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Tim Bestwick's home is a house of fun for felines, born out of a love not only for cats, but also wildlife. The former paramedic's seven cats have the run of his Grafton house in northern NSW. He said creating a "catio", or cat patio, was easy. "It just requires a few trips to the local hardware store, putting up a frame, covering with mesh, [and] a little bit of design to make it look good," he said. Mr Bestwick said he wanted his cats to enjoy life, but not kill it. He has installed cat doors, climbing poles and high ledges for cats to laze on or run along. When he built the "catio" he was surprised by his cats' reactions. "I thought it would be weeks before [the cats] found it, but they were in there an hour later, they were so curious," he said. Room to roam Mr Bestwick never set out to own seven cats. "We inherited one and then oh dear, we had to have couple of gingers, it just got out of hand." The catio is an enclosure in the garden, separated from the house but connected to it by a series of elaborate wire tunnels and ramps lined with carpet. The cats access the 5 metre x 5 metre enclosure through two exits from the house, giving them a complete loop and exercise area of more than 80 metres. Various ledges at different levels that are covered in carpet, long grass and lemongrass provide ground cover while a leafy vine provides shade. The front "bird watching" verandah is covered with netting, giving the cats a second area to catch the sun while preventing them from catching anything they should not. Wildlife returns Mr Bestwick said wildlife had flourished at his riverside home since he build the enclosure. "Lots of skinks and water dragons, snakes —the friendly types — and birds, lots of birds," he said. Mr Bestwick, who is also a "twitcher", said his two big loves were not mutually exclusive. He recently completed the Australian Backyard Bird Count. He did his counting from his verandah, enclosed by mesh and surrounded by his cats. "Thirty-seven breeds I counted, from sitting in this seat, I just like how you can hear so much wildlife," he said. As if to make a point, a bird started calling. "That's a Torresian crow," Mr Bestwick said. Cat rules for sweet assassins The RSPCA said there were about 5.8 million pet cats in Australia. A 2023 study by the Biodiversity Council Australia found roaming pet cats killed about 323 million native mammals, birds and reptiles in Australia each year. NSW is the only state in Australia to not have cat containment laws. West Australia is set to introduce amendments to its Cat Act in 2026. NSW Greens MP Sue Higginson recently proposed new legislation to bring her state into line with the rest of Australia. "The bill creates a provision in the Companion Animals Act, a clear but simple legal duty on cat owners to keep their cat under control," Ms Higginson said. "Councils across NSW have been calling for these powers for decades. "A first fine would be about $11, it includes statutory defences to protect vulnerable people to ensure the offences don't unfairly penalise." But the proposed bill has raised the ire of the RSPCA. "The reasons that we don't support mandatory cat containment is that we're concerned it will lead to more cats being abandoned," RSPCA NSW veterinarian Gemma Ma said. Dr Ma was concerned about the risks of containment on cat health. "They are more likely to suffer from behavioural conditions, anxiety and frustration, they are more likely to develop urinary tract infections and obesity" Dr Ma heads up the RSPCA's Keeping Cats Safe at Home Project, which was recently awarded $6 million in funding by the NSW government. NSW Environment Minister Penny Sharpe was also not convinced. "I don't think that is the way that we get the behaviour change that we want, the government is yet to make a decision on (the Greens bill)," she said. But Mr Bestwick said he was in favour of the proposed change. "It's well overdue, the poor dog owner has to put up with rules and fines if they do the wrong thing and I think cats are on par if not worse because of the devastation they can do to the environment," he said. Mr Bestwick said cat containment created healthier, happier pets. "Cats live for many more years if they are protected indoors; getting attacked, run over by traffic, catfights in the neighbourhood, that all lowers their life span," he said. His advice for cat owners wanting to do the right thing was to start simple and create shelves around a screened window.
