A bit about the beginnings of Cat Parks Australia
This site has moved to catparksbendigo.com.auHello and thanks for visiting our site.
This website is the old Cat Parks Australia site and we are now operating under Cat Parks Bendigo. Please visit us at www.catparksbendigo.com.au. We also share many videos of our work on our Facebook page @catparksbendigo.
We continue to receive emails from this sites Contact page and the phone number is current.
Warm regards, Jamie & the Cat Parks Bendigo team.
The modules manufactured by Cat Parks Bendigo were originally designed by a professional Ragdoll cat breeder named Jim Byers
He ran JayWhy Ragdolls, a Feline Control Council Registered Ragdoll Cat breeding cattery for many years.
Operating out of a property in Toolleen, Victoria, Jim designed and built what we now refer to as the proverbial “Cage in the backyard”. A fully welded metal frame with galvanised mesh inserts. Lots of space inside for people as well as the cats.
But after watching his own Ragdolls use these cages, he couldn’t help but feel there must be a better way.
When the time came to close everything down in Toolleen and move into town, he investigated this “Better Way”
There had been many years in which to observe many, many cats in a traditional cat enclosure.
Some of the enclosures were quite large but across the board one thing was obvious. That was that big cage or small cage, the cats didn’t move much. They would just lay down in the highest possible spot and observe the world. Occasionally, they’d wander down off their perch to have a drink, go to the toilet, munch on some food and then immediately return to their perch and go back to watching the world go by.
The lasting impression that was left was, “These are not happy cats!”
What followed was over a year of reading everything Jim could get his hands on about the domestic cat, talking to anybody with any experience at all and scouring the internet for information on the psychology of our cats.
They were what we now refer to as the proverbial “Cage in the backyard”. A fully welded metal frame with galvanised mesh inserts. Lots of space inside for people as well as the cats.
They were quite labour intensive to build and after watching the Ragdolls use them he couldn’t help but feel there must be a better way.
When the time came to close everything down in Toolleen and move into town, Jim investigated this "Better Way"
What slowly dawned on him was a clear picture that we had got it all wrong about what cats needed.
One example was cats do not in fact like wide open spaces. They feel safer if enclosed. Try putting a shoe box on the floor of your lounge one night and watch what your cat does.
What followed was years of building various modules and experimenting with different designs and construction methods. Some worked, some didn’t. But slowly things took shape and what methods of construction worked best.
The end result is what you see on this site today. But rest assured. Finding better ways to do things and coming up with ideas for new modules is an ongoing process. It will never stop.
