Finnish Cat Enclosure

I always love to write about cats that live in countries other than the United Kingdom or United States, which are the two countries I usually discuss. In this instance I am writing about a Finnish cat enclosure. It looks like a “catio” (a cat-patio). Marc found Merja’s website which shows pictures of her cat “Helmi” in a patio-style enclosure attached to Merja’s “rowhouse”. I think in England we call these townhouses. I like this sort of innovation. I think different countries have slightly different ways of doing things and this looks really nice.

What is also coincidentally very nice is that Merja’s cat companion is “Helmi”. Well, I was surprised. As you might know, one of the world’s greatest cat photographers is Helmi Flick. That is a nice connection for me. Merja tells me that “Helmi” is Finnish for pearl. I guess Helmi Flick has a Finnish connection. I wasn’t sure. I hope Helmi leaves a comment.

Merja calls the enclosure, “Helmi’s garden”. Helmi gets to it through the living room window. You can see a cut away section of wire netting in the window frame through which she passes and the ramp going down from the window. The enclosure has a very natural feel to it thanks to the plants and jungle feel. Helmi, a ginger tabby, looks like a little tiger in there. The following three pictures by Merja can be clicked to take you to larger format versions.

The next picture shows Helmi descending the ramp to her little jungle garden…

And finally, nicely settled in her safe garden:

I think it is a very pretty cat enclosure.You can see the picture on Merja’s website too. Apparently Wilma may have brought in a mouse. Merja installed the chandelier for some lighting and it is a nice touch. It is more than lighting. It decorates the enclosure and blends in nicely.

You can see Finn Frode’s cat enclosure by clicking on this link. Finn lives in Copenhagen, Denmark. It seems to me that the Scandinavian countries (is Finland in Scandinavia?) are very good at cat enclosures and have a very responsible attitude towards the domestic cat. Finn is a regular visitor/contributor.