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Catios, Catio Cat Enclosure, Window Catios, Outback Catios. Outdoor Catios, Catios in DFW
Ok, everything I do is about Catios, Catio cat enclosures, Window catios, and Outback catios. Outdoor Catios, Catios in DFW, and all North Texas. This all started with a friend that had four cats, and she said she had one that always wanted to go out. 2 were 19 years old. They wanted to go out all so. I don’t think that she or I knew what a Catio was. I just made a chicken wire box outside a window out of scraps that I had and the way my first Catio was. She found out it was a catio, 3 of the four cats liked going out. It was just one level—a square box. I will try and post a photo of it. Looking back on it was kinda nice. We both felt strongly about not letting cats get in the bushes and take out our songbirds.
A
fter looking into what Catios were and thinking there was just no real market for them at this time, (2015) so I waited a while and in 2022 I started getting my web site ready and wend into business.
What I wanted to do and still try to get people to do is window Catios. I like them. The cats love them, and I can get four levels in one typically. I try and make everything last a long time. Since I am now about to be 54, I have a good idea of what has happened to wood over 40 years. I just have been around it. But the window Catios I can make in my shop and install them on the house. They should be treated like a table in your home. They will last a long time. You can leave them in your will to people to move them to a new house or sell them. They are kinda luxury items. They should be treated that way.
I do not have the skill to make a computer drawing of everything. This is not really needed for most. I can draw them out on a sketchpad. But I am learning a program now. But like the stretch pad. I can see it in my head, and I can make nice Catios. That is what people like, and that is what I give them. I have built a lot of things in my life and stood for a few years to do oil paintings. My mom was an oil painter. Then I was, and then my daughter was. Now she has a daughter, so I am sure she will be, also. My daughter became a scientist but still likes painting. My daughter has always been a big animal lover. It goes back to working on my dad’s farm. I still remember listing to mockingbirds and how they had so many songs and so many birds. Outside of snakes, skunks, raccoons, and coyotes. My sister and I would sleep outside to watch the stars, and coyotes would come up to within 50 feet and all make that call we all know. But there would be packs of them at the time. Probably between 20 to 30. Let me tell you it was always interesting to hear them that close. They never messed with us. If you want to know more about me, just ask. I am one of those odd people that started working at around 11 years old. Been around construction all my life. I believe in education and have a lot of it in college and with taking all kinds of lectures. But I never got a degree, and I have stayed busy all my life. I have built a wide variety of things. Have had internet businesses. An odd mix, but I did it. I plan on making Catios from now to the end. I like doing it, and to me, they are fun to make.
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Hello, I’m Todd, and will tell you right now. I work in the trades and am not an English teacher, so you will see mistakes in my writing. You have been warned. You can always look at 380handyman.com, and I have more writing on that site. My family moved here in 1978, and my dad left the air force as a pilot to start his own business. He got a piece of land with a fence kinda around it, and we started. We built a house, cow barn, chicken house, a building to build roof trusses in, and a building to hold bundles of lumber that came in on a railroad and then moved to us. Yes, and I was around 11 at the time. Trust me, I did not want to help every day to do all this. But it was in the days that everyone worked. But I pretty much had no choice. As everything was built, we also started building houses in the winter to keep our employees working. Of course, I started branching out and doing all kinds of things. Me and my buddy worked for his dad doing remodeling. We were about 16 or 17, and we started biding doing roofs. Roofs suck. Did not last long.
At the time, we made pretty good money. Min wage was like 2.70, and we made 6.00 an hour. We were rich. Lolol. From all that, I have had a lot of business. I was doing a painting to go to college. Moved to Florida to have an aluminum construction LLC. I took a lot of tests to get licensed there.
Not at all, like Texas. To flush a toilet, you need a license. But the big thing is there are hurricanes down there. I pasted the general contractor text that allowed me to build up to a 3-story building. I never did. But outside of Chemistry in college, it was the 2nd most challenging test I ever had to take. Anyway, I did that till the market dropped out.
Growing up in Texas, we never really see recessions that much. But down there, they were hit hard. Whole shopping centers with just one little business still in it. It got to where people were working for like gas money and food money. I came back to Texas and started doing remodeling again. Moved into being called a handyman.
I wouldn’t say I like that term, but I do not contract out my work. So, I am not a contractor, and I am not a subcontractor. I don’t work for contractors. I don’t like chasing money in the million things that I have done. I did a little show for the police department, or I should say it was like a booth. I wish I had a photo of booth. Did not even look amateur.
It was like a chair. I think I might have had a little table. I got to talking with a cat group, and I cannot even remember their name. To make a long story short, a lady in Dallas asked me to make some portable cages that would fit in a mid-size SUV. And helped her make some walls for her house for cats. Never even knew about Catios.
Somehow all this led to me making a cat enclosure, a window Catio with a lady, and we made it out of scrap stuff. Looked like crape. But the cats loved it; she had two cats that were 19 years old. She had 4, but only three liked going out. We set up a bird feeder off ways. It was like a tv for them. She was so happy. It did not look that bad I did make it.
I did it free, and with things I had already. It was made with chicken wire. And some of it was rusty. And from there, I put it on my website that I will build them. So, calls started coming in. I have a few photos of the few I made. The last one I made was for some pidgins. I also have made owl houses and A indoor turtle area. Yeah, turtle.
I have made a few Fish fountains and little ponds. Lots of birdhouses. All this had been over 40 years. I have an extensive list of odd things I have done. But I am going to go with catios now. Cat enclosures, Shelves for inside your house for nick knacks, Indoor cat play areas, and art stretchers. I used to make them also. I am expanding a shop I have.
Since we build trusses, we have big buildings, so I have taken over part of one for the last 25 years for doing all kinds of things. But now going bigger. Ok, that is about me, I also like stacks of 100-dollar bills if you have any you are not using them—or gold nuggets. And don’t forget about my zombie home-proofing.
You just never know, and you kinda see my evolution of trades. I have made barns and use to have a home automation business, cleaning business, and windows. One time I even thought I would work for Lowes in their pro services, the most boring job I ever had. 401k and insurance were not worth it. Also worked on hurricanes and made outdoor fireplaces. They were real fireplaces in cool designs, had a landscape company, Worked for Wolf nursery as a department head, so I learned plants and chemicals. With my family, we imported Brazilian music Drums and stone-cut birds; we had a plastic media blaster before they became popular. We still have it and do classic cars for restoration. It takes the paint off them. Furthermore, we used to have a contract with the U.S. Gov to repaint those blue mailboxes you drop mail in. Ok, that is enough. I could remember more, but you don’t care. What you want is a Cat enclosure or a pet enclosure. Catio, Deck Catio, window Catio box, Zombie proofing. Catios, Catio cat enclosure, Window catios, Outback catios. Outdoor Catios, Catios in DFW