Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Foster Cats Get Valentine's Day Present

After being in a cat condo for a month and a half our foster cats Tommy and Biscuit were getting a little stir crazy and needed to be able to walk around and stretch their legs. We figured out a way to give them more room and do it inexpensively. We already had a patio in the backyard with four posts and shade screen on top. Two sides of the patio are the back of the house. We bought two rolls of plastic poultry fencing and stapled it around the posts, to the top and to landscape timbers on the bottom. On Valentine's Day they moved into their 10 ft. by 15 ft. by 8 ft. high outdoor cat-proof room! Complete with a warm cat house, a grassy area and lots of toys. They are loving it! The weather has been great. They spend their time rolling around, snoozing in the sun and watching our dogs running around. They have gotten used to the dogs and actually look forward to visits from Einstein and Duke in particular. They smell noses and rub up against the fence. Our cats make periodic visits and they seem to entertain one another. (Although our cats are a little bent out of shape because they can't lay on the patio any more.) Another good thing is our big bay window in the living room looks onto the back patio. I can watch them from inside and they watch us as well.  With a possibility of rain in the forecast, we have since put up a tarp covering half of the area. (The shade screen on the ceiling keeps out 80 percent of the sun's rays but lets rain through.) Needless to say, they are really enjoying themselves now and are constantly entertained!