Setting Up Cat "Safe Rooms"

If you're taking on the task of socialising feral kittens or cats, then you'll need to set up a dedicated "safe room" for them. In the past I've used a rumpus room and would rotate cats in and then out once their rehabilitation period was over and they wanted to join the rest of us in the outside world (so to speak) or if I found them a good home. However, I now have four cats that get locked up there at night so introducing any more would result in and out and out turf war.

I recently created a new safe room for the four Xmas kittens I'm looking after (see previous Chronicles of the Xmas Kittens blog posts). It's not fancy, and you don't have to have anything fancy either. The room is an old garage which is now used as a home gym. It was flooded a few years ago so we had to rip out half the carpet. We also need to get the ceiling fixed as there are cracks in it but outside of those problems the room is dry, warm and comfortable. It has a large window overlooking the garden and the traffic area where both humans and animal family members traverse. The wooden door is never shut so the kittens can peer through the fly screen door as well.  Our two dogs have taken to sitting on the other side and peering in with fascination. This was met by a few hisses from the kittens but now they are used to the dogs and in fact this has proved to be a good method of introducing each species to each other (I will deal with this topic in another post at another time).

In the pics you'll see how I set it up. Firstly, there weren't terribly many hiding places in the room which is essential for the feral kittens' psychological well being, so I had to create some. I stacked a whole bunch of boxes under the table to build a wall or fort like structure. The kittens run behind there for cover or hide behind the freezer. On the other side of the room they hide under the treadmill, behind the mini trampoline or in between the valley of a fold up mattress in a fold up bed. I don't have a pic of the feeding station but it's there also. I have two ice cream containers full of water just in case on of them is knocked over which occasionally happens if they are playing. The other thing to do is to make sure there are different levels in the room – these cats can jump from floor to chair to window sill or walk across the table. They will often sit on top of the television set and survey their little kingdom. They also use the carpet to sharpen their nails but as it's old carpet, that's no problem. I also have one litter tray per two kittens – these are cleaned out twice a day.

And of course, don't forget to have a stock of toys on the ready – ping pong balls, rolled up balls of paper, yarn with trinkets on each end to swing side to side or to pull across the floor (put these out of their reach if you are not in the room), a cat tunnel, and if you have any extra cash, a scratching post.

These are the basics for a good set up.