Re: Tip is Gone

[Wheezercat42]

In a message dated 2/23/2005 2:23:54 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: I compromised, and only let them out during the day.  They stick to my back yard and the adjacent yards and always come in at night.  They come when I call and if they don't show up immediately, I start to panic.  I know the danger is real, but I decided that their quality of life was the most important thing.  Have you considered building an outdoor enclosure for them?  It could give them the time outside they're insisting on, and provide a safe place for them to be - it could also be useful in case you ever have to have the house fumigated or have major repairs done - then the cats can be safely outside while the work's being done.  An enclosure can be as simple as a couple dog crates set up, hooked up end to end, side to side, or a combination of those things, or it could be big enough for you to move around freely in and have shelves, a tree (I have an old pear tree we cut down from my back yard that's had the branches been trimmed back to fit through the doors of the house and is mounted on a big sheet of plywood - so the kids have a tree to play in, inside, year round), ramps, hide boxes, a walk way around the enclosure near the top - whatever you can think of that might be fun for them.  The most important thing is to make it has a roof (can be the same wire as the walls, could be greenhouse material, could be plywood and shingled - whatever you're comfortable with and can afford) and is sturdy - 2x4's for braces, 2-2x4's or a 4x4 for corner supports, 2x4's for ceiling supports, and sturdy wire - I prefer 1/4 or 1/2" mesh hardware cloth - holds up to being climbed on.  When we made an enclosure for the one cat I had years ago, we made it a 6' cube, had a house and a separate litter pan house for him to use (he had to be outside all the time for a while - long story) that gave him a place to get out of the weather and keep his pan dry.      I'd like to make an enclosure for the kids I have now, only, since I own my home, I could make it be attached to the house now.  If I get the chance to do it, I want to make it be as tall as the gutter on my house (it's a one story), at least 15 feet wide (going along the side of the house) and 9 -12 feet long (going out into the yard).  I'd make the frame out of 4x4's, have 1/2 inch mesh hardware cloth stapled up on the inside of the frame, and black window screening fastened to the outside of the frame (West Nile Virus has been bad here the last couple years, having the hardware cloth inside the frame will protect the screening from claws, and the screening will let me leave the patio door to the enclosure open in nice weather).  A solid roof would make it even safer - keep the rain off so it could be available any time it was warm enough for the door to be open, and help keep the light colored kids or the ones with white on their ears and noses from getting skin cancer.   Where there's Life, there's Hope Kathy "There is nothing so strong as gentleness, and there is nothing so gentle as real strength." ~ Sir Francis de Sates