[Bloomberg]( If you're a Bloomberg Green subscriber and want to start getting our weekly Pursuits newsletter on Wednesdays,[sign up here](. If you're a Bloomberg Pursuits subscriber and want to start getting our daily Green newsletter, [sign up here](. Patios for Cats By Ben Whitford Brenda Thompsonâs yard in northeastern Los Angeles is an avian paradise. Hummingbirds, goldfinches, juncos, and crows, among other bird varieties, splash in her fountain, guzzling sugar-water and nibbling the seeds she sets out. Now and then a neighborhood cat strolls along, and tries to go after and grab at the birds. Luckily, Thompsonâs own cats, Cooper and Fizz, have no blood on their paws. Thatâs largely because Thompson has built them a $10,000 âcatioâ â a cat patio. The wood-and-wire enclosure opens off Thompsonâs dining room and loops around the back of her house, allowing Cooper and Fizz to get fresh air and feast their eyes on feathered visitors while ensuring they never get within pouncing distance. âWe sit and watch the birds a lot from our deck â and now the cats can come and watch the birds as well,â Thompson says. The wood-and-wire enclosure opens off Thompsonâs dining room and loops around the back of her house. Source: Brenda Thompson Each year, Americaâs roughly [58 million]( domestic cats kill an estimated [2.4 billion birds](, according to the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Increasingly, bird conservation groups such as the Audubon Society and the American Bird Conservancy are promoting catios as a way to reduce the bloodshed. Cat-lovers and bird-lovers arenât natural allies, with feline bird predation historically a source of considerable tension, Portland Audubon conservation director Bob Sallinger says. âCat and bird welfare groups had been at each otherâs throats over this issue,â he says. But in recent years, catios have emerged as a solution both sides can agree on. âThis is a way to address the conflict thatâs humane and appeals to cat lovers and bird lovers alike,â Sallinger notes. DIYers have been building backyard enclosures for cats since at least the 1980s, but as awareness of the environmental impact of free-roaming cats has grown in recent years, the need for a reliable solution became more apparent. More formal cat patios, designed and built to the specs of oneâs house to ensure no inadvertent escape by the feline, have emerged as a popular solution. âPeople have really embraced it â itâs become part of the culture, and weâre seeing lots of them around town,â says Sallinger. Brenda Thompson has built her two cats a $10,000 âcatioâ â a cat patio. In some parts of the U.S., the structures have caught on so much that theyâre a part of the local landscape and even an attraction for visitors. Portland Audubon has teamed with the Feral Cat Coalition of Oregon since 2013 to sponsor an annual walking tour highlighting the cityâs 600-plus catios. Most years, the tour draws between 1,200 and 1,300 attendees; last September, the groups hosted a virtual tour with 700 participants paying between $15 and $25 to access professionally produced videos, 360-degree interactive panoramas of catio interiors, and live Q&As. Wildlife groups now run similar tours in at least seven other cities, including Austin, Texas and Halifax, Nova Scotia. And more than two dozen small companies have sprung up to serve the burgeoning demand. Catio Spaces, based in Seattle, is one of them. Founder Cynthia Chomos has built around 300 catios since starting her business in 2013. The enclosures can cost from $500 to $5,000. Materials, mostly wood, account for about half of that, Chomos says. And so far, rising lumber prices havenât hurt her business. âWeâre so busy right now,â she says. âCat parents see this as an investment in the health and well-being of their cats.â Cat owners also are sanguine about the risk of an idiosyncratic addition adversely affecting home values. Many catios are built to be easily disassembled; Chomos says about half of her clients simply take the catios with them if they relocate. âThe other half have left their catios in place, because dog or cat owners are buying their home and like the idea of having an enclosed outdoor space,â she says. Alan Breslauer Source: Custom Catios In Los Angeles, one of the hottest catio markets right now, Alan Breslauer charges five-figure sums to build high-end patios that he describes as âcat Disneyland.â The former marketer became a full-time catio designer in 2017 when he founded Custom Catios. âWeâre located in Los Angeles, where everyoneâs an environmentalist,â he says. âAnd then all the homes are million dollar homes, so people can afford to pay more.â One recent Custom Catios client, attorney Cindy Zegal, paid around $30,000 for a sprawling structure featuring a spiral staircase, plush hidey-holes accessed via cat-shaped cutout doors, a 10-foot firemanâs pole, a plexiglass viewing bowl, ramps and walkways that loop around the home and property. The project required multiple âemergency exitâ hatches for Zegalâs cats, Peppermint and Spice. âWe wanted something that sat with the spirit of our house, which has lots of unique design elements,â Zegal says. Bird safety, she says, was a secondary consideration. One recent Custom Catios client paid around $30,000 for a sprawling structure featuring a spiral staircase, plush hidey-holes accessed via cat-shaped cutout doors, a 10-foot firemanâs pole and more. Source: Custom Catios Other cat owners prefer a DIY approach. In the late 1990s, consultant Phil Price clambered onto the roof of his garage in Berkeley, California, and built a small catio out of PVC piping. Since then heâs spent numerous weekends expanding the enclosure, which now sprawls across a fence to allow his four rescue cats direct entry to his sister-in-lawâs neighboring home. The cats are happier as a result, says Priceâs wife, Juliet Lamont, a consultant and lecturer at San Francisco State University. And with the cats safely enclosed, the coupleâs garden has become a haven for nesting songbirds. âWe have so many nests in the back yard, and this spring we saw more baby birds ⦠than weâve ever seen,â Lamont says. âIt really makes a huge, huge difference.â Some other reads⦠Buying these green products won't necessarily help save the planet, but it will help save your conscience. [Check out]( the latest Good, Better, Best â our guide for buying eco-friendly surfboards, bar soap and black tea. We look beyond the fancy packaging to help you find the best brands for the climate, whether youâre looking for [sunscreen]( or [diapers](. Source: Vendor - A disease is killing corals in [Turks and Caicos]( is spreading fast.
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