Oh, what a great idea! That way the cat can get outdoor time without being death to the local songbird population.

Might also be a great idea for people in semi-rural areas where you have to deal with coyotes/bobcats/etc.

When we viewed what would eventually become our new house I was very happy to see that it had a screened-in porch, because it would be great for our cat. She's an indoor cat--we live in the suburbs, but cats that are allowed to roam lead significantly shorter lives, on average--but she loves to be outside. This way she has the best of both worlds. Works on all fronts, except she gets mad at the damn free-range neighbor cats that wander through our yard...sorry, through her territory.

Want... to .... sqeeze.... kitten...

I love this skywalk with the 3 cats in a row:
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2010/06/17/garden/20100617-catio-slideshow-8.html

(Must remember that there are many more pics in the online version of the Home section...)

Oy vey.

I'm with the other reader. That was a huge selling point of our current house was a screened in porch.. I probably would have a catio, if I had the space! :o)

Ha. I read the original article in the NYTimes a few days ago and thought "this make a great article for AT"...

What???

We built a screened porch for our cats last fall, and they love it! Now we will definitely call it our "catio."

Our patio is completely normal, with a wrought iron fence. Abbey Cat loves to go out there to bite the impatiens and sits on our patio chairs and sits and watches the cars go by. She LOVES it. one time, she hopped up on the table and tried to grab some of the vines that were dangling by standing up on the thin (less than 1 inch) wrought iron! We were terrified, but watching closeby, and she intelligently only got three paws up there before freaking out. Such a cute little Abbey Road!
http://www.abbeycatchat.com

For those who cannot do anything elaborate for their beloved kitties just yet, even a plank laid sideways across a corner of the wall, so that it becomes a corner sun-bench for a cat, is good.

My cats used to love their vantage point sun-shelf on my third-floor balcony. Miss them :(.

I want another one! :)
I wish I could do this on my balcony. I'm trying to figure out how I could do it without my complex noticing. :(

If I would have read this a year ago, I probably wouldn't have understood why this is so cute. Actually, I would have rolled my eyes I'm sure.

Now that I have 2 kittens (who are just about cats...) I get it. I was never a cat person and neither was my husband. Then I found 2 teeny tiny kittens who were abandoned by their mom in our yard...I brought them inside for the night since it was too cold for them to survive, thinking that I could somehow find somebody to take them- somebody who liked cats (not us!). Well shoot, within 10 minutes they grew on us and within 10 days I think it was safe to say that i was a full-on cat person. All my past cat experiences have been negative, and I've always been a dog lover. But wow- I never realized how interesting cats actually were until I had 2 of my own.

That being said, I have been wanting to make an outdoor room for mine because they want to go out SO bad! My girl kitty sneaks into our garage any chance she gets and chatters with delight, rolling in any sort of dirt she can find. I don't think I will go all out with a cat walk (although they would just love that!) but a small area would be nice. I know what's next on the project list! :)

I'm not in New York City, so perhaps tenants don't hang on to each bit of space so jealously -- but at least a third of the apartments in my building have home-made catios. Wonderful, simple things can be done with chicken wire, screens, bamboo and latticework, not to mention the opportunities for climbing ivy. And though you might lose part of your view, there's nothing more lovely to watch a cat "taking the air" in one of them.

I love this! My cat longs to be outside, but in an apartment in the city there is no way I can allow her to do that. So now she has to make due with smushing her face against the screens when the windows are open and laying in the sun as it streams through into the apartment. I certainly see myself considering a "catio" when the time comes to buy!

Sorry, I don't think I made it clear that tenants are making these catios on their balconies.

To Ellen Lang Norris/Yellow Canoe:

Welcome to the cat lover's world. Nice save. My four fur balls are all indoor only cats. I live in a rural area and need to keep them protected from wildlife (fox, coyote, raccoon, hawks, wandering dogs) and wild drivers!

For the safety of all our beloved kitties, let me remind everyone to make sure that any plants are "kitty safe." Many plants are toxic to cats (lilies are particularly bad!) The ASPCA is a great resource for this info! They even have a poison control center.

I want the third one!! Too cute :)

My cats love going out on our balcony, off the kitchen of our house. It's remotely possible they might someday try to jump, especially since one side is terraced up a bit, so not as big a fall as the other side. We don't let them out there unless paying attention to them, "just in case".

My big interest, though, is that below the balcony and to one side is a slider from our walk-out basement family room. We had a moderatly expensive cat flap installed when the house was constructed -- not where I wanted it, but where they could put it -- and we haven't used it yet since at the moment it doesn't lead to any kind of enclosure. Our new cat has taught our older cat to jump over the low pen enclosure that used to work to keep him confined, and she also eyed the 6 foot chain link next door with serious interest -- I almost think she could make it over, and then I'd never catch her -- *I* certainly can't!!

So my deal is wanting to make a deck off the sliders that has sufficient "catio" enclosure capability that the cats could be trusted to stay enclosed, but that would also be sensible for us adult humans. I don't really want to go as elaborate as a screen house, and I want as little disruption of views of my landscaping as possible. (I'm working hard on that!) It can't happen this year,though, we are installing our own fencing in front of the chain link and that will cost $3K, so that's it until next summer...

This is SUCH a great idea! When I had indoor cats, I took them outside individually on a leash. People driving by would point and laugh. I'm still hoping it was at the leashed cat. Anyway...

Really, you could let your cat live on a catio most of the time. As long as they don't howl all night. Keeps the birds safe from the cat and the cat safe from the world (which isn't safe for kitties).

That little behbeh kitty is so danged cute!

http://catioshowcase.com/

(found via http://www.moderncat.net/)

I did this in my last apartment. My sister and I stapled strips of screening to a a long board, screwed it to the overhang over my balcony, then stapled the hanging ends of the screening to another long board that I just set on the floor of the balcony. If the cats had really wanted to, they could have gotten between the strips of screening where I overlapped them, but they never had much interest in doing so. They loved that balcony and spent all their time there when the weather was good. And the screening also kept most of the bugs out, making the balcony a lot more comfy for me as well.

Just had to respond to some of the posts above...I've never protected my cats while living in rural areas. They became savvy immediately (one after two years living in a 17-th floor high rise in NYC) and can handle anything. I watched helplessly as one of them outran two former Iditarod huskies when they got loose. Up the tree for 20 minutes and order was restored. They dash across highways (2-lane only) only after sitting along the side of the road to be sure the coast is clear. I've never lost a one. My indoor/outdoor cats have always lived long lives, 18-22 years is the norm. And yes we have foxes, coyotes, raccoons and the like in our backyard, too. With so many trees around they have no trouble getting out of harms' way.
The Catio is great! A girlfriend lives on a small mountain top, very remote, and uses a catio to protect the birds she feeds from her feline friends. They do seem a bit frustrated still, though. I really believe in indoor/outdoor if possible. I call mine in at 9 every night and shut the doors. They sleep the sleep of the dead after all that activity and freedom.

I'm glad your cats have been lucky so far, veslabeachgirl, but there is no question that it is much, much safer for cats to live indoors.

http://www.dumpstercats.org/Articles/InsideCats.htm

http://www.hsus.org/pets/pet_care/cat_care/keep_your_cat_safe_at_home_hsuss_safe_cats_campaign/its_a_dangerous_world_out_there.html

http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/cats/tips/bringing_outside_cat_indoors.html

In all seriousness, keeping a cat indoors that has had exposure to the outdoors is like keeping a whale that has been able to swim in the ocean in a swimming pool! I have two cats, both rescues from the pound. They were outdoor cats before their life with me, and do get very frustrated and cranky if they can't go outside. I know they are happier when they get some "outside" time, even if it's on a patio or porch. This "catio" idea is brilliant, and safer for the whole animal neighborhood (birds, lizards, squirrels, chipmunks, mice, dogs, other cats, my cats!) plus the cats don't get fleas and ticks, like they would if they were to be able to roam. And you won't have your crazy neighbors knocking on your door complaining that your cat is peeing in their flowerbed, or napping on their patio furniture, or that your cat beat-up their cat and you are going to have to pay their Vet bill (both of which have happened to me)!

These catios are amazing. My cat Charlotte doesn't have one, but I do have a nice window ledge for her to sit on, and she does her birding from there in the morning after breakfast.

Both of my cats were street rescues. One wants to go out all the time, and the other will occasionally venture out. But she really loves to sleep during the day, and a nice patch of sun and an open window is heaven.

As for the other, we have an indoor catio under a skylight. There is a 12 ft cat tree my husband built, even though she climbs a ladder and prefers that. Then she can go out on the roof for fresh air in the evening.

We thought both cats would enjoy it, but not so much! This is a good idea for indoor cats, though.

I am a cat fanatic and live in Brooklyn where I am lucky enough to have outdoor space that backs out onto a park. My 2 cats are indoor/outdoor, without a catio, which would be unbuildable for me. But barring protecting cats from actual predators, I find the catio thing rather fussy and absurd, especially the people in the article who are apparently protecting their Bengals , which speaks to a breed oriented owner, which is another flavor of absurdity. Yes I love my cats to pieces and yes it is a risk for them to go out. I had a cat that died after eating ( someone else's) rat poison outdoors, which was tragic. But cats are animals, not children, and I firmly believe they would rather go outside and live a shorter life than than live for longer time stuck indoors.

I am thankful I have a backyard at my house. I let me cats out on leashes, and they love it. Although I have to check on them fairly often because they get themselves woven between chairs and plants sometimes. But when it's summer my boyfriend and I are outside practically every chance we can, so they are easy to watch. =]
If I lived somewhere with a lot more space a catio would be awesome.