r/Catio • u/tHINk-1985 • 4d ago
Tttf grass!
Turf type tall fescue(tttf) is amazing grass for a catio that does not get alot of sun! We wanted to give the cats real grass to chew and lay on so we tried wheatgrass first but it dies quickly and is pricey compared to tttf.
I got the plans for the red stained catio on Etsy for $8 and built it from scratch. It spans across 2 windows. Truth be told, it costed over $1600 dollars to finish including the astroturf. And that's with the cheapest wood I could find lol. It was either Fir or Birch wood from home depot.
Second one (human friendly catio) was simple enough. I bought garden lattice and screwed it in to the existing patio, made swinging doors, and also framing for the doors.
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u/Blaustein23 3d ago
tttf handles shade way better than most of the usual picks, and the wheatgrass comparison is exactly what i needed to read. the 8 dollar plans math turning into 1600 is the most relatable thing on here today, every build i have priced out does the same thing
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u/tHINk-1985 3d ago
Grass in the brutal heat of Arizona works crazy well for keeping them cool when they're outside. When I rub their belly while they're on the grass in 100° heat, it really feels like they just walked out from a cool home.
I should have specified that the $1600 includes the price of absolutely everything that went into the project including the extra cat door, astroturf, fencing, fake foliage, screws, water based stain and polyurethane, pressure treated wood for the small grass area, and clear corrugated roof panels 😅 I don't fellow DIYers to be too intimidated by that price quote.
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u/TangleOfWires 3d ago
Very nice catio so much space for them.
If that's the price for both catios and a fenced yard, that's pretty good.
Do you have any problems with the grass you use? I tried a "cat grass" but the packaging doesn't say what type of grass it is. It was good at first but I grew more grass than my cats could eat and now the grass is too thick and long. My cats eat it but throw it up later. I have to get rid of my current grass and plant new grass.
Just wondering if you have had any issues with the type of grass you use? Does it stay skinny?
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u/tHINk-1985 3d ago
It does but they don't seem to eat it as much as they would wheatgrass. I will look up cat grass😋.
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u/tHINk-1985 3d ago
A blend of wheat, barley, oat, and rye. Wow, I'll bet cats love it. Now if only it could handle Monty's weight🐄
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u/Blaustein23 3d ago
ok seeing it itemized like that the 1600 is actually reasonable, the corrugated panels and the cat door alone eat a couple hundred. the grass as a cooling surface in that heat is a detail i wouldnt have thought of. mine would lay on the bare dirt out of spite
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u/kalkutta2much 3d ago
cut to me trying to figure out if tttf is some new internetspeak acronym before i saw the caption 😭😭
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u/sagcapmonkeeme 3d ago
That's such a cute picture!! 😍 Happy kitties!! Congrats on a job well-done!
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u/jonnyRocket16 3d ago
How well does the grass stay alive in the box of the first picture? Do you need to constantly reseed or change the soil out? Might make this for my screened in porch
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u/tHINk-1985 3d ago
I planted it on August 26th and it still looks great. Since then, I've fertilized with fish emulsion and sprinkled mixed organic fertilizers on the bed.
When I first planted it and the blades were coming up, I noticed there were some bare spots that I missed, so I tried presoaking the fresh seeds for a couple days to fill in those spots. The blades came up much faster doing it that way.
The important part is to make sure the top 1/2" of the soil is well watered for the first... I'd say 10 days. Once it's established, it's pretty to maintain. I'd say all you need is fish emulsion for it's high nitrogen content and your golden!
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u/tHINk-1985 3d ago
Also, not to advertise anything, just trying to help you find that seed. The only place I was able to find pure tttf seed was home depot. I couldn't find it at walmart, tractor supply, nor amazon.
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u/Arctostaphylos 1d ago
What’s your apparatus for containing the grass? I really want to put grass in my catio but I’m not sure how to accomplish it.
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u/tHINk-1985 1d ago
Ha! There's a question. I have a collection of wooden boards and sheets of all shapes and sizes stored under my shed. The edges are made out of boards from an old bed frame my neighbor was throwing away. The bottom is made of wooden fence panels. Don't know where I got them😆
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u/tHINk-1985 1d ago
But if you don't want to construct a planter like the one I have, a cement mixing tub would do the trick, I think.
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u/Great-Opposite3509 3d ago
What are the dimensions ? $1600 is a pretty penny!
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u/tHINk-1985 3d ago
18'L × 6'D × 78"H. So from the Etsy design, I made two identical catios with a 2 ft. space in the center(the garden) so the whole thing would be long enough to reach both windows. Also had to lower the height so it would fall short of our window awnings.
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u/No_Kangaroo_9826 3d ago
I love to see happy lazy cats