DIY outdoor cat ladder or stairs to second-floor window

I’ve mentioned in my emails and my personal blog posts this year that I trapped and neutered several stray/feral cats and that one of those cats has stuck around. I decided to build him an outdoor cat ladder leading to my son’s bedroom window on the second floor so he can live up there, especially during the winter. I will explain below why he can’t be in the rest of the house with us.

DIY outdoor cat ladder or stairs to a second-floor window

That former stray cat has now been named Frank, is microchipped to our address, and follows me everywhere in our yard. He sits by the doors and windows and cries for me to come outside again. He hates being separated from our family. I had first thought that he was feral but quickly figured out that he wasn’t and had just encountered horrible humans in his approximate 5 years of life.

Unfortunately, our three indoor cats can’t stand him. I have integrated many cats over the years, including another stray (if you remember) that looked very similar to him. After having him live in our yard for months now and seeing how my indoor cats interact with him especially when they are in their cat enclosure, I know that the hostility will remain. Some cats just don’t get along. We’ve never had that happen before.
There is also another plot twist and added challenge. He is FIV positive which spreads through vicious bloody cat fights. They could all live together if they wouldn’t fight but since they hate each other, it’s just not possible. It makes me so sad.

People have told me to give him to a rescue or shelter but I just can’t and won’t give up on him though since we have formed such a close bond. Let’s face it, there really aren’t many people willing to adopt a cat like him. And there is a huge chance he’d get euthanized or have to waste away in a cage at a shelter. He has a much better life with us even if it means he will only live in my son’s room and our yard. It’s more than he ever had before.

He is an incredible cat and I just can’t stand seeing him cry for me and thinking that he would have to be out there during another harsh winter especially since an illness would cost him his life. FIV affects the immune system and he is better off inside as much as possible. He barely leaves our yard anymore and stays close at all times. I know that since I have an Airtag on him and can see where he is if I’m not outside.

My son is an animal lover like me (surprisingly not my daughter even though they were raised the same way) and loved my idea of having a cat door window leading to his room. I wanted this accomplished a couple of weeks before he is heading back to college so he could help me teach Frank how to use it all. It will be difficult when he is back at school because Frank will hate being alone in the room and I will most likely end up sleeping with him until my son moves back after graduation. We have decided that’s what he will do to help him pay off the remainder of his student loans before he moves out for good. We paid for two years of college and he is paying for the other two years.

Photos of my former stray cats

Frank has also brought his daughter or maybe granddaughter along who was born wild and is feral. She is about 2 years old and I also had her spayed in February. Of course, I’m only guessing that they are related since there were two dominant unaltered males in our neighborhood that I had fixed and the other one didn’t look anything like this female.

I started calling her Pixie. She will have to live in our yard in a heated cat house unless she can get brave enough to walk the cat ladder with him into our son’s bedroom.

They are adorable together and I love their bond. It makes me sad to think that she is confused when he is gone for long periods of time while sleeping in the bedroom.

I bought them the below pet tent and Frank loves it! I’ve only seen her in it with him once but who knows what she does at night.

Can you spot him sitting on the roof in the next photo? My neighbor texted me the other day “There is a cat on your roof” and I laughed and replied, “I know”. He loves sitting up there and being able to look at the entire neighborhood.

Our porch is still one of my favorite spots to hang out. If you are new to my blog, then check out my painted concrete porch tutorial. It’s still holding up well after several years.

However, there is still the issue of the porch roof being too hot to walk on during a heat wave but thankfully that is only an issue for maybe one month during the year and I’m not sure how to address that. So far I lead him out of the bedroom in the morning before the sun hits the roof and back inside when the sun goes down. Any other suggestions?

I also successfully taught him how to use the litterbox. When he slept in the garage during storms, he had no idea what a litterbox was which worried me a bit. He quickly learned after I covered the litter with a layer of mulch and then slowly removed that layer over time. Now he happily uses a litterbox with litter in my son’s bedroom.

Look at him sleeping in my son’s comforter:

It was very important that I added self-closing hinges on the bedroom door so nobody would leave the door open accidentally. I also closed off the cat hole in his door so my other cats would stay out of his room. The window in the door enables them to see each other, though.

Frank has come such a long way. Look at his scared body posture in the photo below from last winter. It was taken through a window, and the minute he saw me, he ran.

That’s it for today and if you made it to the end of this long post you are a champ!

Tschüß,