If you have a pet cat, you’ll know the significant role that the environment plays in their overall health and well being.
When cats are not able to fulfill their natural behavioral desires, they tend to get bored and often develop a number of behavioral and medical issues, such as aggression and stress.
An enriched environment, on the other hand, keeps pet cats busy, active, and entertained by allowing them to enact their natural instincts.
As a result, pet cats remain happy and healthy.
One popular way to offer a fun and fulfilling environment for your cat is by providing an outdoor cat enclosure (also known as a catio).
They provide a space where your cat can relax and do whatever it wants; play, climb, jump, run, or simply enjoy the views of the garden with fresh air and sunlight.
A catio on it’s own offers a lot of fun for your cat, but you can make it even better by decorating the inside of it in a variety of ways.
Is Just Having a Catio Enough?
Once you have constructed your catio kit or made a DIY catio yourself, you should look to decorate it with things that cats love and make sure there are several activities for your feline friend to enjoy.
Just like you decorate your house with interesting things, you have to make sure the space you are creating for your cat is equipped with the things it likes and needs.
What to Put in a Cat Enclosure?
Here are some items and catio accessories that will ensure your cat will love it and enjoy spending time in it:
For Climbing
We all know that cats love heights and they enjoy climbing up high places and even resting there.
Stop them from jumping on your household furniture or trees by giving them their own things to climb and rest on. Here are some of the things to include in your catio for height:
- Cat tree with multiple perches
- Hammocks
- Resting platforms of different heights
To Keep Your Cat Active and Entertained
Inactivity and boredom can lead to certain health and behavioral issues in cats, such as weight gain, stress, and aggressive behavior.
To avoid this, you should make sure that your cat enclosure has multiple options to keep your cat occupied and entertained for hours.
Here are some ideas to help you do that:
1) Toys
When it comes to cat toys, the options are endless. You may have to experiment and try a few different types of toys to find which ones your cat likes the most. But, here are some essential toys to make your cat love its catio:
- Scratching post
- Fake mice
- Hanging toys
- Cat tunnel
Apart from these necessary toys, you can also place balls or interactive feeders, and treat toys in the enclosure.
2) Plants
Cats have complex personalities and they are full of surprises.
Cats can sometimes been found eating plants and unfortunately not all plants are safe for them.
Rather than continuously trying to keep your cat away from the plants, which is very hard, why not provide it with cat-friendly alternatives instead?
Buy kitty grass or some non-toxic plants for your pet and place them inside their catio, so it won’t destroy your plants or harm itself.
Here are some cat-safe plants you can use from:
- Wheat grass
- Catnip
- Boston fern
- Impatiens
- Gerbera daisies
- Creeping zinnias
- Rosemary
- Thyme
Never place any of the following plants in cat runs as they are toxic for cats (inexperienced cat owners sometimes make this mistake because these plants look beautiful):
- Iris
- Daffodils
- Tulips
- Hyacinth
- Lilies (of all types)
To Rest and Sleep
Cats love to nap as much as they love to play.
Therefore, make sure the catio you have built for your feline friend contains a few different places where it can sleep or just rest when it takes breaks from play.
In addition to hammocks, other options like cubbyholes, cat beds, and cat condos are also popular choices, but you can simply place an opened cardboard box or a mat with a blanket and your kitty will love snoozing on it.
Conclusion
These are only a few ideas to help you decorate a catio in a way that your cat will love it.
There are many more options available. Observe your cat’s behavior and find out what kind of activities it enjoys doing the most and then use your creativity to further improve your pet’s enclosure.
Just remember that outdoor cat runs and pens are meant to be fun and if you decorate them well, you’ll soon find it’s your cat’s favorite place to be!
While your pet cat may take a little time to get used to the catio, especially if it has been an indoor cat for all its life (or for a very long time), it should soon start enjoying the space.
