Having passed the 600 cat enclosure for outdoors sales milestone some time ago, and now well on our way to 650, we thought we’d put together a short history of how we’ve developed over the last six to seven years.
During that time we’ve moved from the Gold Coast to Carindale, then to Bribie Island for a short time, and finally up to Buderim, where we’ve bought a lovely house on the top right by Buderim Forest and the Falls. Of course these moves have necessitated time offline each time, which has slowed us down somewhat, but in spite of that we’re powering along quite nicely. As most of us know from experience, the telcoes are not always terribly efficient – in fact, mostly not!
However, we continued to send lots of enclosure kits all over Australia as – we are a national company, not local. Being able to quote from customers’ photos and measurements has enabled us to do this in a very cost effective way, and thus enable many cat lovers to install enclosures for their cats, whatever their location or budget.
The netting we use is UV treated 19mm square pre-stretched polyethylene. It is very strong and durable, and we offer a 10 year guarantee on our netting and 2 years on all fixings and zips. It comes in stone beige and black, and both colours are unobtrusive. We have used both colours in our half dozen enclosures in our homes and either colour works well.
Our enclosures are generally attached to an existing structure; e.g. a deck/patio or side of house (between the fence and the side of the house) and we ask prospective customers to send a couple of photos of the area to be enclosed, together with dimensions (height to eaves or deck/patio ceiling, length, width) and the number of entry zips they require.
One of the questions we’re often asked is if our enclosures can be taken down and put up again. They certainly can, and we did this on a number of weekends when we were selling on of our houses on the Gold Coast and we were having “open homes”.
However, if a customer is moving and wishes to take the netting, etc, with him or her we’re happy to help with a redesign to fit the new situation, and also to supply any extra netting and fixings required.
Another question we’re often asked by people who are renting is how the enclosures are attached to the house or fence, because, as we know, landlords aren’t happy to have drill holes, however small, all over their properties – understandable!
In this situation we ask people to send the usual couple of photographs and dimension (height, length, width) and Ken will suggest where they can best situate their enclosure, using downpipes and hooks into the guttering where possible. This, more often than not, suits all concerned, especially the cats when they can get out into the fresh air!
Regarding snakes – as set out above, our netting is 19mm square so only a very small snake (a tree snake) could get through, and certainly not a carpet snake. I’ve had personal experience with a large carpet snake a number of years ago when it grabbed my five month old kitten. I actually had to pick up the whole “bundle” (snake wrapped around my baby!) and grapple with it. It finally let go and I threw it away, putting my back out in doing so.
Sam, my kitten, needed to be taken to the vet for a check-over and anti-inflammatory injection, and I needed to go to the doctor for a tetanus injection as, unbeknown to me in my terror, the snake had bitten me all up the arm. It was a horrible experience, so carpet snakes are naturally my main concern.
Verandah cat enclosure
This is a great example of one of our customers completed verandah cat enclosure.
We are proud of the results our customer achieve, well done Guys!!!!!!!!
Sales to date
Having passed the 600 cat enclosure for outdoors sales milestone some time ago, and now well on our way to 650, we thought we’d put together a short history of how we’ve developed over the last six to seven years.
During that time we’ve moved from the Gold Coast to Carindale, then to Bribie Island for a short time, and finally up to Buderim, where we’ve bought a lovely house on the top right by Buderim Forest and the Falls. Of course these moves have necessitated time offline each time, which has slowed us down somewhat, but in spite of that we’re powering along quite nicely. As most of us know from experience, the telcoes are not always terribly efficient – in fact, mostly not!
However, we continued to send lots of enclosure kits all over Australia as – we are a national company, not local. Being able to quote from customers’ photos and measurements has enabled us to do this in a very cost effective way, and thus enable many cat lovers to install enclosures for their cats, whatever their location or budget.
The netting we use is UV treated 19mm square pre-stretched polyethylene. It is very strong and durable, and we offer a 10 year guarantee on our netting and 2 years on all fixings and zips. It comes in stone beige and black, and both colours are unobtrusive. We have used both colours in our half dozen enclosures in our homes and either colour works well.
Our enclosures are generally attached to an existing structure; e.g. a deck/patio or side of house (between the fence and the side of the house) and we ask prospective customers to send a couple of photos of the area to be enclosed, together with dimensions (height to eaves or deck/patio ceiling, length, width) and the number of entry zips they require.
One of the questions we’re often asked is if our enclosures can be taken down and put up again. They certainly can, and we did this on a number of weekends when we were selling on of our houses on the Gold Coast and we were having “open homes”.
However, if a customer is moving and wishes to take the netting, etc, with him or her we’re happy to help with a redesign to fit the new situation, and also to supply any extra netting and fixings required.
Another question we’re often asked by people who are renting is how the enclosures are attached to the house or fence, because, as we know, landlords aren’t happy to have drill holes, however small, all over their properties – understandable!
In this situation we ask people to send the usual couple of photographs and dimension (height, length, width) and Ken will suggest where they can best situate their enclosure, using downpipes and hooks into the guttering where possible. This, more often than not, suits all concerned, especially the cats when they can get out into the fresh air!
Regarding snakes – as set out above, our netting is 19mm square so only a very small snake (a tree snake) could get through, and certainly not a carpet snake. I’ve had personal experience with a large carpet snake a number of years ago when it grabbed my five month old kitten. I actually had to pick up the whole “bundle” (snake wrapped around my baby!) and grapple with it. It finally let go and I threw it away, putting my back out in doing so.
Sam, my kitten, needed to be taken to the vet for a check-over and anti-inflammatory injection, and I needed to go to the doctor for a tetanus injection as, unbeknown to me in my terror, the snake had bitten me all up the arm. It was a horrible experience, so carpet snakes are naturally my main concern.
Cat Heaven in Buderim
Having moved seven times in fifteen years (usually to accommodate our boats which needed to be in marinas!) we’ve now arrived at what we, and the cats, think is heaven. We found a lovely house on the top of Buderim, right by Buderim Forest, and about a 20 minute walk to Buderim Falls.
Our house is two storey with a 9m x 4m (approx) deck, which we’ve fully enclosed for our three cats. We also have a wonderful, almost rainforest, back garden, and the deck is level with the tops of the trees growing there, as our garden drops away sharply to a much lower level. The only house we can actually see from the front of the deck is the roof of the house next door. We also look across to the Blackall Range with lots of forest in between, and not a house to be seen. And we have a very large hoop pine tree growing at the corner of the deck, which is lovely.
The cats were a bit puzzled by the birds flying past at deck level, but have now become used to it. We also have a large possum, with her baby on her back, who visits regularly. Ken has netted the whole area outside the large timber walk-around (for the cats!) railing, and they love it. They also have four cat trees and lots of chairs and a sun lounge to lie on. They do allow us some space on occasions if we ask nicely!
Buderim deck right hand end
As the deck roof has been added later we had to enclose the gap between the house roof and the deck roof to stop the cats (only the young one, really!) escaping onto the roof – not a good idea as the house is very high and the land drops away sharply at the back.
This photo shows the right hand front of the deck enclosure and the roof of our neighbour’s house.
This photo shows the left hand end of the deck enclosure and some of our wonderful view. The hoop pine is shown on the corner where the stair landing is – and that’s young 9 month old Tommy sitting on the table!
This photo shows the right hand end of the deck enclosure – and the end of Tommy’s tail!
This photo shows the entry zip in the deck enclosure above the stairs, and that’s Tommy again, wandering along the railing.
This deck measures 8.6 metres long x 3.7 metres wide x 2.7 metres high and is quoted at $659.00 (including delivery). The extra netting we used to enclose between the tiled house roof and the deck roof would be an extra if required.
Asthma in Cats
Robyn giving Sam his daily astma puffer Sam also gets daily insulin injections for his diabetes.
If your cat is diagnosed with asthma, don’t despair. Asthma can be managed by giving your cat a daily dose of an asthma preventer, such as Flixotide, using a feline aerosal chamber.
The one shown in the photo is an Aerokat chamber manufactured in Canada. Your vet would be able to help you with this. Sam still enjoyed romping around with the other cats in their cat runs.
Leanne’s Verandah Cat Enclosure
Leanne’s CatSafe verandah cat enclosure is 9.6 metres long and 2.4 metres wide, giving her Rag Doll cats and kittens plenty of fresh air.
After Leanne had installed her enclosure and taken photos, this is what she had to say:
“Hi guys
Finally got around to sending you through some pics of our newly installed CatSafe cat enclosure.. It looks fabulous, we are really happy with the end result and best of all it keeps our furry friends safe and sound and they absolutely love it …
Thankyou so much for all your help, I have recommended you to so many of my breeder contacts in the Ragdoll community, they are all very impressed with the enclosure and also your prices..
Thanks again
Leanne”
Jenna & Steve’s New Cat Run
Jenny & Steve are kitten foster carers for The AWL at Coombabah in Qld and do a fantastic job socialising some of the 600 kittens handed in to the AWL every year. In January 2012 we adopted “Tiger” a 10 week old kitten from the AWL and he fitted in with our three adult cats without a single hitch thanks to volunteers like Jenna & Steve.
Their CatSafe side of house cat run is 6.7 metres long and 2.3 metres wide, with a 2.5 metre entry zip.
Here’s what they had to say after they installed their cat run:
“A big thanks to Ken and Robyn from the native wildlife and our cats for such a wonderful product. The cat enclosure keeps our feline friends safe while allowing them to spend time outdoors like nature intended!”
“Easy to install with quality materials, the 10 year guarantee keeps my mind at peace while I’m not at home with my cats”.
“We would highly recommend this product to any cat lover”.
Jenna and Steve Dawson.
Jade’s under eave cat enclosure
They chose CatSafe to supply them with an inexpensive individual cat enclosure to suit their needs.
The area between the path and the house was ideal so they installed the 2.6 metre by 1.3 metre cat enclosure which starts at 60 cm at the eaves and finishes at 1.3 metres on the ground.
Alli & Arthur’s cat enclosure masterpiece
Alli and Arthur live in WA and chose CatSafe cat enclosures, for a very large cat enclosure, an enormous 14 metres long and 3 metres wide which would include both their front verandah and their carport, we thought they might have a few problems installing such a large and complicated enclosure.
Our installation instructions included how to install the support posts, sting line and mark out the set out, dig the holes for the support posts, align and concrete the posts in position, and they had to do all this before they even started on the cat enclosure installation.
Our concerns where obviously unjustified, just have a look at the fantastic cat enclosure that Alli & Arthur have achieved.
CONGRATULATIONS. Its a credit to you both.
V & M’s magnificent cat run (stage one)
V & M’s rear of house cat run is 7 metres long and 4 metres wide which would make most cats extremely happy.
Amazingly, this magnificent cat run is V & M’s stage one for their five cats and two dogs, and is such a success that an extension twice the size of the original (13 m long and 4 m wide) has now been constructed that completely covers their garden. As you can see they followed the contours of the rock wall and into the garden bed.
Wasabi’s cat run
S & K wanted to give their beautiful Birman a cat run as a 2011 Christmas present but they thought it would be very difficult as they are renting and did’nt want to drill any holes, so between us we worked out how to build an cat run for Wasabi.
By attaching the side to the downpipe, using hooks into the gutter and squeezing a length of timber on the pavers between the house and the fence they were able to complete the cat run without any drilling.
This is what S & K had to say when they had finished.
“A big thankyou from us and of course Wasabi, she is delighted with her new cat run, never seen her happier. We have passed the word around to friends and the local vet saying how impressed we are with your company”.