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You are here: Home / DIY Projects for Cats / In Love with Our New Catio

In Love with Our New Catio

May 15, 2020 16 Comments

This pandemic has been difficult. Like everyone, we’ve experienced loss of many things. One of the biggest positives to being stuck at home so much though? All the extra time spent with the kitties! Our quarantine time has been especially enhanced by a new addition to our home — A CATIO!

That’s right! We built a catio! It was a crazy idea I had a few weeks ago while my husband and I were sitting on our back porch one evening. I looked at Bobby and said, “I want to build a catio on our deck.” He said, “Okay.” Having never built anything before, we really had no idea what we were doing. We naively thought it would be a fun Sunday afternoon project. We sketched out a plan, took some measurements, and off to Lowe’s we went the next morning to get the necessary lumber, nails, and screen.

Fast forward 6 days, 30+ hours of work, and 10 trips to Lowe’s later, and we have a catio!

In Love with Our New Catio - screened in catio

(Here is a photo gallery of the transformation process, if you’re interested in seeing the different stages of the project.)

In Love with Our New Catio
Day 1 – we thought we had all the supplies we needed. HA!
In Love with Our New Catio
Securing the ramp!
In Love with Our New Catio
In Love with Our New Catio
Added some shelves
In Love with Our New Catio
The base…
In Love with Our New Catio
Day 2 – beginning to frame things
In Love with Our New Catio - building a catio
In Love with Our New Catio
Day 3 – framing complete!
In Love with Our New Catio
Day 4 – aka Roof Day
In Love with Our New Catio
Day 4 – aka Roof Day
In Love with Our New Catio
Day 5 – framing, roof, shelves, ramp, and door complete!
In Love with Our New Catio
Day 6 – added the screen and finishing touches
COMPLETE!
In Love with Our New Catio
So proud of ourselves!
In Love with Our New Catio - screened in catio
In Love with Our New Catio
The inside, complete with shelves, a ramp, beds, and toys

Besides completely underestimating how much time and materials it would take and having to revamp our plans several times, the whole project went quite smoothly. It was actually a lot of fun! With the exception of Roof Day. Roof Day was a dark day. The only time I seriously considered calling the project off and just throwing a tarp over the top of it. MOL!

The catio has been complete for two weeks now, and we are all still obsessed with it. We’ve added 2 regular bird feeders, a hummingbird feeder, 2 suet feeders, and a bird bath out in our backyard. Endless “TV” entertainment, for all of us really.

Want to take a guess as to which cat loves the catio the most? I bet it’s not who you think…

Raddy on the Catio

Raddy! I think Raddy would live on the catio if we would let him. As soon as we get up in the morning, he is at the window waiting for us to open it. He was out there until well past midnight the other night, only coming in at meal times.

Everyone loves it though. Gryphon can barely contain himself whenever there’s a bird or squirrel at the feeder. He runs around, grunting – completely frustrated that he can’t get out there to it.

Gryphon on the catio

I think it’s safe to say that building this catio is one of the best things we’ve ever done for our little family. We love it!

So now I’m going to overload you with photos of everyone on the catio… Enjoy!

Delilah on the catio

Sophie on the catio

cats on a catio

Sassy on the catio

Sampson on the catio

Kylo Ren on the catio

cats on a catio

kitten on a catio

cat standing on a catio

cats on a catio

cats on a catio

catio time

catio hang out time

 

Filed Under: Delilah, DIY Projects for Cats, Gryphon, Kylo Ren, Radagast, Sampson, Sassy, Sophie

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Eastside Cats says

    May 15, 2020 at 10:04 am

    What a terrific catio!
    I watched the construction on FB (or was it IG?), and am impressed with your results.
    And your clowder obviously adores it too!

    Reply
  2. Brian Frum says

    May 15, 2020 at 12:47 pm

    That really is wonderful, you sweet kitties are so lucky!

    Reply
  3. Timmy Tomcat says

    May 15, 2020 at 3:56 pm

    What a wonderful Catio and it is so nice that Dad or Mom can use it if there are a lot of buggies out at night. We got the Cat Fence last fall and are just getting to use it as we need to keep the back door open and it has been too cold.

    Reply
  4. The Island Cats says

    May 15, 2020 at 5:14 pm

    That catio is purrrrrfect! The kitties must love it. We don’t have a catio, but we do have a sunroom. The mom needs to clean it up after winter so we can go into it again.

    Reply
  5. Chirpy Cats says

    May 15, 2020 at 6:06 pm

    Ohmy cat! Concatulations on the new catio! I have to say the look on the kitties faces say it all 🙂 It will be interesting to see which cat goes out at the crack of dawn to watch and listen to the birds. At our house, It’s Sly Pie 🙂 So happy that your kitties are enjoying it and you are too! Well done humans! xx

    Reply
  6. Mary McNeil says

    May 15, 2020 at 7:09 pm

    What a hit ! Every kitty is obviously loving it !

    Reply
  7. Ellen Pilch says

    May 15, 2020 at 8:44 pm

    I am so impressed! The cats look very pleased.

    Reply
  8. Summer says

    May 16, 2020 at 1:15 am

    Wow, what a lucky family of kitties! The catio looks awesome! Of course everyone loves it (humans too)!

    Reply
  9. Lone Star Cats says

    May 16, 2020 at 1:52 am

    The catio looks awesome!

    Reply
  10. Meezer'sMews&TerrieristicalWoofs says

    May 16, 2020 at 2:05 am

    What a great project and a ton of fun for the kitties to be out there enjoying the nature TV channel.

    Reply
  11. The J-Cats says

    May 16, 2020 at 3:31 am

    Oh! We are SO jealous! You lucky kitties! We don’t even have a deck, let alone a catio!
    It’s beautiful! What thoughtful Humans you have!

    Reply
  12. mommakatandherbearcat says

    May 16, 2020 at 3:50 am

    WE’RE in love with your new catio too!

    Reply
  13. meowmeowmans says

    May 17, 2020 at 12:11 pm

    We love your new catio, too! It looks like all the cats approve! 🙂

    Reply
  14. The Swiss Cats says

    May 17, 2020 at 1:56 pm

    Pawsome job ! Your catio is amazing ! Purrs

    Reply
  15. Robin says

    May 19, 2020 at 4:54 pm

    This is totally pawsome! Congratulations on your new catio. You guys did an absolutely amazing job for never having built anything before. It looks professionally done.

    Reply
  16. Timmy Tomcat says

    May 22, 2020 at 3:13 pm

    We wanted to stop by and Wish Sophie a Very Happy Birthday!

    Reply

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