I built this catio and catwalk because in the past I have let my cats wander around unchecked. Sometimes they didn't come back, or I found them dead. It is a very upsetting to care for a cat for a year or two, then find it dead from a dog attack, or hit by a car, not not coming back at all. With this catio, they can still enjoy the outdoors somewhat, and stay protected and safe. It's not perfect for them, but I am in charge, and they are the pets, so I make the decisions.
Could you please edit out the word, "Dead?" My daughter is crying hysterically and now she doesn't want us to build a catio! Many thanks in advance, she's a precocious reader and she loves kitties. We have two indoor cats and have been planning to turn our patio into a Catio. Yours came out great!
There is nothing wrong with him stating his reasons why he built this. Death is a natural part of life, this is a teachable moment. The cat died for being outside,, the catio saved his other cats life. Look at it like that...
@@ellev8666 well maybe you should learn to be a responsible pet parent and don't let any fur baby wander off unsupervised into a very dangerous world. Being an animal advocate I've seen and read enough of the nonsense it is a REALITY check. My fur daughter of 14 years is loved therefor she has everything to be taken to the backyard SAFELY Rhinestone collars leash and harness from Hollowood pets on ebay. She has a window 'Veranda' which is a porch that sticks out the window with metal around it and sliding door. It's even too Dangerous to leave your Dog in the yard by themselves unsupervised these days!
I commend you for building this beautiful catio catwalk. I wished I had one of these years ago, maybe my kitties would not have died from various outside dangers. Coyotes, raccoons are horrible in our rural area. I’ve watched a raccoon kill one of my younger cats, and it was heartbreaking. When there is nothing you can do. It was 4am when I heard the commotion. By the time I got out of the house, the raccoon was slipping into the timber area with that poor kitten.
Hello Doug, Thank you for sharing all of your catio expertise! We were truly inspired by your project. We hope that you are doing well these days; meow!
Thanks for sharing - I just setup a store bought catio for my 2 stray cat friends & you gave me some excellent ideas for additions. My cats seem happier now that they can go outside whenever they want.
That's an impressive catio & catwalk, your cats must be so happy; not to mention you have peace of mind knowing they're safe while outside. Nicely done!
Thanks a lot. It was a lot of work, but it was worth it. My cats use it every day, even when it's raining. I am always adding something new to improve it.
AMAZING! I have to admit that I was very jealous of the wife/girlfriend (or boyfriend?) of the man behind the camera who built all of that. I love that he loves his animals enough and is talented enough to do something extraordinary for them. Very cool. XOXOX... Linda
Not everybody has the skills to build such a wonderful enclosure, me included, but a couple of years ago I built a little 4X4 cattio outside a kitchen window so my indoor cats could go outside. It’s nothing great because it’s too small but the cats love it and spend a lot of time out there...even though it’s summer in Texas, they’re out there right now!🥵 My original intention was to make it larger but I was using plywood for the base and couldn’t maneuver and handle larger pieces of wood and my skill level is elementary! Are used one by twos for the uprights to reduce the weight and every joint was drilled and screwed so it’s pretty sturdy. Just build it sturdy and secure for their safety...they’ll love it!
Your catio is wonderful! I have a small catio on the back of my house, with a cat door in one of our large basement windows. My 3 cats LOVE it. When the weather is nice, I even take my guinea pigs out there, and they love to run around!! I want to enlarge it a little this year, and put some cat grass, etc, in it, just for fun. Thank you for sharing your ideas, and keeping your cats safe!1
On the outside chance anyone who is going to build something this impressive reads my comment, PLEASE record the building process in detail. Many of us want to build incredible things like this but are hesitant due to a simple lack of knowledge/experience. I mean no disrespect whatsoever to the craftsmen involved with this particular project and frankly, I'm hoping I'm good enough to use some of your ideas for our cats.
I love your design!! The bird feeders and squirrel feeding station are brilliant additions, I will be copying much of your ideas when I build my kitties their catio, tysm! Beautiful happy kitties too
I had put some bird feeders inside the patio, and Billy would then catch the occasional bird and bring it inside our house. I then moved the bird feeder to just outside the patio. But the birds would still perch on the patio cage, and Billy could still get to them. Another problem was rats would appear and eat the seeds that dropped on the deck. One came in our house via the cat door, however he was soon surrounded by 3 cats on high alert. He did not last long. But I then removed the bird feeders across my law to the far side of my yard to keep the rats away. No problem with the rats since I did that.
Just beautiful! Perfect! So here I am in 2121, looking at the end of your vid, where you have a new cat walk to do. Would you give us an update of the end of the Line? THanks.
Very Very nice. I love it. Looks great and they are enjoying the outdoor space. I build my luie and Maggie a catio but it looks nothing like yours but they love it.
@@BankruptMonkey is that a superstition from a particular country? Where I am in Arizona I have not heard of that. I am glad that it wasn't what it sounded like because the cats parents seem to put so much care for their pet.
No it's not. It's just sad. In my city black cats are not adoptable around Halloween because of satanic rituals and other awful things involving the poor things.
I was wondering what type of wire you used around the catio. It looks sturdy and safe. When we move up North in a few months, we will be building catios for our cats. Love yours!
I used a wire mesh that is coated with plastic. It is sold at Home Depot or Lowe's. I used the 4 foot X 50 foot size, about $60 a roll. It is easy to bend and cut. I used this so the cats could see outside easier, rather that a smaller mesh.
@@scoop4321 I used hardware cloth for visibility, but it was NOT easy to work with. I thought I’d NEVER even get it unrolled! Since I still have most of it left, I guess that’s what I’ll be using for the next addition.😭 LOL I didn’t see anything like that in our Lowe’s … Maybe I wasn’t looking in the right place. I did buy some stuff that was easy to use, to build a drop trap, but I don’t think it’s sturdy enough to trust for the catio.
It doesn’t have to be such a grand design… Your cats will love it anyway. I get a lot of my building materials off of other peoples trash piles. Where I live, people just large trash pick up on Wednesdays, so I try to “rescue” stuff before it’s hauled to the landfill.. It’s amazing how much good lumber people just throw away. You can’t get everything that way but you can sure put a dent in the expense by being on the lookout for things you can use!
Nice job, one of the better ones I have seen. You should just do a cat walk around the whole perimeter I'm sure the cats would love to patrol the territory and keeps them busy. My only recommendation would be to fence in one of the corners of the yard so the cats could go on the ground a little bit.
+natrone23 Thanks for the positive comment. I built an extension so the catwalk runs along the one fence for about 100 feet. See my other vid "Crazy Cats in the Catio." Maybe a ground catio in the future.
For sure it’s not his fault that he has black fair it people how they think about black the must beautiful cats any way love your project for them ❤️🌺😻😻😻😻😻
Not perfect. The litter box inside the cat was problematic. They kicked the litter all over, and it was hard to clean. So I made an outhouse addition which has been working out very well. I made a video of that I think it is called the Catio Outhouse or something similar.
It looks to me like they could use screen than what they have as the cats could squeeze out and birds, squirrels,rats, snakes could squeeze in. It's the thought that counts.😸😸😸😸
That's a rude and inappropriate comment. Now we are both offended. We need to go pets some cats to make ourselves feel better. Then we will be better prepared to deal with videos that bother us.
A lot of people don’t like black cats because of superstition revolving around them. That’s a fact. So there’s nothing wrong with him rather there is some thing wrong with people who fear a cat because of their color.
Hey Douglas! I love your catio and catwalk! And your home! Did you ever have a digital parts list that you had to make the catio? If so is there anyway to post the parts you used in the description? Blessings to you! I'm building a small one it is 4 foot deep 10 ft long and 7 foot 11 inches tall
We had a tree in our yard that fell down. But I could also find similar branches just by driving around the neighborhood. There are always tree being cut down, or have fallen down, and the branches are in people's yards. I would just ask them for them. If you see a tree cutting service cutting a tree down, just stop and ask them. They just put them in the chipper.
It is a plastic covered wire fence, 1 1/2 x 3 inches. You can get buy it at Lowe's or Home Depot in a 50 x 4 foot roll. It is easy to work with. You can cut it with wire cutters, and tie it together with zip ties, or use the wire finger ends when you cut it. It takes some time, but it is not hard to do. I wanted to keep them safe, but also let them see outside easily.
I built this catio and catwalk because in the past I have let my cats wander around unchecked. Sometimes they didn't come back, or I found them dead. It is a very upsetting to care for a cat for a year or two, then find it dead from a dog attack, or hit by a car, not not coming back at all. With this catio, they can still enjoy the outdoors somewhat, and stay protected and safe. It's not perfect for them, but I am in charge, and they are the pets, so I make the decisions.
Could you please edit out the word, "Dead?" My daughter is crying hysterically and now she doesn't want us to build a catio! Many thanks in advance, she's a precocious reader and she loves kitties. We have two indoor cats and have been planning to turn our patio into a Catio. Yours came out great!
There is nothing wrong with him stating his reasons why he built this. Death is a natural part of life, this is a teachable moment. The cat died for being outside,, the catio saved his other cats life. Look at it like that...
@@ellev8666 well maybe you should learn to be a responsible pet parent and don't let any fur baby wander off unsupervised into a very dangerous world. Being an animal advocate I've seen and read enough of the nonsense it is a REALITY check. My fur daughter of 14 years is loved therefor she has everything to be taken to the backyard SAFELY Rhinestone collars leash and harness from Hollowood pets on ebay. She has a window 'Veranda' which is a porch that sticks out the window with metal around it and sliding door. It's even too Dangerous to leave your Dog in the yard by themselves unsupervised these days!
I commend you for building this beautiful catio catwalk. I wished I had one of these years ago, maybe my kitties would not have died from various outside dangers. Coyotes, raccoons are horrible in our rural area. I’ve watched a raccoon kill one of my younger cats, and it was heartbreaking. When there is nothing you can do. It was 4am when I heard the commotion. By the time I got out of the house, the raccoon was slipping into the timber area with that poor kitten.
Your daughter is doomed with you as MOM, don’t sweat the small stuff....
"Don't block the catwalk" lol
Your Catio is fantastic and your woodwork is excellent. Thank you for sharing
Yes,great work on the catio and cat walk 🐱🐱😁
Really beautiful craftsmanship. My compliments!
Yes,and beautiful cats 💝😁
Love the walk along the fence. Great job
Hello Doug, Thank you for sharing all of your catio expertise! We were truly inspired by your project. We hope that you are doing well these days; meow!
Thanks for sharing - I just setup a store bought catio for my 2 stray cat friends & you gave me some excellent ideas for additions. My cats seem happier now that they can go outside whenever they want.
That's an impressive catio & catwalk, your cats must be so happy; not to mention you have peace of mind knowing they're safe while outside. Nicely done!
Thanks a lot. It was a lot of work, but it was worth it. My cats use it every day, even when it's raining. I am always adding something new to improve it.
Wonderful and wish I had it !! 🥰💗👋👍
AMAZING! I have to admit that I was very jealous of the wife/girlfriend (or boyfriend?) of the man behind the camera who built all of that. I love that he loves his animals enough and is talented enough to do something extraordinary for them. Very cool. XOXOX... Linda
Thanks
Love what you got going on. This gives me more inspiration for my cat space.
Great craftsmanship and beautiful Cats,Billy looks like my cat Jerry 😁🐱💝💝🐱
Loving it. Awesome job
Great design. I'm gonna build a similar enclosure for my cats soon.
Hey Douglas. This is an amazing catio. Great work. I love it and wish I could have one for my Mr. Nibbs. Cheers from Australia.
Not everybody has the skills to build such a wonderful enclosure, me included, but a couple of years ago I built a little 4X4 cattio outside a kitchen window so my indoor cats could go outside. It’s nothing great because it’s too small but the cats love it and spend a lot of time out there...even though it’s summer in Texas, they’re out there right now!🥵 My original intention was to make it larger but I was using plywood for the base and couldn’t maneuver and handle larger pieces of wood and my skill level is elementary! Are used one by twos for the uprights to reduce the weight and every joint was drilled and screwed so it’s pretty sturdy. Just build it sturdy and secure for their safety...they’ll love it!
Lol Captain Jack don't clog the walkway! True cat style! What a perfect set up for your babies. Great job!
Every cat lovers dream back yard, catio!!! Wow!!! You really have a talent, and a eye for designing!!!
Anybody could do it with a saw and some tools. Just design it around your own situation.
@@CALICO-GAL I need a safe home myself, can you build me one? Were do you get free wood from? Also, I'm about 60 yrs old.
Beautiful catio....thanks for sharing it with us!
I guess it depends on where you like, and what your area is like. Some places are full of dangers for the cats, some are not.
this place is great. when can i buy it? love the cat stuff you made. wish i knew someone that could do that for me. and my cats
So nice, they have the option to come inside and go outside whenever they want. So meticulously and lovingly done.
What a remarkable outstanding craftsmanship. What lucky cats
He did a really nice job of this catio.
I love the fact that you love your cats so much you made them that awesome catio. Love it. Tfs.
Great job! Another video with you explaining exactly how you built each part of the enclosure and where you got the materials would be really cool.
I have other catio videos that explain how I built it. I got most of the materials at Lowe's.
Well done on this. Those cats are in heaven.
Awesome job. Cats are not safe outside these days, so many sickos out there.
Great job, very relaxing in your garden
I have a black cat. Yup, don’t judge by their fur color. I’ve got the sweetest adorable black cat .
Your catio is wonderful! I have a small catio on the back of my house, with a cat door in one of our large basement windows. My 3 cats LOVE it. When the weather is nice, I even take my guinea pigs out there, and they love to run around!! I want to enlarge it a little this year, and put some cat grass, etc, in it, just for fun. Thank you for sharing your ideas, and keeping your cats safe!1
Awesome job! But taunting the squirrels with peanuts so close to the cat walk, So mean! lol
The cats are inside, the squirrels won't be harmed.
Great cat playground nicely done 👍👍
On the outside chance anyone who is going to build something this impressive reads my comment, PLEASE record the building process in detail. Many of us want to build incredible things like this but are hesitant due to a simple lack of knowledge/experience.
I mean no disrespect whatsoever to the craftsmen involved with this particular project and frankly, I'm hoping I'm good enough to use some of your ideas for our cats.
I did that on my other videos called "Catio Project."
Great job, on the catio!
I love your design!! The bird feeders and squirrel feeding station are brilliant additions, I will be copying much of your ideas when I build my kitties their catio, tysm! Beautiful happy kitties too
I had put some bird feeders inside the patio, and Billy would then catch the occasional bird and bring it inside our house. I then moved the bird feeder to just outside the patio. But the birds would still perch on the patio cage, and Billy could still get to them. Another problem was rats would appear and eat the seeds that dropped on the deck. One came in our house via the cat door, however he was soon surrounded by 3 cats on high alert. He did not last long. But I then removed the bird feeders across my law to the far side of my yard to keep the rats away. No problem with the rats since I did that.
You're a genius for your kitties 🐈🐾 and the birds too🐦!
Truly amazing job you've done! These cats are so lucky!
I love the way you talk to them.You love them!.
I absolutely LOVE this!!! Great job, and the cats absolutely love it! They have the life! 🐱🐈
#badass
A beautiful job. Your cats are very lucky.
Those are some really lucky kitties! Nice job, I look forward to seeing the additions.
Just beautiful! Perfect!
So here I am in 2121, looking at the end of your vid, where you have a new cat walk to do. Would you give us an update of the end of the Line?
THanks.
This video has the most views of all my videos.
He is a beauty.
Very Very nice. I love it. Looks great and they are enjoying the outdoor space. I build my luie and Maggie a catio but it looks nothing like yours but they love it.
Captain Jack is black but we don't judge him because of his fur color??? I really hope that doesn't mean what it sounds like. It's creepy.
A lot of people are superstitious about black fur animals, especially cats, being bad luck. It's a completely separate prejudice from human racism.
It's superstition of black fur, not racism.
@@BankruptMonkey is that a superstition from a particular country? Where I am in Arizona I have not heard of that. I am glad that it wasn't what it sounded like because the cats parents seem to put so much care for their pet.
Really? Come on. And you can't be racist to black cats. Quit being offended just to be offended.
No it's not. It's just sad. In my city black cats are not adoptable around Halloween because of satanic rituals and other awful things involving the poor things.
Esta bien bonita la casita de Los Gatitos.Estan muy seguros ahí
Beautiful!
I was wondering what type of wire you used around the catio. It looks sturdy and safe. When we move up North in a few months, we will be building catios for our cats. Love yours!
I used a wire mesh that is coated with plastic. It is sold at Home Depot or Lowe's. I used the 4 foot X 50 foot size, about $60 a roll. It is easy to bend and cut. I used this so the cats could see outside easier, rather that a smaller mesh.
@@scoop4321 I used hardware cloth for visibility, but it was NOT easy to work with. I thought I’d NEVER even get it unrolled! Since I still have most of it left, I guess that’s what I’ll be using for the next addition.😭 LOL I didn’t see anything like that in our Lowe’s … Maybe I wasn’t looking in the right place. I did buy some stuff that was easy to use, to build a drop trap, but I don’t think it’s sturdy enough to trust for the catio.
Me ha gustado mucho la idea, aunque teniendo ese jardín tan grande yo creo que lo habría hecho más grande
captain jack what are u doing for fun today i love it
This. Is. TOTALY awesome! Love this
Dude that's sick
Good captain Jack's not human with all that black .Nice cat walk
My cats would L❤VE that!!!
Well Done scoop, that’s some Happy and safe kitties...
' cpt jack is black but we dont judge him because of his fur color' well that's good lol
this is amazing, i really wanna build somthing like this for my 9 cats, but i can't afford it 😣🙁
Maybe you could do it a section at a time.
Douglas Ernst yea,possibly, i could save up some money and do that..but i rent aswell so its up to my landlord i guess!
It doesn’t have to be such a grand design… Your cats will love it anyway. I get a lot of my building materials off of other peoples trash piles. Where I live, people just large trash pick up on Wednesdays, so I try to “rescue” stuff before it’s hauled to the landfill.. It’s amazing how much good lumber people just throw away. You can’t get everything that way but you can sure put a dent in the expense by being on the lookout for things you can use!
Great job!
Love this, very cool! Those are some spoiled kitties!
Love this, I'm working on a catio for my 3 furbabys, Your cats must be in heaven :)
“Captain Jack is black, but we don’t judge him by the color of his fur” ???
I JUST LOVE THIS IDEA! YOU MUST BE A GREAT HUMAN BEING!
The Run along the back fence will need to drop down and run underneath the Bird feeding stations
Awesome!!!! This cats are happy cats!!! 😍👏🐾🐾🐈🐈
That is awesome!!
very nice, keep building
Very nice! Bless your heart.
Those are some happy cats.
This is amazing.
Was that deck already there or did you build the deck just for the catio?
It was already there.
Nice job, one of the better ones I have seen. You should just do a cat walk around the whole perimeter I'm sure the cats would love to patrol the territory and keeps them busy. My only recommendation would be to fence in one of the corners of the yard so the cats could go on the ground a little bit.
+natrone23 Thanks for the positive comment. I built an extension so the catwalk runs along the one fence for about 100 feet. See my other vid "Crazy Cats in the Catio." Maybe a ground catio in the future.
10-15-16: I took your advice and ran the catwalk around my whole back yard and into my carport. Check out my other videos, it's pretty cool!
natrone23
Yes I saw your video when you posted.....great job! quality too looks like a pro built it.
Tanks.
For sure it’s not his fault that he has black fair it people how they think about black the must beautiful cats any way love your project for them ❤️🌺😻😻😻😻😻
Very nice
I laughed out loud :40 ha funny stuff
Poor squirrel, peanut in wrong place, cat can still harm squirrel
Wouldn't it be better for the cats if they just could run around in the garden?
This is amazing and looks perfect to me! 😊 fantastic job!
Not perfect. The litter box inside the cat was problematic. They kicked the litter all over, and it was hard to clean. So I made an outhouse addition which has been working out very well. I made a video of that I think it is called the Catio Outhouse or something similar.
que hermoso hogar lo felicito es un gran trabajo y amor por los animales dios te bendiga
Yo quisiera tener un espacio así de grande para los tres gatitos que yo tengo. Los amo me gustan mucho
My favorite on RUclips so far! Did I miss the cost to build? Am I looking at a few thousand?
I did not keep track of the cost but I guess it was less than $1000 in total. I spent the summer of 2015 building it.
It looks to me like they could use screen than what they have as the cats could squeeze out and birds, squirrels,rats, snakes could squeeze in.
It's the thought that counts.😸😸😸😸
Screen, even “pet proof” screen isn’t really shred proof...not nearly as secure.
Your cats are lucky to have such a caring owner. But I feel a little sorry for them being so close to the squirels and not being able to get em.
I have someone building my catio it should be done by next week.
"Captain Jack is black, but we don't judge him by his fur color" What the? What's wrong with you?
That's a rude and inappropriate comment. Now we are both offended. We need to go pets some cats to make ourselves feel better. Then we will be better prepared to deal with videos that bother us.
ccjjpp1966 I think he means that sometimes people think black cats are superstitious. But that was just rude
easy snowflake. there's no law that say's you have too like people.
For instance I detest you - alot.
Kinda like a slap to the face.
A lot of people don’t like black cats because of superstition revolving around them. That’s a fact. So there’s nothing wrong with him rather there is some thing wrong with people who fear a cat because of their color.
Looks great!!!
Nicely Done!
This is awesome!
Hey Douglas! I love your catio and catwalk! And your home! Did you ever have a digital parts list that you had to make the catio? If so is there anyway to post the parts you used in the description? Blessings to you! I'm building a small one it is 4 foot deep 10 ft long and 7 foot 11 inches tall
This is gorgeous! Did you stain the stairs and wood, if so, what did you use? Love the color of the steps and posts, etc.
I stained the stairs and other wood items with Home Depot oil based redwood stain. It gave the best color, and weather resistance.
amazing job! love the effort!
This is amazing! 😻
Fabulous 😻
How much did it cost you to build that catio? It looks amazing
I didn't keep an accurate record, but I guess $1000.00. It's worth it to me when I see my cats using it.
Could I ask where you get the tree trunk/branches? I'm building one as well and can't figure out where to get them.
We had a tree in our yard that fell down. But I could also find similar branches just by driving around the neighborhood. There are always tree being cut down, or have fallen down, and the branches are in people's yards. I would just ask them for them. If you see a tree cutting service cutting a tree down, just stop and ask them. They just put them in the chipper.
How many meters does the trigger have?
What kind of wood did you use for floor and cat walk. Did you paint it ?
I made some other videos with details about how it was constructed. I used oil based redwood stain.
what kind of fence is that? how did you join it?
It is a plastic covered wire fence, 1 1/2 x 3 inches. You can get buy it at Lowe's or Home Depot in a 50 x 4 foot roll. It is easy to work with. You can cut it with wire cutters, and tie it together with zip ties, or use the wire finger ends when you cut it. It takes some time, but it is not hard to do. I wanted to keep them safe, but also let them see outside easily.
how do you make it inside?
👏👏👏👏😻🇧🇷
coyotes, dogs, birds of prey. I don't see this being safe enough?
Denya Gantenbein 1:44 you can see "Caption Jack" going back inside
yes, but it would take so little for a fucking dog to hurt the cat
Stray dogs don't get in my yard. It's all fenced in.
I am sorry, but this offers zero protection against coyotes and birds of prey. The mesh is too wide and they can still hurt the cat
It hasn't happened yet. And we have eagles flying around here all year long.
ZERO protection‽ 🤣🤣🤣