OmahaNebraska.com Interview with Sarah Dunsmore, Owner of Catios

 The Catios, A Quirky Cat Hotel in Benson

We want cats to feel safe here so that they can get into the enrichment, including the outdoor catios (cat enclosures that extend outdoors). So initially when we check them in, we put them in the smallest space available.

 This is so awesome. 

Oh, thank you.

 The glass wall opens up like a garage door.

Yes. It opens all the way up. As you can see, the catios are totally secure, so there’s no way anybody could get in or get out.

 Oh, nice.

It’s so nice. So it’s open air during the nice weather.

 They can watch everything.

The cats just love it. And in the winter it’s perfectly fine to keep the glass wall in place because they want the view.

 They want stimulation. That’s what cats need.

Absolutely, yeah. We’ve got nothing in here that could hurt a cat and nothing the cat could hurt. This little cat grass catnip bar is one of our favorites. Clover likes to sit in it, so it’s a little trampled down at the moment, but the cats love to just kind of walk up and put their paws up and nibble up high, but they can do it down low. These cat trees are just about as sturdy as they get. We have some really big cats that come in, but we’ve got little, small kittens as well.

 Clover’s going to demonstrate that.

Yeah, he’ll show off for sure. Full disclosure: Clover is my cat, so he’s kind of the Catios cat.

 He’s the boss cat and a benevolent dictator.

Kind of. He’s huge. He’s only seven months old, so he’s a big guy.

 This is so cool. It’s like “Take Your Cat to Work Day” every day.

It’s the absolute best. And here’s Miss Trixie. She’s a little bit bashful, but she actually only has three legs, so we have two here that have only three legs, but she’s just about as sweet as they come.

 Is she a resident here?

She is not. She’s a guest from far out in rural Nebraska. Her parents are on a beach vacation.

 So now she has a nice place to have the stimulation.

Yes. And Bella is here for five weeks.

 She looks like she’s right at home.

Her mom’s in the military. Oh, she’s so at home. She’s even become a little bit territorial about the place because she really feels at home.

 This is a nice place and she wants to be in charge.

She does want to be in charge, but she’s a great cat, so it’s pretty good. Everybody’s got choices. The cats have their choice to go in their suite. They know that that’s where their food is. They know that’s safe.

 Because they’re territorial. But they don’t have to stay inside their space. They’re not penned in.

Exactly, and they’ve got choices. They’ve totally got choices. Now everybody’s coming out. All these three guests are super comfortable, so they’ll kind of explore each others’ space a little bit, which is hilarious. And then every night, every guest, I send their parents a detailed report card. It has a full report of what they did during the day… photos, videos… which is super, super well received because when your cats are not with you, you want to know what they’re doing.

 Clover’s doing a demonstration, I see (enthusiastically playing with a spinning ball toy).

He’s just the happiest cat, and with him being disabled (Clover has three legs), it makes him non-threatening to the guests that come in. He makes the shy cats feel comfortable because he’s not aggressive and he’s very playful. You can tell he’s eaten all the feathers off that toy, but he still enjoys it. He’s a very simple guy.

 Is he a Maine Coon cat?

He is a little Maine Coon.

 He has the tufts on his ears, and different paws.

They’re a little bit webbed, so they’re very good with water and they’re very into water. We’ve got a little running water fountain. He loves that, too.

 Very cool.

This little area over here, we try to make it like a living room where they can feel comfortable. My staff is comfortable and wants to come and kind of hang out so that the cats are just around.

 They’re sociable.

They’re so social. Bella’s mom that went for the military training, she lives in an apartment and she’s like, “She’s way too social for me to just have somebody come in once a day.”

Some cats are okay with that, but I don’t think they’re totally happy with that. 

And for a long-term solution, she was like “She needs to be here.”

 This is much better for stimulation.

Yes. And what I find is even people that are like “My cat does not get along with other cats. You’ve got to keep them away”… those cats even really enjoy just being in the presence of other cats, even if they just kind of admire from a distance. They might stay in their suite…

 And just observe, yeah.

Absolutely. So it’s a pretty good model. It has worked out really well, and I’ve had so many pet parents tell me they’ve learned so much about their cat and what they need to improve at home. A lot of people realize they don’t do enough enrichment at home, and their cats are having behavior problems at home.

 Right, because of that.

Yeah, absolutely. So it’s a pretty good gig. We have a good time around here and the feedback thus far for this sort of model has been really, really positive. People have seen their cats have a good time while they’re gone, which is just peace of mind.

 Oh, yeah, you can enjoy your vacation much more when you’re not worrying. And the cats are happy.

So happy. Look at Bella. Clover is kind of on the payroll, but these are not paid actors. They really enjoy their… boy, he’s really hamming it up.

 Doing the demo, yes. I love that fluffy tail.

Oh, yeah. He’s not the sharpest tool in the shed, and he’s easily entertained. He’s a perfect cat as sort of the ambassador for this place, because he really puts other cats at ease. Trixie was not used to being around other cats. She’s been here three days, and she knows she’s safe here.

 So when did you open?

I opened in early spring of 2024. We’ve actually had the building for almost 2 1/2 years, but two years ago I had a health scare where I went into cardiac arrest and my heart stopped and had to be re-started. I had worked in a really stressful job up until then and I was trying to get out of it and move into something calmer. My health scare was almost like confirmation that we were totally on the right track. It just took us a little longer to open because when we bought this building it had been uninhabited for a long time. It was initially built as a service station in the ’50s, and when the service station stopped operating, the owner of the building used it for storage.

 How did you come up with the concept of The Catios?

My husband and I have a company called CDE Animal Cages, and we install animal enclosures for animal shelters all over the nation. CDE stands for “Cats, Dogs, and Everything.” On a local level, we can come out to people’s homes in the Omaha area and install custom-built catios like the ones that we have here.

 The neat thing is that if someone is interested in adding a catio to their home, they can schedule a visit here and see how much the cats are enjoying the sunshine and the fresh air. 

Yes, absolutely. I had it open yesterday, and every guest that I have in here was out there basking in the sun. The cats are just like us humans, and they are so excited about the nice weather.

 When we talked earlier, you mentioned that some of your guests are so happy here that they aren’t in a hurry to go home.

Totally. Just recently, one of our guests really gave her mom a run for the money when she tried to get her into the carrier to go home. She usually gets into the carrier with no problem at all, but this time she was hiding from her mom. Our guests do have a lot of fun here.  We’ve had several customers that have sent me emails or written a review and said that they learned so much about what their cat likes, just by reading the report cards that I give them every night. Many people have gone out and purchased items like the ones we have here or they’ve planted their own little cat grass bar at home. They didn’t realize their cats actually were interested in more enrichment until  they saw how happy and engaged their cats were while they were staying here.

 Oh, that’s really wonderful. So you’re enriching cats’ lives after they go home, too, by exposing their people to what their needs are and how they can have an optimal life.

Yep, absolutely.

 And cats can live a long time. We had a cat that lived to be 21 human years old.

Oh, goodness, yeah. Well, if you can believe it, I had a guest here back in December, and she was 25.

 Wow, I never knew there were any cats older than 21. 

We’re very comfortable hosting cats with special needs, whether they are elderly or need medication administered. Our goal is to meet both the cat and the pet parent where they’re at. Your cat doesn’t have to be super social. We can cater to their specific needs.