A once tiny kitten, miraculously found on the side of the road on a cold and rainy afternoon, now has the run of one of the most amazing indoor/outdoor set ups that TassieCat has seen!
There is even an outdoor tunnel from the house section through to a huge enclosure orchard / (raised) vegetable garden / cat enclosure.
Rebecca and Whiskey at the tunnel exit into the garden enclosure.
As Whiskey grew from a vulnerable three-week old kitten, she built up her strength and with it a desire to explore beyond the confines of the house.
As Rebecca lives in a rural residential area, with all sorts of native creatures, including resident bandicoots and many different birds, there was no question that Whiskey would have to be contained.
It was very important to Rebecca that Whiskey’s physical and mental health needs would also be met.
Stage one involved putting together a prefab cat house bought online which is accessed by Whiskey through her own private entrance and tunnel.
Whiskey’s door into the tunnel that takes her to the small cat house.
Whiskey often uses this as the morning house to catch the sun and check out what is happening in the street, or to check out visitors in safety.
Whiskey checking out the visitors from the safety of the small cat house.
The entire underneath of the human’s house is also Whiskey’s domain which she accesses via another wire tunnel from the small cat house.
Wire tunnel from the small cat house to under the house.
A poly pipe has been laid in a trench, now covered in grass, which goes from under the house into the enormous enclosed garden / cat enclosure.
So many options for Whiskey!
This large garden and cat enclosure is slowly being planted with fruit trees and has raised garden beds which Whiskey leaves alone. She has her own designated litter tray which is private and the only place she toilets.
Whiskey’s days are often spent in the garden with Rebecca or out watching ‘Bird TV’. There is a pardalote nest is the bank just outside the garden cat enclosure where Whiskey will watch the little birds flit in an out for hours as they build their nest and raise their young in safety.
Other free ranging neighbourhood cats are still a danger to the birds so Rebecca has put wire netting around the nest to hopefully keep them safe.
Can you spot the pardalote going into the nesting hole in the bank?
To Rebecca’s delight, Bandicoots, Pademelons and Wallabies frequently graze or dig around for grubs just outside the enclosure. The native wildlife is safely out of Whisky’s reach, while Whisky is provided endless entertainment.
Bandicoots feed on worms and grubs by pushing their noses into the dirt. Here you can see the evidence, little ‘nose holes’ everywhere.
You can see Whisky sitting on one of her favourite benches in the enclosure.
Rebecca has many more plans for the enclosure, including aerial runs, platforms, tunnels, logs and trees for Whiskey to scratch and climb. She also wants to develop a productive veggie garden and green house area for plant propagation. Native plants will be propagated and used to revegetate the whole property to provide a native wildlife habitat refuge.
The underground tunnel is definitely a hit with Whiskey who is in and out of the garden until it’s time to go inside and curl up for a sleep on the bed.
Whiskey is happy and healthy at home and so is all the wonderful wildlife at Rebecca’s place.
So perhaps you might start looking at your place a little differently? Let your imagination go wild! What can you dream up? Start designing your own incredibly rewarding happy cat / happy native wildlife project!!
Before
After
_cropped.jpg){kind=logo}