My small catio idea
Ok, I've been considering this for a while. I want to build a small catio, attached to the house. I don't have a lot of room to make it really big, so basically it would be a rectangular box on one corner of the deck, 36" wide, 32" deep, 86" tall. This wall of the house faces north/northeast. I don't want to occlude the bathroom window or the patio slider; I wouldn't mind partially blocking the slider, but the wife doesn't like the idea. I want to keep it under the even so I don't have to worry about roofing, although I might consider going a full 36" deep, since that's the depth of the wire I've ordered.
I plan to make a frame out of 1" angle iron and weld in 2x2 mesh. The kitty door would be on the house wall, and a human door on the opposite side. The bottom will be mesh, with a piece of 3/4" plywood on top of that, covered in indoor/outdoor carpeting. I plan to hang some shelves covered in sisal rope and sisal carpeting, and maybe a climbing pole. The top will be mesh. I can't (don't want to) move the downspout, so I'm thinking of wrapping it in sisal as well. Once the frame is built, I'll media blast the whole thing and paint it black. I've also thought of adding a couple of those plexiglass bubbles on the walls, so they can better look out and around the catio. The weather station unit will get re-located.
I think I have all of the bases covered: I bought a nice kitty door for the house side, some spring hinges, a nice auto-latch, and 2x2 wire. I plan to pick up the steel for the frame and the plywood this weekend.
Am I missing anything? Any other clever things I can incorporate while I'm at it?
We have 7 indoor cats, ranging in age from 6 months to 12 years.
