Let’s Not Talk About The Catio

I was going to do a whole post about our catio today. But guess what?? It’s SNOWING. Yes, as I write this, on May 20 (not the day you see it), the white stuff is coming down here in Colorado, and the next two days are going to be wicked cold. Well, not cold by winter standards, but by May standards, when it was 80 yesterday? Cold. Which means this weekend, which was designated “complete the catio” weekend, will be spent instead inside, probably watching a movie or two and eating popcorn.

Actually not such a bad trade off.

So, the catio. We have a catio. We used to have a really big catio, which took up 2/3 of our deck, but rotting railings (on the house when we bought it - not rotting then, but it didn’t take long) had us taking down about half the catio last fall with the idea (so far unrealized, but designed - it’s on paper!) of replacing what we had with something nicer, and hopefully, longer lasting.

The deck itself is in really good shape. It’s a trex-or-something-like-it deck, so it doesn’t rot. It’s also, on the part where we took the railings and old catio off, about 15 feet off the ground. Not great if a cat decides to do acrobatics. And all you cat people, you KNOW how they get when the birds come by and dare them to chase. Gauntlet thrown, cat must respond, usually by flinging itself at the space where the bird was.

The birds here are all jokers. They sit on the wire of the still existing part of the catio and chortle at those stuck on the other side. “Come on!” They exclaim, waving a nonchalant wing through the wire against quivering feline nose whiskers, “you can do it.” 

Bang! Cat hits the wire. Bird has been gone for at least 3 seconds, and can be seen giggling with its friends right over there on the treetops. Cat licks its aching paws and wounded pride, giving off a “I meant that to happen” vibe. Humans try really hard not to laugh. 

Only once have I seen a bird get its comeuppance, and this was years ago. A bird made the mistake of thinking black cats are slow cats, and before I could even blink our black cat had scorched across the length of the our deck (not that big, but still…), leaped five feet straight in the air and had said bird in her mouth. 

It was that particular bird’s lucky day (so to speak), since I was standing there and insisted that Midnight, despite being a mighty hunter and amazing black cat superhero, had to give the bird to ME so I could release it. It wasn’t injured, but I’ll tell you what - it never came back, and it told all its pals to avoid the deck on the house at the end of the street. 

One of these days the catio will be done, and I’ll write another blog, with pictures, of the space our cats are waiting for with eager breath. The part that’s left is okay, but it’s small, and windy. The expanded catio will be out of most of the wind and will be much wider and more fun. More to see on that side of the house. Might even be able to drop stuff on passing dogs (or humans who had the audacity to laugh). The cats will once again rule…The Majority Of The Deck.