Even if your cat is a housepet, you should, and in many states are required to, provide an outdoor cage. Because we have so many cats we have many varieties of cages depending on the cats’ needs. We will begin with our favorite cages and proceed down to our minimum cages. USDA only requires that the animal be able to stand up and turn around in the pen and that it be clean. Some states have minimum size standards but they, like the USDA's standards, are nothing short of cruel and inhumane. In Florida, a 600 pound, twelve foot long Siberian Tiger may be kept in a ten foot by fifteen foot pen, and too many people do. Different cats have different needs, but ALL cats need the room and inspiration to be cats. A good rule of thumb is that the cage should be 10 times the length of the cat wide. It should be 20 times the length of the cat long. And finally, the cage height should be 6 times the height of the cat.

To successfully cage a cat you should understand his natural behaviours to most closely provide what he needs and to most safely confine him. Although individuals of several species may prowl by day, exotic cats are typically nocturnal. Except for Cheetahs, Lions and Tigers, the exotic feline is an exceptional climber. Servals and Caracals can climb well, but need incentive to do so. Margay, Ocelots and Leopards spend more time lounging in the trees than on the ground. Bobcats, Jungle Cats, Geoffrey Cats and all of the Lynxes are very active and are in and out of everything, all the time.

All cats swim if necessity demands it but Jaguars, Tigers, Servals and Fishing Cats live for it. Fishing cats and Servals will dive underwater for their food and although Tigers will dive, they usually prefer to "dog paddle" or just splash around in shallow water. Water loving cats will not be happy without a pool.

The behaviour of an exotic cat can be likened to that of the domestic cat on speed. All of this is said to prepare you to look around your home and envision the outdoor run as seen through the half crazed eyes of the exotic of your choice. The "tamed" wild cat does not discern between a tree and a hanging plant, or between vines and curtain rods. Your bubble bath or the fish tank are just as suitable "swimming holes" as a lake or stream.

Our favorite cages are the indoor / outdoor type. In these, the cats have an inside room that can be bleached daily, and is air conditioned and most of all provides constant contact between the cats and the family. They have a doggie door to the outside yard. Their play yard is 150 feet wide by 150 feet deep. The fencing is seven feet, eleven and a half gauge chain link buried one foot into the ground. Six feet up there is a barbed wire arm leaning back over the yard at a forty five degree angle at each post. We cut three foot lengths of sturdy metal pipe and shove these down over the barbed wire arms. To this we attach four foot wide, 2" by 4" welded wire, or no-climb horse fence. Where the wire meets the chain link we use hog rings to attach every three inches so that the cat doesn't climb the fence and push out. Because even declawed cats can hang upside down, we take shade cloth and attach it to the inside/underside of the 45 degree angle overhang. If the cats can't get their toes through the wire they can't hold on, unless they have claws. If they have claws you will need to use something that is impermeable, like sheet metal. The secondary benefit is that shade cloth or metal provides a source of shade. We have trees in these areas, but we have to be careful that they are not close enough to the perimeter to provide a launching pad for escape. The trees must be pruned regularly because declawed cats can climb almost as well as clawed cats with a little practice.

In these yards are kiddie toys including wading pools, plastic forts, igloos, balls and safe shrubbery. Obviously, none of these plastic items are left unattended with the great cats. Except for the shrubbery everything else must be cleaned and disinfected regularly (like daily). A pool is great fun but a lot of work. It MUST be changed daily. Even the dirt will need "cleaning" and by this I mean that you will need to walk the yard daily and pick up feces, and on occasion you may need to lock the cats in the house for a few days and dust the yard with lime. Don't return the cats to the dusted yard until after it has been washed off of the grass and leaves and into the soil.

We used to treat the play yards twice a month for fleas, alternating between Bio-Halt Flea Nematodes and Sevin Dust 10 percent. Since our cats have been on Advantage this has not been necessary. See the chapter on Fleas for more details. We don't mow the yard very often because the cats seem to really enjoy the jungle effect. Your neighbors may not share your appreciation of a Congo styled lawn scape, and this is something to consider. Keeping your neighbors happy can be what keeps you happy and this usually requires that they not be able to see, hear or smell your cats. In most cases you will be better off if they don't even know about your cats.

The kitten cages are second best, in our estimation. The cubs and kittens run loose through much of our home, and always in our bedroom. There is a doggie door in our bedroom that leads out into a four foot by eight foot cage made from one inch square wire set on a platform that can be sprayed clean with a hose. This allows the kits to get the sunshine they need and to experience birds and breezes without the risk of picking up some soil borne plague. They can't reach out and touch anything and nothing can swoop down and carry them away. They especially like to go out after dark and pretend to be creatures of the night. Except for in this type of cage we do not allow kittens to go out at night.

For our Tigers we have a three acre pen that leads down into a spring fed lake. The fencing is ten feet tall, six gauge, four by six inch square welded wire. This pen has two eight foot square, concrete dens, and a safety pen. The safety pen is where we feed the cats so that they are accustomed to going inside. It is eight feet by twelve feet, eight feet high, with a top. When we clean the pen we coax them into the safety pen and shut them inside until we are finished. The safety pen must have a door that can be operated from outside. The safety pen and the safety gate are two separate enclosures. To include part of the lake in the Tiger pen we had to hire a dock and deck company to install the posts out in the water because it was fourteen feet deep in places. We hung the fence from the posts and attached shade cloth over that so that the cats would not swim out and hang on the wire. Inside the pen are stainless steel beer kegs, bowling balls for toys and lots of shrubbery, initially... Palmettos are virtually indestructible and the yard was covered with them, but in just a few months they were trampled beyond recognition. We thought over an acre per Tiger would more than accommodate two yearling Tigers, but the foliage proves otherwise. The trees are all still standing but it was an established forest.

Our Leopards have a pen seventy feet by one hundred and twenty feet and ten feet tall with a three foot overhang back over the cage at a forty five degree angle. Inside are two large trees. Their concrete den, which is eight feet by four feet, by five feet opens into the pen and can be used as their safety pen by blocking the entrance. Because Leopards are such good climbers, even without claws, we built cages around the trunk of the trees that look like big funnels. These have to be adjusted as the trees grow. Depending on the size, age and space requirements of our other cats, we have smaller versions of the Tiger and Leopard pens.

We were fortunate enough to fall into a once in a lifetime deal in which we were able to purchase thirty three acres of concrete platforms. These platforms stand two feet off the ground on their own legs and come in eight foot, ten foot and twelve foot widths. They are all eight feet long and can be stacked side by side. These would not be cost efficient to build, but many people pour concrete slabs on the ground with a slope to the outside and a gutter to guide waste water to a septic system. Many of our pens are up on these platforms. The smallest is ten feet by sixteen feet (as in our quarantine pens) and the largest is twelve feet by twenty four feet for a Cougar. Most of our Bobcats, Caracals and Lynxes are in pens ten feet by twenty four feet up on these concrete platforms. Each pen is divided in half, long ways for a male and a female. There is a connecting door that can be opened from the outside when the female is in heat.

Each run has a plastic den box made to look like a tree stump from Doskocil. We keep the dens free of feces and old food, but we don’t get carried away on cleaning the interior because the cat has marked this box with his or her scent, and it is this "ownership" that makes the cat feel secure here. Especially when a cat has kittens, do we allow the box to remain as much "her box" as possible.

All of the pens have at least three shelves or logs elevated for lounging on. We use long, narrow boards that are the outside shaving of the tree. These are round on one side and still have the bark attached. We use Cypress and can usually get it from the local sawmill for fifty cents per board. We suspend these natural cat-walks with chain from the top of the pen, at different levels, so that the feline has much more running space and to encourage exercising by jumping from one cat-walk to another.

Each cage has a toy called the "Nearly Indestructible Ball" in a size relevant to the size of the cat and a variety of large bleached cow bones. A cat can easily get stir crazy in a static environment, so it is important to always be offering something different to smell, taste or touch. Cats like having their own space and enjoy marking it and letting others know that it is theirs, but they also enjoy new things. Just like human children, they enjoy playing with the box the toy came in more than with the toy itself. Cut a few holes in the box and it’s good entertainment for a day or two. Oddly enough, the biggest thrill you can give most cats is a pile of cut branches. Check your poisonous plant list first and then your yard trimmings can provide hours of fun and exercise.

The walls and tops of the concrete based cages are made of eleven and a half gauge chain link panels. Over the den area we cap the cage with metal roofing so that the cat can sit outside of it's den even in the rain.

The entry door to the pen should be wide enough to accommodate your carriers or catch pens and tall enough for you to walk in without stooping. We use regular gate latches, two on cages for bigger cats, and use a snap hook to keep them in a down position. You should also attach a safety gate to your entry gate. This is a small cage that you open the gate and walk into, and then shut the gate behind you before opening the gate to the pen. It should be large enough to accommodate two people and a large carrier or a wheel barrow, without having both doors open. At any juncture where you will be handling a latch or accessing a food or water dish, we would recommend that you cover the adjoining area with a small mesh wire. It can be very hard to fumble with a latch and keep your eyes on the cat at the same time. This is more necessary in the case where a cat has his claws. Even if the existing wire is too small for the entire paw to fit through, just one hook of their razor sharp claws could take off a finger.

We do not recommend adjoining cages except with bonded pairs. Even in their case you should make sure that the wire between the pens is small enough, and close enough to the ground that there is no potential for a paw or a tail to cross over. You may need to separate the bonded cats in the event of pregnancy or at meals. Often cats that like each other have been known to suffer a nasty bite for sticking their extremities through the wire. We saw a gorgeous black Leopard once whose tail had been so badly mauled that it had to be amputated.

Privacy can be as important as space. If at all possible provide lush foliage as a visual screen between animals. Space your cats as far apart as is practical. They are solitary creatures, except for the Lions, and really appreciate their own territory. A bred female will want to make her nest in a secluded spot. To deny her this, and the privacy she requires, is to threaten that she will kill the kits when they are born. Your success with breeding and kittening will be greatly rewarded if you provide a private den.

Our newer cages are much more attractive and are truly cat-a-tats, but because they are on the ground, the cats must be wormed monthly here and probably at least quarterly in colder climates. We buy six gauge welded fence panels from Bob Barker Fencing (319)293-3548 that come in 4 x 4 holes and 4 x 6 holes and are 7 feet tall and 20 feet long. We have to buy 150 panels at a time to get them for $40.00 per panel. With 8 panels and 15 fence posts we can build a pen over 1000 square feet in area, seven feet tall in a free form style that doesn’t even look like a cage. The pen has a double row of hot wire around the top and can be completed with two men in two days. These pens with labour and everything then run us about $1500.00 and the cats just love them. They are built out in the woods and around clumps of bushes so the cats have a natural environment. Some cats who came to us with claws have the same set up, but we have to top the cages and that can be very difficult. We use a tree as a center "post" and cage in around the trunk, up in the branches to give the illusion of the cage being open.

The hot wire is powered by a solar unit that can withstand three days of total darkness, and this has proved successful in keeping even the most escape minded animals in place.