Cat Happiness

Kitties Playing
Originally uploaded by Beaver w/ a Toothbrush

I finally put up an outdoor enclosure for the cats. In the city they were used to being allowed on the fenced back porch and they would love to go out there and roll in the dirt or lay in the sun. Ever since we moved, we've only been letting them out for short supervised periods on the front porch because there was no fenced yard for them to play in.

They started to get very sneaky. Every time we would go through the front door one of them would be there trying to get past us and run outside. They're pretty good at escaping so they would get out half the time. When they didn't get out for a while they'd roam around the house sounding and acting very forlorn. Jubei would squeak constantly and be underfoot. Hansel would mope around saying, "Maaaru, maruuu." Pico would hang out by the door and in the windows and cry if she saw someone outside.

So, I bought 50' of welded wire fence and made them a pretty large enclosure. It's on the north side of the house so it's in shade most of the day. They can get in to it from a window and there's a cyprus tree inside that they can scratch. There are a ton of birds in that part of the yard so they have plenty of entertainment.



Sometimes Hansel gets sad when he's inside because he seems to distrust the ceiling. He spent some time after he first got out just looking straight up into the sky. Jubei ran back and forth the length of the enclosure like he was on catnip. They all had fun eating greens and chasing bugs. I think Hansel may have eaten a bee the second day because he got a puffy chin but he didn't seem to mind it and he recovered by the next morning.

They all seem more content now. And they sleep at night instead of running around constantly and that makes everyone happy.