A Detached Home Catio Solution
“They love the opportunity to be outside and see everything that nature has to offer… they are most interested in watching birds and squirrels, but my favourite part is where they sleep in the sun. I’m so glad I found a way for them to live the outdoors while still being safe.”
The Task:
Create an exciting catio full of features to entertains active cats and keep local wildlife safe.
Dawn lives in a detached house in North Vancouver. She has two active, young, and strictly indoor cats, Missy and Mia, who she lets explore the backyard on leashes under her supervision.
An Overview
The cats are curious about the outdoors and are showing interest in exploring. Dawn regularly sees the wildlife that call North Vancouver home, and she’s not comfortable letting her cats outside unattended.
Dawn has a tenant in the lower level of her home and wants to ensure that a catio doesn’t disrupt their outdoor space.
The Solution:
Make the most of an underutilized section of the deck, while being considerate of a tenant’s patio space below.
Dawn has a large rooftop deck which she uses regularly in the summer. One long side of the deck was unused and visible from the patio furniture, where Dawn spends most of her time. This was #ThePurrfectPlace for Dawn’s catio.
How We Made it Work
We visited Dawn and took the time to learn about why she was interested in building a catio and the personalities of her young cats, Missy and Mia. We knew Missy and Mia were active and would benefit from lots of shelves at varying heights, as well as a ladder, tunnel, spiral staircase, hammock, and wider perches to stretch out and enjoy the sights and sun. Since Dawn is in North Van and gets plenty of rain, she requested a raincover roof. Dawn rents the lower level of her home to a tenant, and it was important to Dawn that the sloping catio roof would not cause rainfall on her tenant’s patio.
For Dawn’s catio, we used 2x2 SPF lumber painted to match the colour of her home. The shelves, ladder and perches were constructed from cedar, with some shelves covered by pet-friendly artificial grass. The artificial grass is popular with clients as it helps the catio blend into the natural environment and it’s soft on feline paws. The rain roof cover was constructed from polycarbonate twin wall, which not only covers the catio on a rainy day but also protects the cats from harmful UV rays on sunny days.
The most unique element of Dawn’s catio is a rain gutter, which was attached to the sloping roof. We relocated the existing eavestrough to connect to the gutter to avoid excess water falling onto the lower tenant’s patio. As in the case with most catios that we build, we also included a human door for Dawn to use to access the catio. This is important as pet guardians need access for cleaning purposes and to retrieve their cats if they do not willingly come back inside.
Dawn’s catio is one of our largest catios measuring in at 16” long x 6” wide and 8” high.
We offered Dawn two choices for catio access: through a pet flap in a plexiglass window panel or through a pet flap installed in the house wall. Ultimately, Dawn chose the latter option – she had seen Missy and Mia push their heads against the window screens and she was worried that, when they acclimated to the window panel, they would try to push their way out of other windows that didn’t have a plexiglass panel installed. Additionally, she did not want to have the blinds raised at all times for the cats to access the pet flap.
The entire process from the initial site visit to installation day took about five weeks.
Integration with the Home and Yard
It was important to Dawn that the catio frame match the exterior colour of her home. We achieved this by using Sherwin Williams’ Color Snap MatchPro, a device that works with an app on our phones to match paint colours to a 99% accuracy rate.
Since Dawn is in North Vancouver, we used cedar shelving to blend into the natural environment for an authentic outdoor feel.
Health and Safety Benefits
Building a catio has 100% increased the amount of time Dawn spends with her cats. She loves hanging out on the deck next to the catio, and even joins her cats inside for some fun once in a while! She loves seeing her cats so excited to enjoy all the features in the catio.
The Best Part:
Impact on Cat Behaviour and Well-Being
Dawn is happy to report that Missy and Mia using the catio regularly and in all weather! They love running around and jumping on the shelves and watching the birds visit their neighbour’s feeder.
