Conference misery::feline_v1

    Well, I'll try to help....But, I guess alot of this will come right
    down to how much you want to spend.
    
    We were trying to limit costs when building the cattery, Nancy, and
    you've been to my house, so you've seen my set up.  If you want to come
    for another visit, let me know.
    
    Now, to your questions:
    
    1.  On the cement floor, you can do one of two things, depending on how
    much you want to spend....you can either lay down linoleum, which is
    the more expensive option, or you can apply several thick coats of
    polyurethane .... I used the polyurethane, and then when I had more
    money, put down the linoleum.  The polyurethane is washable, and worked
    very well for me.  
    
    OOps, Folks here are leaving for lunch....I'll answer the rest of the
    questions when I get back.  
    
    cin
    

    Boy, some folks do have priorities!!!!!!!
    
    I'm not too much help, except that 'my' boy (really 'our' boy, 1)
    
    1, doesn't spray !!
    2) leaves NO odor in his litter box !!, 
    3) has the run of the house !!,
    4) doesn't fight with any other cats !!,
    4) is sweeter than sugar !!!!
    
    His only problem, one that he can't help cause he was born with it,
    is that he has LONG HAIR !!!!  
    
    I have two 'pens' - I used to have 2 bathrooms !!!  Now, I have wooden
    screen doors on both bathrooms - I covered the doors, both inside and
    outside with hardware cloth, and left the screen in between.  It's 
    working very well, the hardware cloth.  The kittens climb the doors
    all the time, precocious little devils, and the big kids try and
    scratch them, with no damage to the doors.  I think I used 1/4"
    hardware cloth.  No one has sprayed it yet - Not sure what I will
    do if that happens - maybe just take the doors off the hinges and
    hose them down outside.
    
    I used the smaller bathroom 4x7 (guest bath) for the birthing room,
    (and will also use it for a stud room, when flatface makes up her mind)
    and then moved the babies and mom to the larger 9x10 toddler bathroom;
    it's much larger with 2 large windows and lots of sun !  They have
    3 or 4 pieces of baby sized scratching furniture in there with a
    big round bed for them to pile in, a wooden magazine rack to play
    with, their jumbo litter box, etc. etc.  That floor is carpeted so
    all I do is vacuum in there.  Most breeders cringe when I say
    carpeting, but right now it's what's there - you probably won't
    want to shouldn't use carpeting.  There are 8x8 or 6x6 ceramic
    tiles under the carpeting, but the floors are very cold cause there
    is no heat in my lower level.  When and if I have my woodstove
    installed, I can then take the carpeting out and just use the tiles,
    as they are in both bathrooms.  When and if 'Miss Lil' decides to to
    in to heat, she will move in to the smaller pen when she is ready
    to have her babies, and the rotation will keep going like that.
    
    One thing I have found to be VERY important when you have a cattery,
    is to have WATER VERY CLOSE BY !  I finally had a set tub installed
    down in my lower level where the pool is, and where I feed the big
    guys.  Having WATER is a must!  I had to have pump installed that
    pumped up because my septic tank and my well are about 10 or 12 feet
    above the lower level of the garage (expensive, but REALLY worth it).
    
    E.T.

    more answers....
    
    2.  To cover the walls, I chose paneling, which I coated with 3 coats
    of polyurethane.  The Formica sheeting would probably have worked
    better, but, I didn't have sheetrock to glue it to, and we also didn't
    want the room to look like one big shower stall!   ;-)   BTW, I only
    coated the paneling with polyurethane in the stud pen, not the rest of
    the cattery.  The paneling cleans up really good, with a mop and water.  
    
    3.  Like I said, we sealed everything up with Polyurethane....great
    stuff, but make sure you have plenty of ventilation when your working
    with it!
    
    4.  My stud pen is probably similar to what your thinking about.  We
    have paneling half way up (sealed with poly), and then used hardward
    cloth for the top half.  It could be sprayed through, but only if the
    cat can get on something that high!  I do happen to have a narrow shelf
    that's halfway up, but it's not wide enough for the cat to turn around
    and spray out!  
    
    5.  Inside the pen, I'ld suggest having everything free standing. 
    Nothing built in, in case you want to change things.  For example, when
    I have an unfamiliar queen come in for breeding, I usually wheel a
    Tokyo cage into the Pen while they get familiar.  If I had built in
    shelves, etc. there might not be enough room to do this.  Inside the
    pen, you can use cat trees, or whatever you want.  I have a plastic
    chair in mine for Stripees, and a small scratching post.  Arubacats
    will make you scratching posts with little or no carpeting, if you
    special order them.  
    
    One suggestion I do have, is that if you have to make a choice, I'ld go
    for a long narrow pen, rather than a square type, like I have.  My pen
    is approximately 5 x 8, and I have a screen door that I use to enter.  
    
    I built my pen with Fire in mind....for those of you that don't
    remember Fire, he was probably one of the most disgustingly dirty
    smelly male cats you could ever imagine.  Good thing I loved him!
    
    Anyway, these are some of the things I did....like I said, Nancy, if
    you want to come for another visit to check the cattery out, just let
    me know.
    
    cin
    

    I agree with Elaine....water in the cattery is a MUST!!!!!  
    
    BTW, Nancy, were getting ready to build a grooming/isolation room as an
    extension of the cattery....completely separate, but right next door,
    on the same level.
    
    cin
    

    Cin and ET,
    
    thanks for the suggestions!!  I guess I am really paranoid that if I
    don't give the guy enough area to look out of that he will not be
    happy.  The male that I have coming in has not started to spray as yet
    but who knows when he might.  I just don't want to invest in anything
    too expensive to put in the room only to have it sprayed on and ruined.
    I have to build this pen this weekend so some of your ideas will help I
    am sure.  I have had some people tell me that I need to use a sealer on
    the cement before coating it with anything else so that the poly or
    whatever else I use wouldn't raise up from moisten underneath.  I had
    considered using linoleum but a friend of mine who has several studs
    told me her male's urine was eating the finish right off the flooring. 
    She suggested I use poly.  Ya know I was considering buying those
    little children's chairs that are plastic and putting some kind of a
    washable cover on the seat for cushion like the unreal lambskin and sew
    velcro straps to it.  That way the entire chair could be removed and
    cleaned down when necessary.  
    
    I really want to make certain that I don't close the pen in so much
    that I cause the environment to be unhealthy as far as bacteria and air
    quality goes.
    
    Gee, Cin, maybe you could come up and give me some advice this weekend
    while I'm building these pens and you could see the babes at the same
    time.  I'll even feed you lunch.
    
    Nancy

    Cin,
    
    re: .4
    
    I have a three foot bathtub already installed in that room where I am
    building the cages.  It is my grooming room for my shelties as well so
    all my supplies are in there as well.  I have considered what I would
    do for isolation and I have a very large area under my stairs that I
    could enclose and use for a cat needing isolation.  I have already had
    two instances of a sick cat where I had to pen her and she nearly drove
    me crazy trying to keep her locked up long enough.
    
    Maybe if you could come up you could see my dimensions of the room and
    have even further valuable suggestions for me.
    
    Thanks,
    
    Nancy

Hi Nancy,

That's short notice you're giving us!  But here goes.

I went with Linoleum (the cheapest I could find that didn't have deep
ridges in the pattern, which would have made scrubbing difficult), which
I had installed over plywood raised over the concrete floor.  That makes
it much warmer than the exposed concrete, and it can all be torn out if/when
I sell to someone who doesn't, um, like cats (or need a "wet room" for kids
to paint in, etc.!).

For the walls, I used <Cin--what is that stuff called???> and I again got
the cheapest pattern, which was really nice, actually, a white-with-slight-
blue-and-gold-marbling.  It is plastic panelling.  There are specially made
edgings (for flat walls, for corners, etc.) which are sealed with super-glue
type stuff, and I also had the plastic 3 inch molding along the bottom edges
near the floor sealed with the stuff.

For the ceiling, I used even cheaper white fake-wood panelling.  Yeah, it
looks weird, but not a single cat has complained yet!  (I had exposed
insulation to cover -- the cats would have shredded it otherwise.)

I enter via a glass storm door that opens into the rest of the basement.  I
used a glass door so I can watch out for cats-trying-to-escape.

There is a window built into the same wall as the door, which can be closed,
but I keep it open for ventilation.  (Two walls are the sides of the basement,
and two walls were built -- all are panelled in plastic.)  I have a short cat
tree with two perches in front of the window so the cats can see/talk with
me when I am doing laundry.  They can also look out the door at me.

Two stud cages run the length of the cattery (each is about 8 x 4, floor to 
ceiling), and are separated by the 4 ft. wall which is solid (the plastic
panelling).  Each is separated by the 8 foot wall from the larger cattery
by a full wall of 1/4 inch hardware cloth, and the doors into each are
just wood frames with hardware cloth also.

There are scratching posts, cat trees, cat beds, litter boxes, etc. galore
down there.  Each male has his own set also.

The one thing I would change if I did it again is that I would put a solid
wall about 2 feet up before the hardware cloth began between the stud pens
and the bigger cattery (not as high as Cin's, but not open to the floor).

GOOD LUCK.  And enjoy.

	Pennie