This summer, when we moved from an appartment to a terraced
house, the opportunity arose to offer our cats far better outdoor
facilities than the balcony they had been used to.
The covered verandah at 17 m² almost asked for being turned
into a catio. Later on we plan to enclose the entire garden,
which is a mere 70 m² in all.
Although it's a quiet neighbourhood, we have decided not to
allow our cats to run free. The risk of accidents, fights or
catching a disease is simply too great even here. Besides that
there is no reason for them to accustom to the free life, because
if ever we will have another pedigree cat, the breeder is likely
to demand an enclosure in the contract.
The enclosure should not be seen prominently across the hedge, so
it's height was set at 175 cm. I had opted for 100 cm plastic
coated chicken wire, and as the verandah is 575 cm wide the
structure almost planned itself with uprights spaced 100 cm
apart, the gate and two outermost sections spaced a little less.
As the verandah is deeper than the balcony above, the opening
between them also had to be covered with chicken wire.
The frame of the construction is built from pressure-treated
rough sawn timber (38x57mm). It's cheap, but pick them
yourself at the lumber yard as the quality may vary a lot. The
base beam is raised 1 cm
over the slabs allowing for rain water drainage. All joints are lap joints with glue and
screws. All the time you must think ahead, having the cut outs
prepared before any piece of timber is assembled. Fortunately the
verandah has wooden sides, which makes attaching the timber with brackets a lot
easier.
I bought a cheap staple gun
for mounting the chicken wire to the frame. It got a bit uneven,
so I really should have been more careful stretching it out. The
gate is made from planed
2½ x 2½ cm strips of wood. In addition to the
joints it has angle plate corner braces for stiffness. The gate
is locked with a cat-proof barel
bolt. The hinges are positioned to the right and the gate
open inwards. Allow for a little extra space between gate and
frame, and getting it right won't be a problem..
I'm not exactly the DIY type, as a careful look at the
finished project will show, but still building the enclosure took
me no more than 12 hours in all, using an electric drill and a
screw machine as the only machine tools. The chicken wire was 219
Danish kroner, the timber and wood 348 kr, metal fittings, screws
and glue around 200 kr, so all in all the enclosure has cost us
less than 800 kr or around 140 US$.
The enclosure was ready on the day we and the cats moved in.
Without the slightest hesitation they walked up to the fence and
gazed out into their new big World.
Milly has always been indoor cat only, so all those new
sensations were almost too much for her. She is however very
aware of her responsibility as First Cat of the House and so has
gotten into the habbit of always being the first to inspect the
verandah in the morning. Just a quick round and then back inside
where she resides in the top hammock overlooking everything. Snow
White has been more interested in absorbing all the impressions
the garden has to offer and can stay there for hours.
Although usually no climber, Snow White had to test whether she
could climb the fence. She had not counted on it being covered...
Sometimes Molly from next door visits our garden. Then
they'll sit staring at each other until Molly calls it quit
and walks away...
Snow White enjoys going for a walk. Her main purpose is marking
all the good places by rubbing her cheeks, so that the other cats
can smell, this is now her garden...
Dansk
