Catios — outdoor cat enclosures — offer a compromise between outdoor enrichment and safety, supporting cat welfare while protecting wildlife from predation.
Cats are natural hunters with evolved needs for environmental complexity, sensory stimulation, and territory exploration. Purely indoor environments, while safer, can cause boredom, obesity, and psychological stress without adequate enrichment. Unrestricted outdoor access, however, dramatically shortens cat lives through traffic, predators, disease, and toxin exposure. Catios resolve this tension by providing outdoor sensory enrichment — fresh air, natural light, and environmental novelty — within a safe boundary. They also protect wildlife, addressing the ethical tension between cat welfare and the welfare of prey species that free-roaming cats kill.