Build An Outdoor Cat Kennel & Condo For Your Indoor Cat



Posted: Sunday, November 23, 2008

by
http://www.kittystoreonline.com

Indoor cats can become bored with life in the house. They need occasional trips outside to smell the air, watch the birds, chew on some grass, chase a bug or other exciting creature. We have 5 indoor cats. They have their own room, in our home, with 2 cat condos & 3 automatic litter boxes. They very generously share it with my desk, computer & filing cabinet. In order to give them "safe" access to the outside, we built them a two room outdoor kennel, connected to our house. We have several bird feeders around for them to watch (sort of like kitty TV)

1. In the back wall of "their" room is a pet door.

2. Attached to the pet door, on the outside is a walkway the size of the door, enclosed with chicken wire, which attaches to an entry hole cut in the kennel wire.

3. Attached to the walkway is a 2" X 6" X 5' long board, covered with sisal rope descending to the ground inside the kennel.

4. The kennel has two rooms constructed by erecting two 7'W X 13' L X 6'H dog kennels.

5. A secure roof is made by constructing 2 sections of roof, per room, 8' X 4' of 2" X 2" wood frame & 1 8'X 4' sheet of corrugated PVC plastic cut in 2 sections & attached to the roof to allow water to flow off the roof.

6. These two sections are attached in the center of each room to form the pitched roof. A section of pipe, like the kennel frame, is attached to the top of the kennel frame with risers, making the center of the roof about 8" taller than the sides, allowing for the pitch of the roof. The roof sections are attached by strapping the frame of each roof section to the center pipe with long electrical ties.

7. Since the pitch in the roof leaves openings at each end, between the roof & the kennel top rail, a plastic mesh material is attached in the opening to prevent escape. ;-)

Cats love to climb trees, so, sections of cut tree limbs are configured in each room of the kennel to give them trees to climb & allowing space on each where they can lay & watch their outside world around them. Also in the kennel is a perch with scratching posts.

I designed two outside condos made of plastic dairy crates that will be weatherproof . Sides were cut out to make tunnels through which the cats can walk and then ascend to the next level. The first condo is four levels high. Each level has at least one crate on the end where a cat can lay. They can also lay inside each crate forming the tunnel. Since dairy crates have no solid sides, to each horizontal exposed crate surface I have attached a square piece of plastic with a square of outdoor carpet glued to it. This gives them the solid surface on which to walk or lay. The condos are created by strapping the crates together with electrical ties. These are strong and will last indefinitely. A picture can be seen at the bottom of the "Miss Kitty Chat" page of my web site.

PLEASE give some serious thought to providing an outside habitat for your indoor cats where they can safely, securely investigate the outdoor wonders they crave.

Pat Lemmons aka Miss Kitty is a 66 year old woman living in South Texas with her husband and five pampered house cats. Pat operates a retail web site for specialty cat products. The web site sponsors 3 local animal shelters with monthly donations from sales on the site. http://www.kittystoreonline.com

Pat Lemmons (aka Miss Kitty) is a 66 year old, semi-retired South Texas woman.  She has had cats as pets for 10 years, understands cats and knows how to keep them healthy and happy.   As a stauch supporter of animal shelters for many years, she found yet another way to help fund the wonderful work they do.  She has a website www.kittystoreonline.com for quality cat products at discounted prices.  A portion of every sale is donated monthly to two local animal shelters.  These organizations are the rescuers of homeless animals and make them ready for adoption in good, safe, homes.  They provide a magnanimous service to our communities.
 
Products on the siterange from the most recent technological creations of the automatic litter boxes to the best interactive toys for your furry feline and everything in between
 
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Top-level comments on this article: (2 total)
» left by Susan Thom
 3 years 78 days ago.
175 fans.
hi pat,
 
this sounds like kitty Heaven.
 
what a good answer to not wanting your cat to get hurt or lost roaming through the outdoors, and yet being able to enjoy it.
 
thanks for sharing, and i hope you continue writing,
 
welcome to searchwarp,
 
my best regards,
 
sue thom
» left by Pat Lemmons 3 years 77 days ago.
2 fans.
Thank you, so much, Sue for your comment.  I'm still pretty new at this and your words are encouraging.  I really appreciate you taking the time.
 
Regards,
 
» left by Anonymous
 2 years 172 days ago.
Where is your web site though?
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