# D.I.Y Outdoor Cat Run



## TOTO (Sep 20, 2009)

Hi,

Our 2 cats only 1 year old dont go outside, and when i see other cats outside i must admit i always feel a bit of guilt, and wish mine were having the same freedom and enjoyment of the outdoors, but its just not safe enough, i always said i would never keep a cat indoors, but after our last horrible experience, my mind has been changed, so im constantly trying to keep them happy indoors.

Anyway, ive started on a outdoor cat run for them. Never built one of these before, so if anyone can give me any advice on mesh, could fox get through it etc, do the cats end up climbing the mesh and eventually weaken it, any ideas of things i could put inside? Im thinking maybe some tree branches etc and climbing posts built inside the frame?

Heres a couple of pics but still got a while to go. If anyones got any advice through experience either building one, or what not to do from one they've bought it would help alot. Thanks


----------



## lorilu (Sep 6, 2009)

That's going to be GREAT! can't wait to see the finished product!

What kind of wire is that you are using?


----------



## Taylorbaby (Jan 10, 2009)

i ended up buying mine from ebay a guy made it the wire run bit 6 foot long and 4 ft wide with a door and it was only £70

i bought a triple rabbit hutch 6ft tall 4 foot wide.depth for 100, and put the run on the front, looks well good!

im going to upgrade it next year and get a 8x4 shed with windows and put the wide run on the front of that, it can house 3 of my cats, they have loads of little mini houses in it to, am well excited! the shed is only £139!


----------



## TOTO (Sep 20, 2009)

Thanks, its 1" x 1" square mesh from ebay. Was £40 for a 30 metre roll so i think thats going to cover the lot. I think it will do the job, but to be honest it were the cheapest i could find, so its not quite as thick as i wanted, but its alot stronger than that hexagon chicken wire you can get. 

Will update with a pic when its a bit further along. They better bloody use it lol. Our house is rented, so any cat flaps in pvc doors or bricks is a big no no even though we could be here for years. So its going to be against one of the walls, with a small window. So im hoping with the help of a few ledges they go in and out of the window as they please.


----------



## buffie (May 31, 2010)

Will watch this with interest,I need something (Ithink)for my ragdoll kitten.Im sure he would benefit from some outdoor experience without the dangers involved.


----------



## ambercat (May 4, 2009)

TOTO said:


> Hi,
> 
> any ideas of things i could put inside? Im thinking maybe some tree branches etc and climbing posts built inside the frame?
> 
> If anyones got any advice through experience either building one, or what not to do from one they've bought it would help alot. Thanks


Definitely climbing posts, high up shelves etc, lots of plants, bamboos and grasses are brilliant, a water feature (like a pebble fountain), the possiblities are endless.....! I don't need a cat run where I am at the mo, but these are some pics of my old one at a previous house.

The only thing I can think of, is if you have a large roof span you may need to put some supporting posts like you can see in one of the pics of my run - it was a good opportunity to fix shelves on the posts though, and my lot used those shelves a lot.


----------



## Tje (Jan 16, 2010)

TellingTails I think would be the best person to help you regards building a cat run he has some beautiful ones (all hand made). Im sure hell see this post and respond anyway, but should he miss it just send him a PM.
My current cat run is a ready made aluminium one but in the past I have made DIY runs similar to the one youre making and never had a problem with the mesh (had more problems using the wrong screws and things that rusted, or not weather proofing the wood properly, but after a bit of trial & error we got there in the end). 

I find that they (mostly) dont climb the mesh, providing they have other climbing surfaces to use. In fact I have used cat nets to cat-proof balconies and thats even flimsier than the hexagon chicken wire and if you live on the 10th floor, its a longggg way to the ground . Havent lost one yet though. 

I am SURE your cat will love his new cat run and it will be well used!! 

Do let us see the finished pics as I am sure it would spur other people on to make one themselves.


----------



## tellingtails (Jul 28, 2010)

Hi Toto, 

It looks like you are doing ok, I too built my own cattery's and runs,I have the plans I drew and I can email them if you need them but it looks like you doing well already.

The most important thing with a run or cattery is shelter for your cat whether it be from a cold wind or rain, to shade on a hot sunny day, by providing this you can get all round use through out the year.

Another key point to think about is the ground in which you place it,the floor ideally needs to be clean and either washable or have the ability to be hosed down etc like concrete for various reasons.

Firstly transferance if it is grass or garden your cats will track dirt and muck all over whatever you put in thier i.e bedding,the minute it rains or gets damp.

Secondly it makes it incredibly difficult to clean the enclosure on a regular basis.

Another key point is to provide your cats with a little stimulation,with regards to scratch posts etc,these can either be made with things like driftwood etc or bought.If using drift wood which is fantastic looking pop it in a chest freezer for 24hours it will kill any mites that may be lurking on it.

But the most important part of any run is make sure you can stand fully upright in it,there is nothing worse than having to remain hunched over,whilst inside with your cats.

Good luck with the rest of your project,let me know how it looks when you finished.:thumbup:


----------



## TOTO (Sep 20, 2009)

Wow thanks to all of you for the advice. Im definitely going to include some sort of platforms, a house, and scratching posts in there. Ideally i would like to have a scratch post from the roof of the run, to the floor, which is just over 6ft, but cant think of a "cheap" enough way of doing it yet. My roof is also just mesh, so what would sisal rope weather like?

Tails, the mesh ive used is 19 gauge and although its probably just about ok, im still regretting not buying thicker really, if i made one again would do. Can you remember what gauge mesh you used?

Great pics and cat runs both of you that posted thanks very much, its good to see others and use ideas that you like to build into your own.


----------



## dougal22 (Jun 18, 2010)

hi toto, my o/h recently built a cat run onto the back of our house. the frames are pretty much how you've done them using 19 gauge mesh which we bought from ebay. our run is around 8ft high with a box section polycarbonate roof, which comes in sheets. the roofing material was from a local specialist plastics place. this roof allows our cats to go outside when it's raining as the run remains largely dry. o/h has put shelves in the run which are decking planks cut to size. the shelves are at varying heights around the run and there's also a climbing frame/cat tree out there too. 
at the moment, the cats only go out when one of us is home, but we'll be putting in a cat flap next spring to they can go out when they want to 
good luck with your project. your cats are going to love you for this, giving them a lovely outdoor space but keeping them safe too 
trying to attach a pic, never done this before. duh!! also, pics aren't very good as the run wasn't finished at the time. reminder to self - take more pics


----------



## dihamm (Sep 26, 2010)

ambercat said:


> Definitely climbing posts, high up shelves etc, lots of plants, bamboos and grasses are brilliant, a water feature (like a pebble fountain), the possiblities are endless.....! I don't need a cat run where I am at the mo, but these are some pics of my old one at a previous house.
> 
> The only thing I can think of, is if you have a large roof span you may need to put some supporting posts like you can see in one of the pics of my run - it was a good opportunity to fix shelves on the posts though, and my lot used those shelves a lot.


WOW thats brilliant :thumbup::thumbup:


----------



## TOTO (Sep 20, 2009)

Thanks again for the replies, excellent pics and advice. The runs up now and secure so they had their first half an hour in it tonight. Was getting on though by the time i'd screwed it into the wall and floor so the frames done but nothing inside yet. This is the part i been looking forward to though, adding in ledges, a little house etc. beats watching the tv eh lol, will add some pics as soon as i get chance.

Does anyone know whether sisal rope would be a waste of time outside? At the moment the roof is all mesh, and im toying with the idea of clear plastic over one half of the roof for shelter, or just a little house type box not sure yet. The half roof shelter would be good for putting some sisal rope scratch posts underneath though? hmm


----------



## tellingtails (Jul 28, 2010)

TOTO said:


> Thanks again for the replies, excellent pics and advice. The runs up now and secure so they had their first half an hour in it tonight. Was getting on though by the time i'd screwed it into the wall and floor so the frames done but nothing inside yet. This is the part i been looking forward to though, adding in ledges, a little house etc. beats watching the tv eh lol, will add some pics as soon as i get chance.
> 
> Does anyone know whether sisal rope would be a waste of time outside? At the moment the roof is all mesh, and im toying with the idea of clear plastic over one half of the roof for shelter, or just a little house type box not sure yet. The half roof shelter would be good for putting some sisal rope scratch posts underneath though? hmm


Glad you getting on ok, using some plastic for the roof is good for cutting down the amount of rain getting in,just be careful you use the correct fixings or when the wind gets up it will be gone, they sell some specific caps that you screw threw and it spreads the load of the screw and prevents the wind tearing the plastic off and leaving the screw behind.

Sisal rope weathers well and when it does get wet it drys ok the cats use it whether it is wet or dry does not seem to effect them when I say it gets wet outside it is not highly absorbant so the water seems to remain on the surface rather than penetrating the full rope.

I love making things,I am currently building a new indoor maternity room for my queens to give birth, and raise their kittens for the first 2-3 weeks,so they can have peace and quiet, I will take a couple of pics and show you,I have the shell just about up now.

Then I will get the roof on,make the doors,make it water tight,then plasterboard all the walls,add electrics(have to get someone else to do that)add heating. Furnish and decorate.You are right its better than watching Tv just aload of rubbish on recently.


----------



## Tje (Jan 16, 2010)

I also have some sisal covered poles in my cat run, and theyre fine left out in the rain and weather. But I do buy the super cheap great big bales of sisal from places like ebay. And not that uber-expensive bleached white stuff they use on professional cat trees. I dont think Id be using that outside. Some one in here bought some of that stuff at a hardware store and the price was horrendous!!

Tree trunks (if you can beg borrow or steal some, neighbours doing their gardens are often delighted just to get rid of them) are also great for scratching and climbing frames, and you don't have to do anything with the,, no covering with sisal, no weatherproofing, they are solid and will outlast the cats, lol. The big tree trunk we got. Say the base of the tree, the bit that comes out the ground where the trunk is at its thickest well that trunk was about 60cm wide. And we cut it down to about 80cm high, this makes great seats or places for them to lie  and if you had a few of these you could set them in a row and create a stair effect (I didn;t have the room for that). Only word of warning I have with the tree trunks theyre great but make sure you dry them out before you start sawing/handling them. Maybe it was just the type of trees we used but this horrible sticky sappy stuff came out of it for weeks after each fresh cut.

For ledges for the cats to sit on. You know those hardwood decking square  wooden tiles  they come in sizes like 40x40cm. well I find these make great planks for them to lie on and they weather great too and I can usually pick them up for about 3 or 4 euros per piece. I also have these in the big 100x100cm size on the ground of my cat run. Its nice to look at but the water just runs through the decking so the run never has pools of water (if you do this put one of those weed-sheet thingies UNDER the decking and youll never have weeds coming through either) and if it does get grubby you can just blast them with a power hose.

Its the wrong tome of year for plants but I find loads of plants, positioned just on the outside of the run, encourage loads of flying things to the cat run which of course keeps the felines occupied. You can of course put plants on the inside too. But we have two garden chairs and a garden table in our run and I enjoy my morning coffee in my cat run so I didnt want mine too filled with plants.

Oh and one other tip in your first post I got the idea your run was a bit like mine in as far as it was built _against_ the house. i.e. 2 side walls, a front and a roof, but no back wall? If so make sure you can open and lock the door on both the inside and the outside of the cat run. I stuffed up on that. And I also recommend one of those things that pushes the door of the run shut automatically should you leaver it open by mistake. And I recommend all these things in stainless steel as you dont want them to rust. I got all my stainless steel locks and door-shutter thingy in a boating/yachting store for a fraction of the price places like B&Q charge.

Heres a photo of mine so you have a rough idea of what I mean with the flooring (decking tiles).


----------



## Tje (Jan 16, 2010)

ooops, forgot to add the pics


----------



## tellingtails (Jul 28, 2010)

Lovely run Tje,

Here are the pics of my soon to be new maternity room to replace my smaller one,for my new mums, it is going to be 11FT x 7FT,plenty of room for them.
Its is going well even though I keep getting rained off.

I just want some where peaceful where mums can spend the first 2-3 weeks undisturbed. Well except me of course,I love to see new borns and be there when their eyes open etc.

As for your comment Tje on attracting things that fly check out the last two pics of the brave Pidgeon and look at the cat in the back ground:lol::lol:
sorry about the sun.


----------



## pamela Renfrew (Jun 9, 2010)

Sorry folks but my 4 are outside 24/7.......Some of these runs do look pretty amazing.... well done for caring so much for your cat that you would do something like build a run..... Pamx


----------



## Tje (Jan 16, 2010)

tellingtails said:


> As for your comment Tje on attracting things that fly check out the last two pics of the brave Pidgeon and look at the cat in the back ground:lol::lol:
> sorry about the sun.


Hey TT, your maternity wing looks the business!!

The photos of the homicidal cat and the totally unaware pigeon is priceless. lol.

Twice now I have had a veryyyy big bird of prey in my back garden. Dead weird cos I live in a very busy city. Last time it just sat on the roof of the cat run luring at something in the neighbours garden ... the time before that he/she/it caught a smaller bird and killed it and ate it on the roof of my fosters cat run. Feathers everywhere, was quite grusome. (no jokes about me on a bad-hair day standing in the garden acting the scarecrow )


----------



## TOTO (Sep 20, 2009)

Very very useful information here that is coming in handy and hopefully will do for others too, thankyou!!

It seems that the sisal rope will be a good idea then, not too sure if im going with the plastic sheet on the roof or not yet still making my mind up, but we're off tree trunk and branch searching weekend.

Your maternity room is excellent TT, Looks big and strong enough for a human to live in it! lol Im sure it will be worth every minute spent when you see the newborns! I would be interested to see the progess if you can keep us posted :thumbup:

Just took a couple of pics of the run up as it is at the moment. Of course you will notice that my path is both on a slope, and off straight, so we had to decide, make it straight to the floor, or make it square, but as we only rent the house and could move anytime we went with it square so we can use it at another house if need be. Going to put plants down the side as suggested and hopefully hide it a bit that its not parrallel to the path because ive got a bit of OCD about it and still considering whether to alter it before i coat it all and fill it with toys. :scared:



















Cheers


----------



## Tje (Jan 16, 2010)

Toto... it looks fantastic !!! Well done !!

I wouldn't go changing it to fit the angle of your garden.... you can get years of use out of a cat run like this.... and coming from someone who has moved house an awful lot... the cat run fits around the home, and not the other way around. And like you say, once you get some plants down the eye is detracted from the angle and you wont even notice it. And the cats certainly won't !!

I don't have a roof on mine either as my cats never go out in the rain. I do have a coolaroo sun-sail shade thingy for the summer to keep the sun out. (if you want something like that get them off of e-bay... ok you don't get the full range of colours you do from a coolaroo dealer, but I paid 30% of what the dealer wanted... I could only choose yellow or blue though. Coolaroos can be left out in the rain too... they're not like other sun shades that rot with the weather, so great for a cat run).


----------



## tellingtails (Jul 28, 2010)

Hi Toto,

Looks great Tje is right once you get the plants down,you wont even notice the angle of the path.

I will keep you updated on the maternity wing,with photos, will be a couple of days before I get some more done its rain,rain and even more rain up north this weekend:frown::frown:

But as soon as the weather breaks I shall continue:thumbup:


----------



## Abcynthia (Sep 12, 2010)

Toto can I be terribly rude and ask the approx cost of all the building materials etc was?

I want to build something similar in time for the good weather (well if we get any!) next year.

It looks awesome and you had done a great job!!!!


----------



## TOTO (Sep 20, 2009)

I dont mind in the slightest abcynthia.

£50 Timber (I got it from b & q but had some 20% off vouchers plus 15% off for spending £50 or more, otherwise its definitely worth shopping about)
£35 Mesh (Off ebay)
£10 Screws (Used about 150 of them in total it surprised me, DONT get from b&q, price for screws there is actually over double a little DIY store)

So only £95 for the materials.

Just the tools then if theres any you haven't already got. I ended up buying a decent stapler that does the long, round staples for the mesh which was £25 but if you ask about enough you might be able to borrow one

I bought a couple of drill bits too which i needed, so all in all including the tools, ive spent around £130. Think its worth it though, the ones you can buy ready done are expensive and 'generally' use cheap thin timber. Get a good frame up, if you need any help along the way don hesitate to ask, and im sure T.T wouldn't mind helping you either, his timber work looks top notch!

Good luck!


----------



## TOTO (Sep 20, 2009)

Would anyone be able to help with another rope query?

We would like to put a floor to ceiling scratch post in the run, attatching it should be easy enough, although for costs ive not yet decided whether to do it square or round. But the sisal rope cost is a killer. If ive worked this out right, from floor to ceiling is 1830mm, lets say i get 6mm rope. Thats 305 times i would need to wrap the rope around the post. Lets say i do it on a round post for arguments sake, with a diameter of 120mm (the same as a CD). The circumference of 120mm = 377mm. So wrapping round 377mm, times by 305 times = 115 metres of rope needed. Thats alot of money for sisal rope even off ebay. Just spotted some other type, its polypropelene, is that no good at all for this? Otherwise think i may use carpet its just too expensive but i know they would love it.


----------



## momentofmadness (Jul 19, 2008)

tellingtails said:


> Hi Toto,
> 
> It looks like you are doing ok, I too built my own cattery's and runs,I have the plans I drew and I can email them if you need them but it looks like you doing well already.
> 
> ...


What the heck is that in the fourth pic.. a snow leopard???


----------



## Tje (Jan 16, 2010)

TOTO said:


> Would anyone be able to help with another rope query?
> 
> We would like to put a floor to ceiling scratch post in the run, attatching it should be easy enough, although for costs ive not yet decided whether to do it square or round. But the sisal rope cost is a killer. If ive worked this out right, from floor to ceiling is 1830mm, lets say i get 6mm rope. Thats 305 times i would need to wrap the rope around the post. Lets say i do it on a round post for arguments sake, with a diameter of 120mm (the same as a CD). The circumference of 120mm = 377mm. So wrapping round 377mm, times by 305 times = 115 metres of rope needed. Thats alot of money for sisal rope even off ebay. Just spotted some other type, its polypropelene, is that no good at all for this? Otherwise think i may use carpet its just too expensive but i know they would love it.


Yes sisal can be very expensive. Thats why I recommended you look on ebay for the big bales of unbleached sisal. I think I bought 3 bales @ 220m per bale for around 50 euros (which is about £40 for the 3 bales).

I checked ebay not to so long for another forum member and these big bales were still available for around this price. But with everything on ebay, you really have to spend a lot of time searching.

in this photo below I used a square garden fence post screwed on to the bottom part of my stair. I would say the total height is about 200cm and the sisal is 6mm . I used about a third to a half of a bale to cover this one (about 96 meters of 6mm rope) so money wise about £6 to cover something looking like this.

I would say your estimate of 115 meters of rope needed ties in with mine. Based on the price of my rope that would be about £6.50).

can I also just give you one tip if you do use sisal make sure you do the wrapping around with two people and make sure after you have wound it around say 6 times or so that you then get one of those small craft hammers and hit it down a bit to compact it. I have been making my own sisal covered things (everythings, lol) for years and in the beginning I wasnt making them compact enough and after a few months of climbing/scratching bare spots would appear.

I am sorry I dont even know what polypropylene rope is. if its nylon or plastic it is not suitable for cats as their nails get caught in it.


----------



## Paddypaws (May 4, 2010)

Fantastic cat runs, looking really great.
I copied Tje's staircase sisal climber and my kittens love it...in fact I have some spare sisal and may get creative with an extra level today! Sisal is of course a great long lasting material but you may be able to get carpet off cuts ( turned the wrong way round ) for temporary fixtures...or Ikea sell a really cheap sisal doormat for something silly like 99p and that could be great fixed up against a wall panel.

Credit to Fuzzle for my lovely new siganture pic below


----------



## Maistaff (Dec 27, 2009)

Just wanted to say that there are some amazing cat runs here and they have given me plenty of ideas for our garden

My cats have run of the garden 









edited to say it is still a work in progress


----------



## tellingtails (Jul 28, 2010)

momentofmadness said:


> What the heck is that in the fourth pic.. a snow leopard???


Hi he is a stud Serengeti, and he is a beautiful big boy believe it or not he is only ten months old.

Serengeti Cat

here is a pick of George and his brother Winston chilling out,and a couple of younger when they were kittens.


----------



## groundhogdaze (Nov 12, 2009)

Just a couple of ideas for (indoor) scratching posts. I have a Main Coon and found that either she could trash shop made scratching posts in days or they just weren't big enough for her.

I built her, her own activity/cat tree with box as again shop built ones either weren't big enough or just far too expensive and I have built 2 scratching posts on it for her. One is a wooden post with 6mm sisal wrapped around it - when constructing it I coated the post in either wood or carpet glue and tightly wrapped the sisal round and I put staples in every couple of centimetres to hold it in place. Once the glue has fully dried - give it a couple of days - you must remove the staples. The 2nd post is constructed of a 6in diameter cardboard tube - carpet shops give you them for free - and covered in an offcut of carpet - £5 from the same carpet shop. To keep the tube steady I have it mounted on a 1/2" thick chipboard base with a 2"x2" wooden centre pole with 4 x 9mm dowels (2 near the top & two near the bottom) inserted into the centre pole touching the internal part of the cardboard tube. The centre pole is connected to the base and top by 9mm dowels at both ends and 4 small brackets connect the centre pole to the base. 

Drop the cardboard tube over the centre pole and dowels and attach the top. The carpet is glued onto the cardboard tube exterior (carpet or wood glue) and stapled on the joints to hold it in position until the glue is fully dried. Once it's dry remove the staples. Costs buttons but much harder wearing than shop bought (unless you get top of the range) stuff.


----------



## Tje (Jan 16, 2010)

groundhogdaze said:


> The 2nd post is constructed of a 6in diameter cardboard tube - carpet shops give you them for free - and covered in an offcut of carpet - £5 from the same carpet shop. To keep the tube steady I have it mounted on a 1/2" thick chipboard base with a 2"x2" wooden centre pole with 4 x 9mm dowels (2 near the top & two near the bottom) inserted into the centre pole touching the internal part of the cardboard tube. The centre pole is connected to the base and top by 9mm dowels at both ends and 4 small brackets connect the centre pole to the base.
> 
> Drop the cardboard tube over the centre pole and dowels and attach the top. The carpet is glued onto the cardboard tube exterior (carpet or wood glue) and stapled on the joints to hold it in position until the glue is fully dried. Once it's dry remove the staples. Costs buttons but much harder wearing than shop bought (unless you get top of the range) stuff.


OMG, that is a BRILLIANT idea. Consider it stolen!! :thumbsup:

I have been wondering for years what I could use to make a good diameter circular pole! I could buy some sisal matting/careptting to cover it, like you did... but do you think 6mm sisal rope would work too??? I have two bales (440 meters lying here)

(I'm assuming I can't staple into cardboard, though I do have a brilliant staple gun that can staple into strong cardboard).

Thank you!! I am off to sweet talk some carpet salesmen


----------



## TOTO (Sep 20, 2009)

Thanks for that groundhog, i can agree with you on the shop ones not lasting as long plus being very expensive. Nice tips there thanks again any chance we could see any pics of the posts?

:thumbup:


----------



## groundhogdaze (Nov 12, 2009)

I'll post some pics later for you. 

Tje - I'm sure the staples would hold the sisal to the cardboard - it is only until the glue dries as you don't want the poor kitty getting her claws caught in the staples.


----------



## groundhogdaze (Nov 12, 2009)

Hope this photo is attached.


----------



## Tje (Jan 16, 2010)

Groundhog, thanks for the pics and the tips! I think I will make this my winter project. I am not fast, lol, I DIY at a snails pace. Thank you very much. You have given me tons of ideas :thumbsup:. Look out for a PM come late spring, lol.


----------



## jenny216 (Oct 24, 2010)

hi all, those runs look fantastic.

im thinking of building one for our cat( he lost his sister on the road last week) as i dont want him going outside . my problem is i rent my house and the area that it could go isnt very large at all.

thanks for the ideas 
jennyx


----------

