Family Builds Coolest 'Catio' in RV For Their Maine Coon Cats' Playtime

Though most cats are highly territorial creatures, preferring best to scope out a space of their own and stay in it, when their territory travels—as if the case for cats living in RVs— the situation is somewhat different. Cats who live in campers face a different set of complications. Indoor-outdoor cats can come to know the neighborhood surrounding their home and are less likely to get lost, but cats in campers move from town to town. Indoor only cats have more space to move around and exercise in houses or even apartments than the tiny confines of an RV.

Unless it’s this one.

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The human keepers of this pair of Maine Coon cats knew that they had to give their giant kitties a little more space to stretch their legs than one finds in the average RV, so they built them their own “catio,” a secured space inside the vehicle that is nevertheless someone exposed to the great outdoors, and with plenty of climbing platforms and other points of feline interest.

Related: Pet Parents' Epic 'Catio' Has Us Totally in Awe

For Fisher (ginger) and Sailor (gray), a pair of Maine Coon cats, their catio is a converted storage locker in their human’s camper van, configured with platforms, scratching posts, and a large screen door so they can look out on the world from the safety of the indoors.

Here, the RV is parked near a pond in North Carolina, and the cats are enjoying the sight (and maybe even the sound, who knows?) of a flock of loud, honking ducks right outside their screen. In the video, even the noise of the geese isn’t enough to scare the cats, who can be heard making the quintessentially “ek ek ek” of feline hunter excitement.

How to Build a Catio

A catio is a cutesy combination of the words “cat” and “patio,” and can be a fabulous way to make a space for your pet to get some exercise and indulge in their instinctive habit for climbing and perching and watching without letting them outside into actual trees.

Some catios are nothing more than a screened in area of a porch, patio, or yard—or here, an area of a camper van designed for storage. Other catios are free-standing structures, similar to chicken coop or other habitat, but obviously that would not make sense for RVers.

The main ingredients needed to create an enriched catio environment are a view to the outdoors and a series of raised platforms so your cat can climb and perch to their heart’s content.

When Space is at a Premium

Devoting this much space to your cat may seem like a tough thing to do when you live in a place as small as a camper van, but dedicating at least some area of your living quarters to the cat’s personal use and enjoyment will enrich everyone’s life. And it doesn’t have to be a huge block, either. Cats, being climbers, are not opposed to fitting themselves into places that might be otherwise useless to you. Think vertically, like a small stack of platforms on a wall. Here, an area under a bunk bed with a screened access to a view is the perfect place for the cats to call their own. There’s even a litter box in the corner.

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