Aww, look at them! They love it. That picture of Gypsy flopped over is so funny! They are such characters, aren't they? Congrats on finishing the biggest and hardest parts
An interesting development this morning. I decided to try and put Cleo my oldest feral cat, he is now in his double digits agewise, only been inside a few times in his life, to which he shredded the wallpaper ran laps over our heads and tried to ram out the glass window to escape. But this morning, I scooped him up while he was in the yard, and together we entered the enclosure. I set him down inside and stoold there watching. He looked around, saw the hay pile and went over and promptly laid down! He was inside for 2 hours where he discovered cat toys and catnip for the first time and played with the other cats! Only after two hours did he show any signs of anxiety and started running around the enclosure looking for a way out. I just went in and let him out and he took off for the woods. I am hoping that giving him exposure to it as much as I can that one day, he will just live inside of it without anxiety-
It's great that he felt relaxed enough to lay down, and even play. It sounds like he's made a great start towards making the enclosure his home...here's hoping!
Here is the start of the insulated cat beds. There will be ten total- and they are completely protected. At the top level is where I will now be storing all my cat carriers-
It looks great, I can't really tell but did you put some kind of a floor in it? That was my concern with mine what will you do if it rains alot and the water soaks the bottom, I was afraid that some wild indian may start digging, or it would ruin everything not up off the ground..
There is no floor, but the roof is solid and it is under a century old pine tree as well as off the side of the house so I am not to worried. We have an underground spring so the water that comes out of the sky and into the ground leaks to there. The cats can't even get wet going from the enclosure to the house because of the irrigation pipes they travel through. We thought this out a great deal before constructing it.
I am so impressed. I thought I was spoiling my kittens but you definitely win the prize for a big heart and love for cats. Way to go - you are an inspiration!
Hey that is AWESOME! Now I don't even want to post the pics of ours! haha (but I will)THat is the size we hope to expand their roaming room to soon. As of now it's only two large kennel cages on the back of the building but we have room to expand back to the dog yard fence. We have been looking at the least expensive way to do it and talking to a friend that works at a home improvement store, the kennels have a roof over them and we figured we'd leave the expanded one uncovered (with a heavy nylon net roof). We came up with a plan for anchoring it with landscape timbers spiked into the ground and building the 'frame' out of PVC pipe and then wrapping the whole thing in chicken wire (for the case of tiny kittens who might come to stay someday) and then doing the heavy nylon garden netting over the top. Yours looks incredible but wow...that is some investment in lumber, no? awesome! Someday we hope to have a heavy duty expanded version like yours!
That looks great Mary Anne - I love the little sleeping boxes with the round holes - the kitties will feel really secure in there. They're going to have such fun during their outdoor time!
I like that roof. I would like to put a roof on Nakoma's enclosure, but with all the snow we get here, I would really need to make sure it was structurally sound or it would collapse from all the weight of the snow. It isn't uncommon for this part of Ohio to get 1-2 feet of snow at a shot. Actaully, Nakoma will love the snow, it's just that when it rains, I hate how wet everything gets in there. However, I have seen him sit in the middle of a thunderstorm without going into his den box. Great job on the enclosure.
I know just how much time and money building one takes.