HOW WE BEGAN

How the Catio Lounge and Tea Room Began

At one time I had a sweet calico cat named Keli, who was free to go outdoors as she pleased. A loose dog ended her life. After getting another cat who had never been outside, according to the AFRP shelter where I adopted him, I decided to let him continue to be an inside cat. I had had enough vet bills during the years I had Keli, the vet bills had grown to the point that I could have built more than one catio. But, it had never occurred to me during the time she grew up. It was her demise and the adoption of Ninja, an all black short hair, that I began to think of having some sort of cat enclosure.

Within a year I had adopted more cats; Bambi, Timmy, and Buffy. By this time I had erected an outdoor screened patio and fastened it to the earth beyond my back door. Since it had fabric screening, I could not let the cats go out freely. But at least they could be a bit in nature. But, I always needed to go outside with them to keep an eye on them.

Within a few months, the temptation of birdies flying by caused a problem Bambi, who had lived freely as an indoor outdoor cat for her first three years before I adopted her figured out that she could easily scratch a hole in the screening. I panicked. It set off my nerves and my grief from having seen my Keli being attacked by the dog. I began to cry. My son, who was visiting at the time, went after Bambi. She was fast and wily. At one point he almost had her, but she twisted out of his arms and he fell, injuring himself. We spent the rest of the day coaxing her to come back into the house. She was covered with dirt! She had been rolling in it! I took her to the vet to have her bathed. It cost me way too much!

At that point, I swore I would never let the cats out into our screened in gazebo anymore. Well, at least not Bambi! And soon, not Ninja! He had scratched a hole in the screening too. But at least I caught him before he got away! By this time I had learned about catios from having visited my local shelter where someone had built quite a large one so their cats could visit the safe outside environment. I asked who built it and got the number. But, when I realized that the plan I had in my head would not match my pocketbook, I was discouraged. It really wasn't outrageous, but I just didn't want a window catio. I wanted something just as big as the screened in patio gazebo had been. That was when my son decided to help with the cost.

The catio was built in a few days!