Catio

I live in the western USA where coyote predation of pets is common. I decided to build a catio for my wandering cat after the following occured:

1. I saw coyotes prowling outside the fence three times in the span of a few months
2. My cat snuck out the pet door when we had left on travel one Christmas and went AWOL for two weeks. We found him in the neighors yard having lost about 5 pounds.
3. A number of unauthorized “snacks” obtained by jumping the fence into the neighbors yard via a low-hanging apricot tree branch and hiding behind a flowering plant to wait for unsuspecting birds to come.

The catio is based on the “Cumberland Cottage” chicken coop from tractor supply. Modifying it was pretty straightforward and consisted of

1. Adding some 1x4’s to the back end to eliminate the gap between it and the house created by the roof overhang
2. Building a wood base with flooring
3. Building a window insert with a cat flap for entry