Feeling sad for your indoor cat? Build them a Catio

I love my cat Mikey, he's cheeky, bold and inquisitive. He's not my first cat either. I've had 3 cats, each as fearless as the last. When I got my first cat, Lyla, a wee domestic longhair, we lived in a second storey flat so she was a house cat but to be honest, I always felt a bit sad for her as she would stare out the window from her rediculously big cat tree ( designed to be stimulating and to give her a better quality of life) but it always fell short of letting her go out and feel the wind through her fur.

Anyway, when she was 3, we got our second cat, Meir, he was a lilac point ragdoll who was absolutely bred and intended to be an indoor cat. However, soon after he joined our family, we moved to a house and much to our surprise Lyla decided to make a break for freedom and became an out door cat. Free to roam, roll on the grass and sleep on the sun warmed patio in our back garden.

Yey for Lyla, she's getting to live her best life but I felt guilt ridden about my boy Meir with his fancy breeding as people might steal him or due to his docile nature he might get run over. He tried to get out occasionally so I bought him a cat harness and retractable lead so that he could go out in the back garden and he loved it but I was scared to let him be free to roam.

A few months passed and one day while I was standing at the kitchen sink a big fluffy ball of fur fell from the sky. My beloved rag doll was so desperate to get out that he jumped from an upstairs window into the garden. Thankfully he was unscathed but after that day he became an outdoor cat too.

That was 12 years ago, but had this story taken place today, I'd not have had to feel the guilt of keeping them in or the constant worry I felt letting them out.....I'd have built a Catio, like the one a customer asked us to build for her last week, it's such a great idea. If you have a pedigree breed or you live near a busy main road but want a safe space for your cat outdoors, why not get in touch. Made to measure enclosures to suit any space can be built and in use within a few days of work starting!