It is always nice to get great press, but when it comes from the high-end design magazine Dwell, it’s extra special. The article by Marah Eakin titled, “The Catio Is Ready for Its Close-Up,” dives into my background and discusses the first-ever LA Catio Tour, which features a handful of Custom Catios clients, among others. The piece begins:
About 15 years ago, Alan Breslauer ran into a problem: His two cats just weren’t getting along. They’d break into vicious fights multiple times a day, and since he was living in a small apartment in Los Angeles, the melee was both dangerous and disruptive. At his wits end, he remembered an article he’d once read about catios—essentially, outdoor cat enclosures—and he decided to give it a whirl, throwing up a small version on his balcony. “It made a huge difference,” Breslauer says. “The two cats never became best friends, but they did learn to tolerate each other, and that was huge.”
Several years later, when Breslauer and his wife moved into a house in the Sherman Oaks area, he decided that, since the couple now had a yard, they could build the cats an even larger, “fancier” enclosure. “I couldn’t find anyone to build it, though,” Breslauer says. “We sent out requests all over the place and everyone turned us down. I eventually kind of walked the guy who did our floors through what I wanted, but that’s when I got the idea to start building catios for a living.”
Now, Breslauer—who’s known as @CatioGuy on Instagram, and boasts almost 150,000 followers—owns and operates Custom Catios, one of about 50 companies globally that specialize in custom cat enclosures. He estimates he’s made hundreds at this point, ranging from about $5,000 to $75,000 depending on what bells and whistles the individual cat owner is after. Breslauer’s own catio, which now extends beyond just the original porch enclosure up into the eaves of his home, is perfect for his three cats—Santos Six Toes, Trey, and Herbie the Love Bug—to lounge in, with its multiple shelved levels, rope-wrapped climbing pole, and sight lines to nearby bird feeders and bushes.
Read the entire article on Dwell.