Prisons. Zoos. Catios.

ecpics
2 days ago
6 min read

An attached catio I built for my own trio. No matter the season, they love spending time here.

Taking off the societal blinders is a lifelong endeavor

Today I’m going to explore the concept and reality of the catio. A confined patio for cats. A catio is an outdoor space typically (but not necessarily) attached to your home that is fully fenced but allows kitty the wonderful sensations of being outdoors. Before I get to catio talk, I want to take a brief look at Prisons and Zoos in order to gain some perspective on the widely accepted practice of the indoor-only cat.

Here are 3 widely accepted qualities that prisons, zoos, and the practice of indoor-only cats, claim to have in common:

They exist for the greater good of society
They are accepted as normal, established institutions/societal practices
They are in place for the safety and well-being of others

Yes, you could argue that we, and all creatures on the planet, live within some confines or prison. No one is truly free to do as they please. But I cannot accept that as a valid rationale for living with the systematic bondage of our fellow creatures. Humans as a species are thriving on planet earth. We have developed a means of passing down information to our offspring at an amazing rate, thus creating a huge body of knowledge and therefore institutions and customs. Sometimes, however, perhaps always, this proliferation of knowledge complicates things to the point of making us sick and unhappy. Sometimes I have a shocking realization that it may always ultimately be for the worse. There’s a reason for this burgeoning societal hunger for a simpler way of living.

Prisons should be in place ONLY for those who are truly a danger to society
Zoos should be abolished
House cats need more than 24/7 indoors living

There.

I said it. To some, these may seem like radical notions. But I truly believe that the inverse (the prevalence of incarcerated humans, zoos, housecats confined indoors 24/7) are skewed positions, unquestioned “norms,” based on ignorance of the full picture.

I don’t want to bog down this short span of life any of us is afforded on earth by dismantling all societal norms and attempting to rebuild them. But I do feel a need to give thought and at least a brief question to the things we humans do and accept as just the way things are. From relationship and gender roles, to diet, religion, work, play, notions of freedom, morality, tolerance… the list seems endless. They all deserve some scrutiny, at least some questioning. Some of these societal norms that lurk in the back of my brain can occasionally kick up some serious discomfort. If they aren’t a part of my daily life, it’s often easy to let them stay mostly dormant. But there are some that just nag me in a vague and uncomfortable way until I must turn and face them. And when I really see them, it’s clear that some need to be torn down. Maybe rebuilt, but certainly torn down.

Out of sight, out of mind. It’s easy to accept these “things” when you don’t really look at what they really do, the harm they inflict on other creatures.

Prisons. My 2 cents

Prisons should be in place ONLY for those who are truly a danger to society.

In the U.S. alone there are 2 million people behind bars (according to Sentencingproject.org). 2 million people behind bars, from a population of 329 million. How did we get here? What gives us the right? There are books written about this subject. In a nutshell, it seems that prisons, the incarceration of 2 million people (give or take a hundred thousand!) in the U.S. alone, exist due to the toxic combination of both fear and ignorance. I do think it is fear which sustains our mass prison system (aided with a “blind eye” that allows us to look unflinchingly the other way.) The questioning of mass incarceration is not new in human history, but it’s often accepted as status quo. Placing fellow humans behind bars has become a burgeoning industry in the U.S. in the past 40 years. Those of us who have never had any brush with incarceration may easily ignore these numbers (and yes that includes me).

Zoos. My 2 cents

Zoos should be abolished.

I grew up loving the zoo. Like so many kids I was fascinated with live views of all the wildlife. But then sometime in early adulthood I became enlightened about what was truly happening at a zoo. Essentially, animals were imprisoned for life for our entertainment, quite often in the guise of education. The defenses for zoos all seemed so shallow.

Even though fear is perhaps a close cousin of ignorance, I don’t believe it is fear that sustains zoos. I think it is ignorance: ignorance of the fact that these sentient beings in captivity live an unhealthy (psychologically at very least) existence. Some would argue that animals in zoos actually live a safer life than they would in the wild. But, would you want a life locked in your house 24/7 because it is safer than venturing outside?

The best defense for zoos I’ve heard is that some of them work hard and long to preserve some of the animals that humans have pushed to the edge of extinction. To them I say Thank You! But we don’t need zoos, or animal exhibits, for that work to continue.

Indoor cats. My 2 bits

House cats need more than 24/7 indoors living.

The controversy of keeping a cat exclusively indoors may seem trivial compared to the previous 2 topics of prisons and zoos. But as the owner/operator of Front Range Pet Care, LLC, in Lafayette, Colorado, U.S.A., Planet Earth, it is something that can’t be ignored for long. It’s about the psychological well-being of a fellow creature.

How do you measure the happiness of a cat? (No cat jokes please.) Most creatures, especially mammals, ones we can relate to, need stimulation: mental and physical. Dogs and cats have an amazing ability to shut down and do nothing if the situation requires it. Is that acceptable?

Dogs are entitled to outdoor space: walks on a leash, dog parks, fenced back yards, open-space trails that allow off-leash romps. I think cats need all that as well. And some people give them that. And that’s probably why there are so many “Missing Cat” posters around town. Maybe far in the future the human race will look back on this co-habitation with cats and dogs as a freakish and cruel period of imprisonment for our cherished housemates. But, for now, we do live with them. How can we give our cats the best quality of life?

OUTDOORS. Free to roam. Outdoors cats rank as the coolest, calmest, most relaxed cats I know. But some kill birds and in turn are eaten themselves by foxes and coyotes. (No, I don’t buy into the faulty math that 4 billion birds are killed annually in the U.S. alone by domesticated cats.)
ON-LEASH outdoors. Give it a try. It ain’t easy! But it can work with patience.
INDOORS (I am a realist!) with an eccentric amount of play structures and windows.
CATIO. A wonderful solution if you have the means to offer it.

Some key ingredients to consider when designing / constructing a catio

Secure framing to house, with roof structure secured with hurricane ties just like your house; don’t want catio blowing apart in a big wind storm
Ideally a metal or shingled roof that won’t be destroyed by hail; a solid roof allows kitty to hang out in all sorts of weather (at least for a brief time!)
If catio is secured to house and accessed via a window or cat door, be sure to have an exterior door to catio as an emergency exit
Use a heavy gauge wire fencing for the vast expanse of catio walls assuring that wire openings are no larger than 2 square inches. Don’t want kitty slipping out, nor predators slipping in!
Get creative for the interior! Plenty of ramps, ledges, perches. Create a hideaway or 2 for kitty to “secretly” study the world
If you don’t know how to build stuff, hire someone who does; tell them your design wish list. They’ll appreciate the challenge!

In the end, I don’t want to preach. That’s not the way hearts and minds are won. I aim to share my experience. You can decide for yourself what’s best for our fellow creatures. All I ask of anyone is to pause and look around. Think about what you see, more than what you’ve been told to see.

Why do particular institutions, and societal practices, exist?

My goal is never to chastise… Always to inspire… A search