Cat enclosures at Bunnings
More Australians search for a cat enclosure at Bunnings than at any brand in this category, about 3,600 a month for that phrase alone. The short answer is that Bunnings lists 3 of them, all through its Marketplace rather than its shelves, and that the genuinely useful thing in the store is the mesh. One number decides whether a build works, and it is the one most people get wrong.
Prices and specifications checked 12 September 2026
Chicken wire will not hold a cat. Bunnings' chicken wire is a 50mm aperture. Its tightest aviary mesh is 12 x 12mm, about 4.2 times tighter. A cat that can fit its head through a gap can usually follow with the rest of it, and a kitten needs no persuading at all. Wire thickness is not the answer: the heaviest gauge Bunnings publishes, 1.4 mm wire, is on the 50mm chicken wire.
What Bunnings actually lists
Three finished enclosures, and none of them is a Bunnings product. All three are Marketplace listings: online only, shipped by a third-party seller, not in store, no click and collect. Bunnings shows a postcode field instead of a delivery price on every one, so the cost of getting a flat-pack of this size to your door is not knowable from the page.
| Listing | Price | Floor area | Per m2 | Height | Frame |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flyline Walk In Wooden Catio Cat Enclosure Cage House 280x188cm | $999 | 5.26 m2 | $189.92 | 188 cm | timber with wire mesh |
| Flyline Walk In Catio Cat Enclosure Cage Half Size 140x188cm | $599 | 2.63 m2 | $227.76 | 188 cm | timber with wire mesh |
| Snoozy Pet Hamilton Outdoor Cat Enclosure | $699 | 1.85 m2 | $377.84 | 175 cm | fir timber 12mm thick with wire mesh |
Floor area is ours, not the seller's. Not one seller in this market publishes a floor area, so every figure here is computed from the published length and width and the basis is recorded against each product. Price per square metre follows from it.
Those prices are mid-field rather than cheap. The Flyline Walk In Wooden Catio Cat Enclosure Cage House 280x188cm works out at $189.92 per square metre, which places it 16th of the 54 framed enclosures we could cost anywhere in Australia. The cheapest in that set is $86.42 per square metre. Buying at Bunnings is buying convenience and a familiar returns counter, not a floor price.
None of the three publishes a mesh aperture, a wire gauge, a warranty term or a cat capacity: a 5.26 m2 walk-in enclosure sold with no published statement of what the mesh will hold.
The mesh, and the only number that matters
This is the part of Bunnings worth the trip. Mesh is sold by the roll, and the aperture, the size of the hole, decides whether the enclosure contains a cat. Wire thickness decides how long it survives being climbed. The two are not interchangeable, and most build guides talk about the second while ignoring the first.
| Roll | Aperture | Wire | Roll size | Price | Per m2 of mesh |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whites 90cm x 5m x 12mm x 12mm Aviary Mesh | 12 x 12 mm | not published | 90 x 5 m | $33.20 | $7.38 |
| Whites 90cm x 10m Pro Series Heavy Duty Chicken Wire Netting | 50 mm | 1.4 mm wire | 90 x 10 m | $86.10 | $9.57 |
| Whites 120cm x 50m Chicken Wire Netting | 50 mm | 1.0 mm wire | 120 x 50 m | not published | not published |
Price per square metre of mesh is computed by us from the published roll width and length. One roll's price was not published in the page content we could read, so it is left blank rather than estimated.
The 12 x 12mm aviary mesh is the tightest thing Bunnings sells for this job, and it is still looser than the tightest mesh published on a finished enclosure in Australia, 10 x 10mm on the Somerzby Condo Cat Enclosure. It is also cheaper per square metre than the heavy-duty chicken wire beside it, which is the opposite of what most people assume when they reach for the thicker-looking roll.
Bunnings' own safety note, which almost nobody repeats. The aviary mesh page states: "It is recommended that new galvanised wire mesh used in aviaries and pet cages be treated to remove excess zinc that could possibly harm pets." It is on the product page, and it applies to a cat that will chew and rub along every join. Bunnings also lists the mesh's suitability as finches, budgerigars and canaries. No Bunnings mesh we found is sold as cat mesh.
We did not record a framing timber price here, because the Bunnings pages that would carry it were not among the ones we could read cleanly, and a guessed timber cost is worse than none. The costed build, frame and mesh together, sits on the DIY page, along with the point at which buying a finished unit wins.
The same enclosure, $100 apart
One listing is worth checking before you buy it. The Snoozy Pet Hamilton Outdoor Cat Enclosure on Bunnings Marketplace is $699. The same unit, with the same published dimensions and the same description text, is $599 direct from My Chicken Coop. The Bunnings listing is placed there by My Chicken Coop itself, under the brand name Snoozy Pet.
| Where | Listed as | Price | Per m2 | Freight |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bunnings Marketplace | Snoozy Pet Hamilton Outdoor Cat Enclosure | $699 | $377.84 | Listing states delivery included, no figure published |
| mychickencoop.com.au | My Chicken Coop Hamilton Outdoor Cat Enclosure | $599 | $323.78 | Quoted by postcode, no figure published |
That is $100, or about 17%, for the same 1.85 m2 of floor. Stated plainly, because it is checkable in two browser tabs: the Bunnings listing says delivery is included while the direct site quotes freight by postcode, so some of the gap may be freight. Neither page publishes a freight figure, so nobody can say how much. What can be said is that the direct listing costs less up front, and that the Bunnings price ranks 44th of 54 on price per square metre while the identical unit bought direct ranks 36th.
What no Bunnings listing tells you
Three gaps run across this whole market, and the Marketplace listings are among the thinnest on all three.
- No wind rating, anywhere. Not one of the 68 products we collected publishes one: no AS/NZS 1170.2 reference, no wind region A, B, C or D, no engineered wind speed. A 1.88m flat-pack is sold on the same page to a buyer in suburban Melbourne and a buyer in Cairns, with no published basis for either.
- No floor area. No seller in this category publishes one, which is why the figures in our tables are computed from published dimensions and labelled as ours.
- No mesh aperture on most listings. Only 29 of 68 records anywhere publish one, and none of the three Bunnings enclosures does. You can buy the mesh separately with the number printed on it, but you cannot learn it from the enclosure you are buying.
So: Bunnings or not
Buy the mesh there. The 12 x 12mm aviary mesh is the right product at a fair price, and it is the thing the store genuinely does better than a pet retailer. Treat it for zinc first.
For a finished enclosure, the Marketplace listings are a convenience purchase: neither the cheapest floor area available nor the best documented, and on the one unit we could trace to its maker, buying direct was cheaper. If a Bunnings order simply feels safer, that is a real reason and worth what it costs. Price the alternatives first, on price per square metre and on what the mesh is made of, and check whether your council requires containment at all before spending anything: the council register has the instrument for each one.
Common questions
Does Bunnings sell cat enclosures?
Yes, but not the way Bunnings sells a drill. The 3 cat enclosures we found listed are all Bunnings Marketplace items: online only, sold and shipped by a third party rather than by Bunnings, not stocked in store and not available for click and collect. No delivery price is published on any of them until you enter a postcode.
Which Bunnings mesh is safe for a cat enclosure?
The tightest aperture we found at Bunnings is 12 x 12mm aviary mesh. Bunnings sells it as bird mesh, listing finches, budgerigars and canaries as its use, not cats. The chicken wire is a 50mm aperture, roughly 4.2 times as open, and Bunnings' own stated use for it is poultry yards and garden trellising. Heavier wire does not fix an aperture that a cat can get its head through.
Does galvanised mesh need treating before a cat uses it?
Bunnings' own aviary mesh page says so. Its wording: "It is recommended that new galvanised wire mesh used in aviaries and pet cages be treated to remove excess zinc that could possibly harm pets." That instruction appears on the product page, not in the reviews, and most DIY build guides never mention it.
Is buying through Bunnings cheaper?
Not on the one product where we could check both. The Hamilton Outdoor Cat Enclosure is listed on Bunnings Marketplace at $699 under the brand name Snoozy Pet, by My Chicken Coop itself, and sells on My Chicken Coop's own site at $599 with the same published dimensions and the same description text. That is $100 more through Bunnings. The Bunnings listing says delivery is included and the direct site quotes freight by postcode, so the gap is not purely margin, but neither page publishes a freight figure that would prove it out.