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The hubby and I are looking at houses, and when we do get a place, he said he'd build me a cat section, so that I can have as many (within reason) cats as I want. Yay!

So, how would you design the perfect cat habitat?

Since I'd like to do some rescuing, fostering and rehabilitation of cats that are overweight, people-shy or suffering from shelter deterioration, as well as taking on some cats that do not have any special needs, this is what I'm thinking.

Room 1 - Sinks, counters, supply cupboards, fridge & freezer. Grooming, medical care, cleaning of cat supplies and preparation of meals would happen in this room.

Room 2 - Cages for housing cats after surgery, initial quarantine of new cats and quarantine of sick cats. Small and quiet and no one would stay in this room long.

Room 3 & 4 - Basically the same - big rooms with lots of cat furniture, toys, stuff to climb and cubby holes for napping in. Lots of shelves and ramps at different levels for a three dimensional environment. Litterboxes on one side, feeding area on the other side. Living spaces, basically. Separated, so that cats who don't get along don't have to be in the same space together. I'd probably also keep a desk, couch and TV in one of these rooms, so I could just hang out with the cats while I do my other daily stuff.

Tiled floors and walls for easy cleaning, with sisal rugs for traction and scratching. I think I will try and avoid textures that cats wouldn't be allowed to scratch in the house, like carpet, to avoid confusion, and stick to sisal, carpet backing & bare wood for cat-friendly surfaces.

At least one big window in each living room, since cats seem to so enjoy sitting at the window and watching the birds.


Ideally, it would be nice to be able to let all cats have access to the whole house, but realistically, until a cat has been trained not to destroy everything and I know they won't spray everywhere that would probably result in problems for everyone, cats included.

It's just an idea right now, but I'm still pretty excited at the mere prospect of being able to have a space for cats and do some of the rescue work that I've been thinking about.

The cat house is fabulous. The bright colours initially made me think of commercial cat toys but I think that's just how the owners like to decorate, judging from the other decor and furniture in there. I'd love to do something similar (but maybe with a slightly more understated colour scheme.) rofl I hope their full photo gallery is back up soon.

One thing I really do like about that house is that all the cat stuff visible in the photo they have up is in good condition and looks attractive. You usually see cat furniture covered with ratty bits of mismatched carpet or all shredded to pieces with long strands of carpet backing hanging all over the place, and it's just not attractive from a human perspective, even if the cats love it.

The enclosures look really nice (so expensive though!) Much better than the timber and chicken-wire numbers you usually see for large, outdoor enclosures. If I thought we were going to be living in this apartment for much longer I'd be looking at getting the balcony screened in, so the cats could go out there and enjoy the fresh air when it gets warm. As it is, I think I will hold off till we have some property and then build them their outdoor retreat there.

Your cats seem to really love their little screened in balcony. Did you use regular screen or the wire type? Did they scratch at it or try to destroy/climb it? Screen seems much more pleasant and less cage-like than galvanized steel mesh, but it also seems much less durable.