Winter Shelter for Ferals

[Robin]

I am taking care of three feral kittens (7 months+). I've gotten two out of
the three spayed/neutered.....the third is pretty crafty! Of course, I
am worried about the coming winter and I'd like to know what others have
done to protect their ferals. I live in the city, so it's very important
that the shelter not be conspicuous to passers-by who might not appreciate
what I am trying to do for these cats. I found a site with a styrofoam
shelter that seems do-able. I am not handy enough to build the one on the
feral cat page. I look forward to your responses! Robin

[Priscilla Ballou]

In article >,
"Robin" > wrote:

> I am taking care of three feral kittens (7 months+). I've gotten two out of
> the three spayed/neutered.....the third is pretty crafty! Of course, I
> am worried about the coming winter and I'd like to know what others have
> done to protect their ferals. I live in the city, so it's very important
> that the shelter not be conspicuous to passers-by who might not appreciate
> what I am trying to do for these cats. I found a site with a styrofoam
> shelter that seems do-able. I am not handy enough to build the one on the
> feral cat page. I look forward to your responses! Robin

What I did was get a big insulated plastic doghouse, put in waterproof
bedding on top of a grill (my extra oven shelf) over drainage holes
(experience from snow tracked in in the past), and added an
indoor/outdoor heated kennel pad toward the back. The cord from the pad
goes out one end of one of the ventilation slots and plugs into one of
the outside outlets on my house. The "dog" house is tucked away next to
my composter, and an old wheel-less wheelbarrow is leaned over the
doorway to provide baffling from the wind. (There's also a two-part
clear vinyl swinging door on the doorway to the house.)

I know they're using it because I've seen a couple of them come out of
the baffle entrance/exit when I bring the food out in the morning.

My next plan for them is a good-sized covered area for feeding in the
winter, large enough for them all to get undercover while they chow
down. I'm filling some tall plastic buckets with soil for container
gardening next year, but I'm going to use them now as supports for some
kind of flat roof. The whole set-up will probably edge up to my raised
herb bed, so it'll be open only along one long side. I can't decide
what to use for a roof on it. Plywood? I'd prefer something that lets
more light in. Any ideas?

Priscilla

[LauraK]

>I can't decide
>what to use for a roof on it. Plywood? I'd prefer something that lets
>more light in. Any ideas?

The old style wavy plastic patio roofing might be good. It's translucent and
lets in some light. You can probably find some as salvage.


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[Priscilla Ballou]

In article >,
(LauraK) wrote:

> >I can't decide
> >what to use for a roof on it. Plywood? I'd prefer something that lets
> >more light in. Any ideas?
>
> The old style wavy plastic patio roofing might be good. It's translucent and
> lets in some light. You can probably find some as salvage.

A friend's taking me to Home Depot in a week. I'll bet they have the
stuff there new. I'll look it up on their website. Thanks!

Priscilla

[Priscilla H Ballou]

Precious > quoth:

>I live on a farm . we have a few feral cats that come to feed here. I would
>like to build them a outdoor shelter and a place in the barn to keep them
>out of the weather. someone mentioned a feral cat website with directions on
>how to build a shelter. Would anyone have the link. One of our favorite
>feral cats that used to watch as I mixed the horses grain and came to feed
>on our porch was hit by a speeding car, Buster we called him Passed on about
>10 minutes after being hit. He had just started being tame. we wanted to pet
>him and stroke him, but not this way. My husband picked him up from the
>middle of the road and brought him in to the mud room where it was warm, and
>placed him in a large box with some bedding. I called the vet but before
>they called me back, Buster had already passed on. I would like to give
>shelter to the feral cats around our area as I already do animal rescue.
>Please if anyone could lead me to more information and possible some food
>donations, and where to find low cost vet services, I live just outside
>Kitchener Ontario Canada, I would greatly appreciate it

You can get all kinds of helpful information, including plans for a
shelter, at http://www.alleycat.org/resources.html

Priscilla