How to Provide an Outdoor Play area for your Cat

If you have an indoor cat, you probably feel a little guilty not being able to let them go outdoors. If your cat is like mine, he will sit on the window sill, meowing as we are outside in the backyard. I have found a simple solution where you can allow your cat to enjoy the outdoors with you that is safe.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Dog Crate

1. 
   Hey, that used to be mine.

   Purchase or ask friends if they have an unused dog crate. The larger the better. Shown here is a large dog crate that is big enough for a German Shepherd. In fact, it used to belong to our German Shepherd. If you get or already have a used crate, take the time to clean it thoroughly to lesson odors from previous animals with non toxic cleaners. The larger one's you can spray with a hose and leave outside to dry in the sun.

2. 
   Great day for a sun bath

   Since the cages are heavy and hard to move around, decide on the area that you would like the crate to stay in your back yard. You have to consider moving shade. You want your crate to have shade and a little bit of sun for your cat to take a sun bath.

3. 
   Nature everywhere. Look at those birds flying by.

   You can leave the bottom free or provide a cushion for your cat to lay on. Take non toxic vines and tree limbs and let your cat smell the outdoors. On some crates you can slide the bottom tray out a ways and let your cat sit directly on the grass. Our cat especially liked this and enjoyed nibbling on the grass and laying on it.

4. 
   There's my family over there.

   Do not leave your cat unattended outside, they may become spooked if your not around. A loud noise may scare them till they get used to the outdoors. Let your cat acclimate to the new crate and surroundings and soon you will be able to bring your cat outside with you when you swim, BBQ or garden or play in your back yard.

[ramblin62]

on 10/13/2009 Neat idea for how to provide an outdoor play area for your cat. Our kitty is always sad when we're outside, but he's also such a scaredy-cat that he freaks if we take him out on a leash even for a short while, so I like this idea a lot. tx.

[Alrady]

on 7/7/2009 Great idea.. where we live cats roaming get killed easily by cars and coyotes. A super large dog kennel from Lowes or HOme depot is about 250-300 new but you can find them on craigslist often. LOVE this tip!