human error only! In picture 4 you can see a bit of the bottom framing. After the original frame was set in place my uncle shimmed the bottom with additional board pieces as needed, making sure the bottom frame meets the ground everywhere. I've seen no signs of anyone trying to 'dig out' under the frame. Or in, for that matter!
LAWN MOWING?
Well, until I added the tree parts I did mow inside, the large door was more than adequate to bring the lawn mower in - I just bumped it over the few boards on the bottom. Now that I've added the tree parts (they are heavy!!) I use a cordless grass trimmer, it's about the size of a large cordless drill. It's been nice to leave some grass patches long for grasshopper hunting and hiding. :)
THEY MUST GET SO FRUSTRATED WATCHING THE BIRDS
Ha! They don't have time. They are too busy dragging in the largest, most blatantly well-fed bordering- on-obese, moths and June bugs in this hemisphere. Really, they do chatter at squirrels and keep their eyes on the rabbits in the yard, definitely, but judging by how often I see intense grasshopper hunting activity they've managed to make do with anything that makes the fatal error of wandering into their realm.
DO THEY GO OUTSIDE REGARDLESS OF THE WEATHER?
No. We live in Minnesota and even with global warming, winter is one of the 4 seasons. Over the last winter I had the pet door closed for about 2 months - I did this because the door was icing over AND the cold air was keeping the furnace on too long, not because I wanted to keep the cats inside. I haven't quite figured out how best to manage the pet door when it's very cold out - I might rig up a piece of quilt to velcro over the door area inside the house, or something similar. Anyway, even when it's raining or snowing the cats often spend some time in the tunnel. When it first snowed last winter several of them jumped into the snow in the enclosure, 'just checking', but quickly decided the tunnel was the better observation point!
