If you have heard of catios but are not sure they would be for you, this article is a little guide to them. Some of our fosterers have them and quite a few other Hertfordshire based cat rescuers and fosterers have them too. They are great for outdoor access without the prospect of a cat getting into trouble with other cats or cars or troubling wildlife or the neighbours flower beds!
They don’t all require a garden, some work with windows and are like a window box type style or larger ones for balconies where the whole balcony is enclosed by a mesh allowing full safe access.
A long term favourite company is Omlet – they used to just do chicken coops but expanded to cats. There are other brands out there and there are DIY options too but if you like the idea of a ready made self assembly one then Omlet are excellent.
Here are some pictures of one of our fosterers catios.
Omlet can be found here: https://www.omlet.co.uk/shop/cat_products/
Other catios can be composed of ready made fruit cages which can work out cheaper though they do not have the easy to open and close metal doors with latches that Omlet has so are not as easy day to day in usage. However, butterfly netting is not as strong or long lived as the wire panels that Omlet use so it will need checking over more frequently in use to look for any breakages/ weak points.
