Catio Bench Project

I love cats and want to keep ours indoors - but also wanted to be free from the smell and mess that comes with litter boxes in the house. 

We came up with a solution for a subtle outdoor hutch that doubles as a bench on our front porch, accessible via a small cat door in the living room. Harlow and Bogie figured it out in 20 minutes, and love having a small hideaway with some fresh air in their bathroom!

Cat door

Plans

Lumber acquired

Let's do this!

Eliot is a master with the power tools

Clip and staple the wire mesh to cover the windows

One wall is ready!

Supplies for the bench upholstery

Cutting the foam down to size

Just use a bread knife

Cut down the batting

Fabric is ready

Decided we wanted two bench lids instead of one long one

Luckily I had left enough extra room in the fabric and batting, it was fine just cutting everthing in half.

Ready to upholster

Lids are looking good!

Now the scary part: cut a hole in the house!

Cat door installed (front porch view)

Interior cat door, in livingroom corner

Frame is built

Stained + carpet and lid supports added

Carpet so nobody tracks litter bits inside!

Finished catio in place!

Locks added, so nobody lets them out by mistake

Easy to open for litter box cleaning

And they have a nice little window!

View of their window from the other side

Harlow loves it!