Brenda ThompsonтАЩs yard in northeastern Los Angeles is an avian paradise. Hummingbirds, goldfinches, juncos, and crows, among other bird varieties, splash in her fountain, guzzling sugar-water and nibbling the seeds she sets out. Now and then a neighbourhood cat strolls along, and tries to go after and grab at the birds. Luckily, ThompsonтАЩs own cats, Cooper and Fizz, have no blood on their paws. ThatтАЩs largely because Thompson has built them a $10,000 тАЬcatioтАЭ тАФ a cat patio.
The wood-and-wire enclosure opens off ThompsonтАЩs dining room and loops around the back of her house, allowing Cooper and Fizz to get fresh air and feast their eyes on feathered visitors while ensuring they never get within pouncing distance. тАЬWe sit and watch the birds a lot from our deck тАФ and now the cats can come and watch the birds as well,тАЭ Thompson says.
Each year, AmericaтАЩs roughly┬а58 million┬аdomestic cats kill an estimated 2.4 billion birds, according to the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center and the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Increasingly, bird conservation groups such as the Audubon Society and the American Bird Conservancy are promoting catios as a way to reduce the bloodshed.
Cat-lovers and bird-lovers arenтАЩt natural allies, with feline bird predation historically a source of considerable tension, Portland Audubon conservation director Bob Sallinger says. тАЬCat and bird welfare groups had been at each otherтАЩs throats over this issue,тАЭ he says. But in recent years, catios have emerged as a solution both sides can agree on. тАЬThis is a way to address the conflict thatтАЩs humane and appeals to cat lovers and bird lovers alike,тАЭ Sallinger notes.
DIYers have been building backyard enclosures for cats since at least the 1980s, but as awareness of the environmental impact of free-roaming cats has grown in recent years, the need for a reliable solution became more apparent.┬аMore formal cat patios, designed and built to the specs of oneтАЩs house┬аto ensure no inadvertent escape by the feline, have┬аemerged as a popular solution.┬атАЬPeople have really embraced it тАФ itтАЩs become part of the culture, and weтАЩre seeing lots of them around town,тАЭ says┬аSallinger.
In some parts of the U.S., the structures have caught on so much that theyтАЩre a part of the local landscape and even an attraction for visitors. Portland Audubon has teamed with the Feral Cat Coalition of Oregon since 2013 to sponsor an annual walking tour highlighting the cityтАЩs 600-plus catios. Most years, the tour draws between 1,200 and 1,300 attendees; last┬аSeptember, the groups hosted a virtual tour┬аwith 700 participants paying between $15 and $25 to access professionally produced videos, 360-degree interactive panoramas of catio interiors, and live Q&As.
Wildlife groups now run similar tours in at least seven other cities, including Austin, Texas and Halifax, Nova Scotia. And more┬аthan two dozen small companies have sprung up to serve the burgeoning demand. Catio Spaces, based in Seattle, is one of them. Founder Cynthia Chomos has built around 300 catios since starting her business in┬а2013.
The enclosures can cost from┬а$500 to┬а$5,000.┬аMaterials, mostly wood, account for about half of that, Chomos says. And so far, rising lumber prices havenтАЩt hurt her business. тАЬWeтАЩre so busy right now,тАЭ she says.┬атАЬCat parents see this as an investment in the health and well-being of their cats.тАЭ
Cat owners also are sanguine about the risk of an idiosyncratic addition adversely affecting home values. Many catios are built to be easily disassembled; Chomos says about half of her clients simply take the catios with them if they relocate. тАЬThe other half have left their catios in place, because dog or cat owners are buying their home and like the idea of having an enclosed outdoor space,тАЭ she says.
In Los Angeles, one of the hottest catio markets right now, Alan Breslauer can charge┬аup to five-figure sums to build high-end patios┬аthat he describes as тАЬcat Disneyland.тАЭ The former marketer became a┬аfull-time catio designer in 2017┬аwhen he founded┬аCustom Catios.
тАЬWeтАЩre located in Los Angeles, where everyoneтАЩs an environmentalist,тАЭ he says. тАЬAnd┬аmost of the homes are million dollar homes, so people can afford to pay more for more elaborate enclosures.тАЭ
One recent Custom Catios client, attorney Cindy Zegal, paid around $30,000 for a sprawling structure featuring a spiral staircase, plush hidey-holes accessed via cat-shaped cutout doors, a 10-foot┬аfiremanтАЩs pole, a plexiglass viewing bowl, ramps and walkways that loop around the home and property. The project required multiple тАЬemergency exitтАЭ hatches for┬аZegalтАЩs cats, Peppermint and Spice.
тАЬWe wanted something that sat with the spirit of our house, which has lots of unique design elements,тАЭ Zegal says. Bird safety, she says, was a secondary consideration.
Other cat┬аowners prefer a DIY approach. In the late 1990s, consultant Phil Price clambered onto the roof of his garage in Berkeley, California, and built a small catio out of PVC piping. Since then heтАЩs spent numerous weekends expanding the enclosure, which now sprawls across a fence to allow his four rescue cats direct entry to his sister-in-lawтАЩs neighboring home.
The cats are happier as a result, says PriceтАЩs wife, Juliet Lamont, a consultant and lecturer at San Francisco State University. And with the cats safely enclosed, the coupleтАЩs garden┬аhas become a haven for nesting songbirds.
тАЬWe have so many nests in the back yard, and this spring we saw more baby birds тАж than weтАЩve ever seen,тАЭ Lamont says. тАЬIt really makes a huge, huge difference.тАЭ
(Updates information about range of pricing in 10th and 11th paragraphs.)
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