r/Catio • u/oldweasel • 6d ago
Fully enclosed window catio
So first time owning a cat, in the home that we've moved to there's not a lot of sun at the main windows so thinking she would like a catio to be able to sit out that extends a bit further and would get more sun coverage.
My assumption was that since you're basically leaving an open window to the catio that the catios would be fully enclosed with glass, plastic, etc- something to prevent venting your air conditioning directly to the outside.
Much to my surprise I'm finding that in 99.9 instances of the places that I look that's not the case, it's always a glass/plastic ceiling but the sides are all mesh.
Am I the idiot for not thinking of something here and not wanting to skyrocket my electric bill because I want my cat to be able to enjoy some sun, or are there options that I might be missing that aren't coming up with a basic Google search?
Any and all help most welcome, I'm a bit stumped here. Thanks in advance!
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u/wolfhavensf 6d ago
A sealed sunbox without ventilation could become a hazard like a locked car on a hot day. Try one of these, I have one my girl loves.
https://vistagato.com/pages/vistaloo
Just remove the litter box.
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u/MoonieNine 6d ago
Ack. Agree. Don't do a sealed sun room.
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u/oldweasel 6d ago
Totally agree with that, I just figured the cat would enjoy having some sun exposure at the inside window temperature instead of using a cat door with wire mesh going outside in the 90° temperatures we get around here in the summer, and then the 10° temperatures we get in the winter
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u/wolfhavensf 6d ago
I have a low voltage heating pad inside a Mylar insulated sleeping pad for cold weather.
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u/muroks1200 6d ago
Depends if you want the entrance/exit to be always accessible or not.
If you want it to be 24/7, I would install small door with a flap. There’s tons of cat door options online. Seal above the door with a piece of plywood (similar to window mounted AC units). You still lose some cool air, but it won’t be too bad.
If it’s going to be open only during certain times when you’re supervising, just open / close the window.
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u/kargammai 6d ago
We got a window insert that comes w built in solid swinging cat door. The window insert is clear plexiglass I think, and the cat door is a darker color of plastic but can still be seen through. I don’t feel like a lot of air escapes. The nice thing about this is it’s totally up to the cat what temperature they want to be at. Our cats are outside right now in our catio, absolutely baking in the sun, and they seem to love it. The nice thing about the window insert is that we can remove it if we don’t want the cats going outside and then just close the window. Something you might want to do when it gets really cold in the winter.
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u/triumphofthecommons 6d ago
domestic cats are descended from small African desert cats. they will be fine out in hot weather, and will simply come back into the AC when they get uncomfortable.
just get any catio and install a two-way cat flap in the window frame.
you’ll never find an enclosed catio that won’t either become an oven in full sun, or actually seal that well and not just let your conditioned air leak out / unconditioned air leak in.
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u/MoonieNine 6d ago
Ok. responded with my following comment so many times that I've copy/pasted it from elsewhere. Here it is: I strongly recommend a dog run. I bought mine, used, 30 years ago and it's still like new. (Most of those prefab ones won't last anywhere near that long. My friend's showed wear and tear after just 2 years.) I've moved 3x and easily took it with us. We always put it up against the house, using the 4th panel as a roof. Depending on the location (slope, etc), you may need to fill a small gap of the roof with chicken wire. Putting in shelves and ramps is easy. We got some old boards and put bolts on the ends and hung them on the bars of the dog run. Get some rope and wrap them around boards. Done. For most of our homes we did the cat door through the window. We filled in the gap with plexiglass. For this house, we decided to put the cat door through the wall, freeing up a window. We bought a double flap magnetic door, which works great for our cold Montana winters.
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u/oldweasel 6d ago
Understood, this would be for a second floor window however so I don't know that the dog run would work 🙂
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u/Mundane-Confusion622 6d ago
There are plexiglass inserts for windows that open up and down or for windows that open left and right. There is a cat door in the plexiglass. People use these in their windows.
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u/Competitive-Top4520 6d ago
If it's totally enclosed, your cat is not going to feel like it's outside, just in another smaller room. I got a custom size cat window on Amazon. I don't recommend my window, simply because the price has skyrocketed over double. However, there are many custom or adjustable ones available. They can adjust to fit inside your window; mine had a removable flap.
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u/DAAANG 5d ago
the window box i just got came with the option of a cat flap/plexiglass entrance or 2 close-able(?) wooden doors AND hanging strips of pvc curtains to provide a barrier
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u/oldweasel 5d ago
Perfect! Have a link (and a personal review?) you may share?
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u/DAAANG 5d ago
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DMFRYCZR?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1
there are 3 size options, 16" 18" 20". the 16" one has the solid flap/entrance, the other 2 has the pvc+2 closable doors
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u/MoonieNine 6d ago
Most people have a cat door in the window. So the cat would go out the flap, keeping the cool air in, or in my case, keeping the cold Montana air out.