Any door is fair game to a cat! My catio is accessible through a pet door in the window so I just close the pet door when I need to open the catio gate. My yard is fenced so I took advantage of a corner to create another fenced in area within the yard as a 24/7 catio. But everyone goes out in the main yard in the morning while I make breakfast, so they don’t ever panic if they end up outside then catio for whatever reason.
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My father, who spent most of his life claiming he didn’t really like cats, is now obsessed with his four (4) and built them little shelf walkabouts and beds all around on the walls of his “man cave” room. He didn’t bother to make them cute, or look better than cheap shelving that makes you go “wait…? are these storage shelves? no… CAT shelves?” but his cats absolutely love them.
My grandmother had a cat window perch for her sweet old cat and it was a big hit. Set outside the bird feeder, naturally.
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If you want an enclosure with no outside access door, make sure you have a door leading out to it. My guys get outside through a dog door so I built an outside access door in case of an emergency and I have to get inside to help them. Plus I close the window in the winter and the only way I can put them in the enclosure on really sunny days is through the outside entrance. It also allows me to get inside to shovel out the snow.
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I had a mental image of you doing this. 
It’s a great deterrent.
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Snickers took off like the devil himself was chasing her.
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I’ve made some “hellishly loud racket” when the cats were kittens and trying to decide if they should chew on my house plants. After hearing such a loud noise and thinking the end of the world was coming, they haven’t bothered with any house plants.
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When I buy my next house I’m hoping it has a fenced yard or I’m able to put a fence up. I want to build an enclosed cat run, at the top of the fence and around the entire yard.
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About hellishly loud rackets, I have a friend who bred Siamese, though retired from it now. She was the breeder of both Tenuto and Coda. But she commented once that one thing she did with all of her kittens before they left was to dryer proof them, considering the danger of cats dying in dryers. She did this by deliberately baiting the dryer with nice warm towels and leaving the door open. When a kitten found its way in, she would shut the dryer door, bang on the top of the dryer four or five times, then open the door, and the kitten would rocket out and rapidly leave the scene. Repeat until all kittens had had the experience, although none ever required it more than once. She always said she would make sure none of her kittens ever died in a dryer, even after they left her to go to their homes. Not a bad idea, I thought.
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Those are nice. I just wish I was handier with building.
I like these.
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That is a good idea. That would be horrible if happened.
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The first one I built was around that size but not as pretty. I put out pots of cat nip and hung a few disco balls, the cats were tripping! The one I built for this house that we’re temporarily renting doesn’t have anyplace but the 2nd floor deck to have one, so it’s smaller than our first one. We have ticks in our back yard and I’m sure the deer are spreading them everywhere, which makes me feel better that the enclosure is high enough that ticks won’t/can’t jump up to ty.
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My cats have a large outdoor pen. Theodore is not satisfied with his outside pen and loves to dart out the door and hunt mice. Marvel the kitten keeps seeing me and Theodore outside and darts out as well. Marvel’s idea is to roll on the cement and that’s about it. Fortunately he is easy to catch. Theodore comes from feral stock so he’s a bit wild to begin with and there’s no catching him.
I’m not a fan of outdoor cats. I’m reasonably sure I will lose Theodore at some point but short of locking him up all the time it’s impossible to keep him in. He’s also only friendly for 5 minutes a day, at the risk of getting bitten if you pet him. He is a huge character. Very chatty and very entertaining, but not a very friendly cat. His cousin ( from the same house but a different litter), she never wants to go outside and is much more timid.
You can build a fairly nice pen for around $200-$300. If you don’t like staples, you can use screws with washers to attach your fencing. I bought used aluminum screening panels (Facebook find) so my pen is easy to disassemble and move if necessary.
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For kittens I’m firmly team indoor-only. Play with them, snuggle them, make sure they have a buddy and adequate scratching posts and they are gloriously content. They are easily trained to be good indoor citizens. Cats are masters of finding their own stimulation (playing in a empty box anyone?) indoor cats do not need to be obese, feed a proper diet and encourage exercise with play.
If you want an outdoor cat there are bunches of feral cat relocating “working cat” programs where you can get a skilled and savvy barn kitty and save a life as these outdoor-only cats have a hard time getting adopted.
One thing no one has mentioned yet is parasites. If you live in area with fleas you HAVE to have an aggressive flea treatment plan otherwise your kitty gets not only fleas but the parasites they bring. https://catsandbirds.ca/research/outdoor-cats-parasites/
At least where I am we have insane fleas that are immune to the standard frontline and advantage/ its an arms race against those rotten buggers.
Don’t forget about communicable viruses that you have to get your outdoor cat vaccinated for as you’ll have no idea what other cats they are interacting with.
Fireworks tied to tails, people deliberately trying to run down cats in their cars, throwing rocks, poisoning, raccoon fights, messy, bloody painful coyote attacks, abductions for dog fighting rings - I’ve seen too many horrific things happen to outdoor cats in my area while working with rescues to ever let my cats out.
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I do not disagree that our hard working outdoor cats should have flea treatment and vaccines.
I just want to point out that it is hard sometimes with a TNR cat that gladly hangs out and eats the food you leave it, but never has become a friendly human trusting critter.
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With TNR I think we have to do the best we can. My adopted cats are indoor only however there are two former ferals outside that showed up and were neutered and vetted but aren’t happy inside all the time.
Squeaky comes inside and hangs out in the back bedroom in cold weather but come summer he wants nothing to do with it.
They’re both better off than before and that’s where I have to leave it.
Yes, that’s what I don’t understand (not in this thread, btw, but on the NYT Facebook feed) regarding the most militant anti-outdoor cat people. What do you do about cats that refuse to use the litterbox at all, don’t like humans very much, and scratch up everything within reach? Because there are some–one cat at a barn I was at started as an indoor cat, but after many, many attempts by the owner to get her litterbox trained/socialized, it just wasn’t feasible. I mean, I guess some people don’t mind, but (putting myself out there) that is not the kind of cat I’d want to share my indoor life with 24/7. I can understand the position “if at all possible, indoor and catio,” but I still support TNR feral colonies and barn cats for those who can’t.
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This is where I’m at. I have two barn cats that were semi-feral and now will let me pet them, but dosing a pill? Never gonna happen. I got one of them to eat canned food with a crushed pill, but not the other. There are pour-on dewormers for cats but they’re prescription only and there’s no way I’m getting these two to the vet. At least not more than once…
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This is totally where I am at. (I would have liked your whole post more than once if it would let me.)
Thankfully, when I am at the vets office for one of my dogs, the vet will typically provide me with some topical products for the barn cats (who sound just like what you describe). But…once I put that stuff on I have a couple of months of ‘you are not allowed near me even with good smelly food’, so it can not be an every month application like it is supposed to be.
I think if a pill was required we would all die a shredded painful death.
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I’m going to ask the vet when I take the pup in at the end of October, but it’s really hit or miss with whether they’ll do anything for an animal they haven’t seen. Makes me wish I still had a horse vet, but then again I’d be spending way more in that case! I am lucky in that the lady that caught these two had them fixed, ear tipped, chipped, and all their shots done, so at least they have one round of the good stuff, but… It’s not even getting them in a carrier so much as having to schedule the appointment weeks in advance and sometimes the dynamic duo goes walkabout for days on end when they’re only hitting the barn during the day when I’m at work. I refuse to lock them up for a week, and that’s even supposing I’d be able to get them from a big crate to a small crate after such an injustice was performed on them.
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