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.
This is most excellent to read. Helmi’s enclosure is wonderful and so full of life. I also have a ‘catio’ and a little door to it which is open as long as it is warm enough. In winter I go out (along with some of the other cats here) even at -15’C. Below that it is a little too cold for us. Our human does snow work to clear the catio in winter.
I have written a little article about Finland and cat enclosures on here:
http://www.thedailycat.co.uk/safety-and-freedom/
And there are many photos on my blog.
Helmi is my blog friend and we are very proud to see a Finn cat finding fame on other websites !
Hi Naukula Family, it is really nice to have a dialogue with a Nordic family and show the world your attractive catio. Thanks for letting me publish your photographs.
Thanks for your nice story and nice comments about Helmi’s garden!
Finland is not part of Scandinavia (only Norway, Denmark and Sweden are), but part of Nordic Countries (Scandinavian countries + Iceland + Finland).
Rowhouse is townhouse, so that’s correct assumption!
We are two dogs from Finland. Helmi is our blog friend. Helmi’s catio is great. An other cat friend, Myrtti, has a nice catio too.
http://varjoyrtti.blogspot.fi/2012/08/kissan-ulkoiluaitaus.html
Most of the times we buy something new for our cats they totally ignore it, they prefer the old and much loved lol but at least the cats at Kays Hill get the benefit and appreciate new stuff.
I love the feel of this catio too. It has that jungle feel which is so right for a cat.