Has anyone got some tips and advice on building an outdoor cat run.

Gav's dad has kindly agreed to build as one.

We have a door at the side of the house, which goes through to the kitchen. So what we are thinking is building the cat run up to the brickwork of the side of the house, fitting a cat flap on the side door, so then can then go in and out of the run as they please. This means we don't really require a outdoor sheltered area. It is more just so they can sit out in the open air (safely).

What sort of things should we have in there. I have seen a article in a magazine about an outside litter tray, which is all natural, this sounds like a good idea. but I would imagine it would cause pongs which the neighbours would not be too pleased about.

I want to have a grassed area and plenty of things for them to climb on.

Any ideas would be appreciated

thanks,

Hi

We chose 3/4 grass and 1/4 flags for our enclosure. Evvie seams to love the grass more than the flags as it encourages bugs and flies and she loves chasing them. The only problem with the grass is that it can be difficult to maintain. We put a roof on our enclosure so we have to water the grass and I had initially planned on strimming it but it?s difficult to get all the cuttings out so we mow it now; however, if your prepared to put the time in with it I?d recommend it.

We are also planning on putting some kind of water feature in (Evvie loves playing with trickling water) and an exercise wheel. We put a shelf around the run at mid height (if you look at the pic of our run on the <a href='http://www.bengalcatcam.co.uk' target='_blank'>cat cam</a>, you can see Evvie walking on the shelf) we got the idea from Llandar and Evvie loves it. I?ve seen an idea that I?d like to incorporate on the <a href='http://www.starwinds.demon.co.uk/' target='_blank'>Starwinds</a> web site. Have a look on the Boarding and quarantine pages. I like the way they incorporate their ?ladder? style walking planks that lead to platforms at various heights. I?d also suggest buying lots of sisal rope (look for seller jesseandzozzy on <a href='http://www.ebay.co.uk' target='_blank'>eBay</a>... v.cheap). We have an upright post covered in sisal rope that allows Evvie to get up to the waist height shelf and she scales it no problem.

We have tried to include a variety of textures gravel/flags/grass/water/sisal rope/wood and a variety of ?heights?. The higher your cats are the safer they will feel. As you can see from our cameras Evvie never sleeps in the bottom bed she always sleeps on the top, she loves being up high.

Would also suggest having a look at as many web sites as possible to get ideas, that?s what we did

Regards
Heidi

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Heidi

Heidi thanks alot for your tips.

Great advice

Heidi forgot to add the most important bit.....Get someone else to do it!


The only advice I can give is to plan every detail out before you start the build i.e air-locks, internal features like some tree cut-offs etc....for instance it'll be much harder to install an air-lock after the framework is constructed.

As your not having a shed attached things should be a bit easier.....If you already have a flagged patio area outside your back door that you want incorporate then you'll have to fix your frame to that and the wall of your house with appropriate expanding fixing bolts.....and if you extend onto the garden to have a grassed area just lay a concrete foundation about 1 inch thick and lay a single course of bricks for the run to sit on (fix run to the bricks aswell).

Every vertical timber in ours is concreted into the ground to a depth of approx two foot and a course of bricks was set under the horizontals.....so it's very sturdy!

The frame should be simple enough to make.....just tell Gav's dad to make each side like a studded wall partition in a house( all equally spaced ofcourse)

Also when fixing the wire meshing make sure you pull it tight and keep the tension whilst hammering the u-nails in (use a screwdriver to lever it).....otherwise it'll look un-even and saggy which will spoil the look completely.

After I attached the wire on our run, I put some architrave over the visable sides of the frame on top of the joins in the wire meshing so it looked a much better finish

It's hard to describe what I mean so I'll post a few pics tomorrow to show it better!

One last thing I should mention is the roof.....It'll be much cheaper than you think to put a roof on, Ours was about ?35-40 with all the special fixings included.....and it'll finish the run off nicely!

p.s Don't forget to hire a slave for the day to be whipped if anything goes wrong and to make brews for the workers....good luck it'll be worth it!

Thanks for the advice meemonkey, my dad will probably read it - I've got every faith in him doing a good job, he's a diy legend B)

We're going to have it next to the back door and have a cat flap so they can get in and out at will - not sure if they will be allowed into it whilst we are out, my only worry is that kids will see it from the road and come in and tease them or try and let them out...

Hi
This is our new cat run. The cats have the entire house when we are home. There is a cat door from the house into the internal garage where their litter boxes are and then another cat door into the cat run. I'm yet to add posts for climbing etc.

The run was going to be my vegetable garden (see base) but we decided to close it in for the cats! My husband is a builder so we made it quite cheaply - it even has an external door.

The cats spend a lot of time in it just sitting in the sun and watching birds. I sat in it with them the other day and they were very amused!

Hi Cairo

You'll be amazed at just how much time they'll spend in the run, especially in the summer! You are v.lucky having a builder for a husband, my other half did ours...granted, he's done a good job but it did take a while, it wasn't cheap and it still isn't finished (we need heating and lighting in the shed)

It's surprising just how infections these Bengal cats are, and it just goes to show what us 'slaves' will sacrifice to make sure our babies get everything they need :rolleyes:

Hope you still have enough space for a veggie patch (although I'm sure your cats will fully appreciate the outdoor space they have gained thanks to your hubby's handy work!)

You'll have to post some picks of your cats enjoying the sun...how many have you got?

Heidi

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Heidi

Hi Heidi!
We had three Benals- Luka 5 years, Samson 11 months and Neo 2 years but Luka hated the two boys and wanted to be left alone so my mother took her. Now my mother is hooked as Luka has really settled in over there and she rules the household.

Samson and Neo love each other and Neo will cry if he can't find Samson. They spend a good part of their day wrestling and trying to wash each others faces at the same time! Neo is a very big boy, his father is Imprints Finn - a National champion. Here are a couple of pics - Neo is marbled and doesn't like the camera much whereas Samson leaps around each time he sees one.