Thought the cat people on the forum might enjoy this -- especially you, James. Here's a New York Times article on the newest rage in NYC: catios.

Times Article

Enjoy,

Jim

Hey Jim,

That's AWESOME. LOL, I know it sounds crazy, but this article is 100% on the money. My wife and I, unfortunately, do not have a terrace...but we would really like one. One of the major items of concern would be 'kittycide.' Personally, I am not a fan of cats being outdoors in the suburbs either (they wipe out a lot of the birds, etc) without some sort of limit.

James

You know, I find the ones in the burbs look a bit like mini-prisons. While I think they make a ton of sense here in the City, I don't think you could convince me to get one if I had a back yard (or even a front yard).

James

James,
I've had a lot of cats over the years and we've never had a need to let them outside except for leash walks. For a long time, we had 3 cats along with 7 dogs and they all lived peacefully in the house. The cats had their own places to be and windows to look out of and occasionally had the pool deck with a screened enclosure to roam and "hunt" squirrels.

Here in Florida, there are just too many reasons NOT to let cats roam. The feral cat population is huge and there's a lot of disease. Plus, if you saw the size of some of the hawks that fly over our house, you would not let your cat outside without a leash/harness. Plus, there are Eagles, Gators, and lots of other very accomplished hunters. Nope, our cats stayed inside and were very happy to do so.

Jim

Not smart to let your cats roam in the burbs. Dogs eat them around here. Unfortunately my dogs have gotten two cats that came in our yard(6ft privacy fence) I see them hit on the roads all the time too.

Lots of dangers for loose cats. Thankfully, there aren't too many around here and people do not let their dogs run loose. Nothing you can do if the cats in in your yard though..

We rescued and raised a brain-damaged kitten back in the mid 1990's.

We saw her mom carrying what we thought were mice across the back yard two days in a row and the third day we found two tiny kittens in the front yard. Eyes not even open.

Long story short, the cat had poor motor control and could never be an outdoor cat anyway. We eventually found her a home in Canada with a 360 degree screened in porch, so she had the best of both worlds.

We named her Kitty Mouse.

These Maine Coon cats had a lovely catio they shared with their people... it had people furniture and lots of perches and hidey-holes for the cats, and the wire enclosure doesn't look too bad.
[image]http://CandidCritters.zenfolio.com/p292510214/h2615545#h2615545[/image]

hmm... don't post often enough I guess... try this image