MONROE MAN RUNS CATHOUSE NOT FAR FROM POLICE STATION August 04, 2009
Monroe resident Dennis Gallagher shows off his custom cat house. CLICK TO ENLARGE
Another view of cat house. Note cat suspension bridge attaching the structure to main house. CLICK TO ENLARGE
View from main deck of cat suspension bridge that connects main house to the cat house. CLICK TO ENLARGE
(MONROE, WA) -- The Sky Valley Chronicle has discovered a man in Monroe who’s been operating a cathouse for years just minutes from the Monroe Police Department.
He offers no apologies, refuses to hide the facts of what goes on in the house and stands firm in his belief that what he is doing falls within community standards of decency.
Uh, no it is not that type of cathouse. (We’d love to say “gotcha!” at this point but we’re far too sophisticated for that).
The type of cathouse run by Dennis Gallagher is for regular house cats and is designed to provide them a safe, enriching and liberating lifestyle.
Dennis Gallagher and Sharon Ronsse, a husband and wife team that own and operate the Wood’s Creek Wholesale Nursery on Chain Lake Drive in Monroe, both love cats.
One day five years ago Dennis Gallagher hit upon an idea that would marry their desire to take in “rescue” cats as well as providing the furry felines with a luxurious four-star “cat hotel” in which they could live out the rest of their lives in peace, security and safety.
Rescue cats are animals that have lived challenged lives, in some cases growing up with no owners as almost feral cats. Some were abandoned, some were mistreated, and some just ran away from home and never found their way back. Dennis says they get their cats from Perfect Paws an organization that places rescue cats with good homes.
The result of that idea Dennis had a few years ago is the amazing three-story cathouse you see in the pictures that accompany this story.
(SEE VIDEOS Part 1 and 2 at bottom of this story featuring Dennis walking you through the ingenious way the cats get into and out of the cathouse. It is a novel and well thought out system). In day or so we’ll have the videos posted in the Sky Valley Chronicle VIDEOS section.
CATS COME AND GO AS THEY PLEASE
The structure is designed so that the cats, on their own, can go from inside the Gallagher home to a connecting long “catwalk” that leads right into their cathouse. Then, whenever they desire, they can return to the inside of the Gallagher house through the same catwalk without Dennis or Sharon ever having to open a single door to let the cats out or in.
And through the entire process of the cats going inside and outside the Gallagher house - and inside and outside their cathouse as well - never once do their pads touch down on a patch of open grass in the back yard which means it is virtually impossible for a coyote or other predator to get to them. They are in every sense protected inside an airy, spacious, rain shielding luxury cocoon.
Gallagher says he built the cathouse because, “I wanted our rescue cats to experience a stimulating and safe outdoor environment without getting killed by coyotes. There’s a standing joke around here that outside cats usually last 6 months to a year before a coyote gets them.”
“The cats like to go out at 3 a.m. and pretend they’re tigers. They get to jump around, go through all sorts of doors in the cathouse and have fun,” adds Gallagher.
The cathouse is a full ten feet across and 12 feet high. Gallagher built it out of three octagonal rings, made from 2 X 4’s and wire mesh that are stacked on top of each other. The internal “core” of the cathouse has 5 levels and each one is divided into 4 sections. Cost for materials (at the time it was built five years ago are estimated by Dennis at somewhere between $300 and $500, give or take).
Each level can shelter the cat from the weather plus within each level Gallagher cut random walls and holes, somewhat like a maze, to give the cats mental stimulation. The internal structure of each level is different.
At the very bottom of the cathouse the cats have the grass of the backyard and a variety of lush plants to hide in and move around in as a cat in the jungle might.
All in all, it’s a pretty sweet life for a house cat. No. Make that a very sweet life for a house cat.
Where to see the Monroe cathouse: Woods Creek Wholesale Nursery located at 21008 Woods Creek Road, Monroe, WA 98272 (Ph:360-794-6823). Closed Mondays & Tuesdays.
CAT HOUSE MAN VIDEO Part 1 – Cat house operation overview
CAT HOUSE MAN VIDEO Part 2 – How cats get from main house to cathouse & back.
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