Earlier this spring I set out to prepare my raised bed gardens to plant a variety of vegetables. I was quite pleased to find that the soil was in perfect condition for the growing season, since winter cover crops had brought valuable organic nutrients to the garden. I proceeded to plant a combination of seeds and seedlings and hoped for the best.
While kicking back to celebrate my freshly planted garden, I saw one of our kitties using the freshly prepared garden as a litter pan! What? I love seeing our cats enjoying the outdoors on occasion, but do not like the yucky notion that my veggie garden would become their digs. I shooed the cats out of the raised bed, but they'd sneak in when my back was turned.
So, my husband did some online searches for a better solution to our pet and garden protection dilemma. He found many websites on “catios”, which is a patio enclosure for cats. A catio would allow our cats the opportunity to still be outdoors but also remain safe from aggressive strays, racoons or potential predators. Plus, this would keep them from digging in my garden!
We were excited to see many differentcatio designsonline and viewed many videos by folks showing the construction of their own projects. My husband ended up building one that incorporated the features we liked from these videos. We chose a 10 x 2 feet area under the roof eaves just outside my office, so that our cats could use my window for passage into theircatio. He added an outside door for easy access to tend the area or retrieve a snoozing cat if needed. There is also removable fence panel for washing windows before it rains… it always rains when we wash the windows. All of the area is very secure.
Our cats love the new hangout area. We are very happy that they can be outdoors and remain safe, and we now have peace of mind when harvesting our garden bounty.
My next task is to do some research on plants that would be good for a catio enclosure. There are a few plants already in the space, but we would like to create a little jungle for cat play and hiding. We are especially interested in chewable attractions that are safe for consumption. Hmmm, maybe this could be a topic for my next blog.