So far, all they have is an idea, a business license and a website. But Oak Harbor’s Carlton Hughs and Jennifer Coleman hope to make a go of Cat Creations, a home-based business making wooden enclosures that let cats safely enjoy the outdoors.
“I really have a lot of belief in this product,” said Hughs, 59, during a recent visit.
Added Coleman, 41, “There are a lot of people with indoor cats who spend a lot of money on their animals, and this is the safest way to let a cat get fresh air and see what’s going on in the world.”
To date, the couple have sold none of their custom-made enclosures. They’ve created a production area in their garage and have made up postcards advertising the product, pinning them up at some community bulletin boards.
They just built a basic website.
But money is tight.
They plan to change all that. They’ve taken out a loan to buy a computer and took some classes at the library to go online.
In a year, they’d like to be selling as many as five enclosures per week.
Hughs is a former carpenter and cabinet-maker who worked as a foreman for Fine Wood Cabinets in Oak Harbor. He prides himself on the sturdy, durable design of the enclosures. They’re made of exterior-grade fir and hemlock, with cedar as an option, and wrapped with vinyl-covered 2-inch by 3-inch steel mesh. The frames use torsion-box construction for greater strength.
Interior layouts can be ordered with a varying number of levels and interconnecting ramps.
Both freestanding and window-mount enclosures are available. All are custom-made to a customer’s measurements.
The prototype, a 2-by-4-foot by 7-foot freestanding model costing $400, is designed to snug up under an eave.
An optional small swinging door allows cats easy access from inside the house. The 3-by-3-foot by 1-foot window-mount model, costing $190, is easily bolted over a sliding window.
Plans now call for local sales exclusively, though Hughs said he’d like to design the units so they can be shipped flat and assembled by purchasers.
There is no local competition, and out-of-town competitors tend to charge much more for comparable models, the couple said.
To judge from the reaction of Ebony, the couple’s one-year-old foundling black cat, the enclosures are a wild success. She scampered as if on cue throughout all three of the prototype enclosures installed at the couple’s house.
“She seems real satisfied to be in them, even when it’s nasty out,” Coleman said. “She is absolutely as happy with them as she would be to go outside.”
“In fact, she’s terrified to go outside.”
The enclosures not only keep cats in but keep predators and other cats out, she noted.
Add a bird feeder nearby and “you’ve got cat heaven.”
For more information go to CarltonsCatCreations.com
