Outdoor enclosures (catios) provide cats with environmental enrichment and outdoor access while eliminating risks from traffic, predators, and disease that make unsupervised outdoor access harmful in many environments.
Outdoor enclosures represent a welfare compromise solution that provides environmental enrichment while reducing the significant welfare risks of free roaming. Indoor-only cats without enrichment have welfare deficits that catios substantially address. Free-roaming cats live shorter lives on average due to outdoor hazards, but also experience environmental complexity absent from indoor settings. The optimal welfare solution for most cats is a well-designed outdoor enclosure or cat-proof garden that provides genuine outdoor experience with appropriate risk management.