DIY Emergency Housing for Feral and Stray Cats during Winter. Quick and easy.
With temperatures dropping I started making a shelter for a couple of cats that I have been feeding for several weeks now. Their families moved away and left them to fend for themselves and I can't stand the thought of an animal suffering. If the cats died and I didn't do anything to try and save them I would never be able to live with myself.
The two cats are not very trusting and have only recently stopped running away when we come out to check their food and water supplies.
I first made a waterproof box for them to sleep in during warmer weather. Regular cardboard box that I covered in all weather plastic with clear flaps on the front to protect against any wind or rain. I placed a bed inside for sleeping.
I'm now using that one for their food and water dish. It sits on a patio table under shelter. We'll check it daily to make sure it doesn't freeze, etc..
Next to it sits their new winterized home.
Not very attractive but they seem to be OK with it.
It's a smaller cardboard box inside a larger cardboard box with Styrofoam insulation on all four sides - as well as the top and bottom - placed between the two boxes. I saved the Styrofoam squares from a large patio stool I had ordered earlier.
Perfect fit for each side, the top and bottom. I would have cut the foam to fit if I needed to but fortunately I didn't.
I taped up one end of the box and then cut an opening for the cats to enter. I had to cut through 2 boxes and the center foam piece. I then taped over the gaps created by cutting out the entrance.
I placed a bed mat inside on the floor of the house, along with another bed with sides that fits snug inside the box (on top of the flat mat), and I added a couple of fleece throws for them to wiggle under.
I then taped the other end up after placing the last foam square over the taped inner box. I taped some more and then covered with plastic and all the duct tape needed.
I took some ugly patio cushions I was going to toss and used them as added cushion and insulation. It all sits on a bench with a stool for them to climb up to make it easier for them to reach their house.
We are hoping to catch them and take them to the vet for shots and to be spayed and neutered. The gray tabby is male and the solid blue/gray is female. I'll try to get photos of them but they are still skittish and run to the nearby shrubs to watch us fill their food and water dish.
They were running completely away. So, progress.
Maybe we can find them a home after we get them medical attention. As of now I can't keep them.
This morning we spotted the cats inside the box and instead of darting away they ducked under the mouth of the opening - out of sight, safe in their blankets.
It's an eyesore, I know - but if it saves their lives then it's all good.
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We used to feed an old feral cat we named Cecil. We saw him around the neighborhood and he was looking pretty rough, so I started putting out food. When winter came we built him a house and I bought some of those radiant heat pet warming pads. I guess we took care of old Cecil for about two years.
There were times I saw a raccoon come up (security cameras) and Cecil would just sort of hang out while the raccoon ate his food. I mean, he'd let that raccoon, who could easily kill him, be just a couple of feet away, but he wouldn't come within six feet of us. It was kind of insulting. 
He never got any more tame than when we first met him. Then one day we stopped seeing him, so I guess he probably died. He looked very old.
During the time we were feeding Cecil, another cat showed up sporadically. We call him Mr. B. Just like Cecil, he has never let us near him.
This past summer another cat showed up. She had a collar, so I worked at coaxing her to come to me. I called the number on the collar, but the guy wouldn't return my calls. There was also an address on the collar, so I looked it up, found the owner of the house at that address, and looked him up on Facebook. There were pictures of the cat on his Facebook, along with her six kittens. He said he didn't want them and was going to take them to a shelter. I have a suspicion that the shelter wouldn't/couldn't take them, so he dumped them on this side of town. The cat ended up having three kittens on our back porch before I could get her in to get her spayed. As soon as I discovered the kittens, she moved them. They were hidden for two months, and then she started bringing them around for food. I got traps and trapped them, kept them in the house for a couple of weeks, and got them spayed/neutered. They were extremely unhappy and scared, so I let them go out the pet door one day. I continued to feed them inside, so they'd have to come in for food. So now they're about seven months old and our house is ridiculous. We've got a big cat tree in the dining room, and cat toys all over the place. I'm embarrassed to say how much money I've spent on these guys. The mother is of course as tame as can be. The kittens are very entertaining and two of them will sit on the foot rest of my recliner while I'm playing with them with their toys. My husband told me I should try petting them, but I told him that I thought the best tactic was to just be patient and wait until they "pet" me. I really don't think it'll be long for those two. The third kitten is a calico and has a way more skittish personality.
So we went from a no-pet house to having four cats. Ugh. I'm really more of a dog person. I just don't know about all of this. 
My calico brought me a lizard once. A really big lizard. It was dead and she dropped it at my feet. I thanked her and waited until she walked away before I put it in the trash.
I like lizards but I was a bit startled that a lizard that large was in the house. It was a really big lizard - to say that again. She was a house kitty all the way.
Not sure how I missed seeing that lizard when it was alive though.
Best of luck!
covered with a tarp. The tarp creates a vestibule where we put food and water. Raccoons crashed it a few times, but the cats learned to finish all the food before dark.
* The heated pad is plugged into a thermostatically control outlet that turns on the heated pad at 35 deg F and turns it off when outdoor temps go above 45 deg F
An auto shop near me built some enclosures like this one behind their shop for the ferals.
to the pictures!
Woman, btw. 
Aw.
I'll get them to the vet as soon as I can and up for adoption.
Feral and abandoned cats can and do destroy other wildlife. Maybe I can help both by finding homes for the two cats hanging about now.
and leave their pets behind.
I've had to find homes for several dogs left abandoned over the years. Now I'll do the same for these two cats.
Like you, I can't not help.
I like good people. 
Not helping would have gnawed away at me. So, really, I am being selfish.
Helping feral cats survive THIS winter almost certainly means two or three litters of even MORE feral cats the following year. Each litter could have as many as eight kittens, and the first litter of the year could possibly breed a new generation of feral cats before the year's end. Sadly, they'll all suffer, starve or freeze to death NEXT winter.
Don't misunderstand, I absolutely do NOT advocate cruelty to animals... but it seems like this "act of kindness" only perpetuates and multiplies the problem.
Better than having aggressive, unsanitary and disease-carrying feral animals.
Trapping is much better than shooting.
I understand the concept of catch-neuter-and-release and I'm sympathetic to how someone can allow their emotions of "cute kitties" to affect their judgement. But, I assure you... there's nothing cute about the sickening smells these nuisance animals create. Nor is there anything cute about the fleas and ticks they spread. I don't want them living out the rest of their unsanitary, aggressive, disease-ridden, parasite infested, unhealthy (albeit neutered) lives anywhere near my home.
Last edited Thu Nov 15, 2018, 01:12 PM - Edit history (1)
But, in addition to the other considerations as well. If you're taking the time to harangue me and to make emotional pleas, then I'm certain you must have overlooked (or ignored) where I clearly explained other considerations as well.
But, to review: They're unsanitary, their shit and piss spray stinks, they carry disease, they spread fleas and ticks and mites and fungus, they suffer from anemia, they suffer from (and spread) intestinal worms, etc. Toxoplasmosis is spread by contact with cat shit and can be hazardous to humans with weakened or compromised immune systems (like the very young, the elderly, and it's also a risk to pregnant women and their babies. The sick feral cats are aggressive, they are not part of the ecosystem, they kill wildlife that have no natural defense from the predation of feral cats. They die of exposure, starvation, and highly contagious fatal diseases, such as rabies, feline AIDS, feline leukemia, and feline infectious peritonitis.
These are not cute, fluffy, cuddly kittens with bows around their necks posing pretty in a cozy pink handbasket. Let me be the first to disabuse you of that notion. You will NOT be hugging these wild and aggressive and territorial cats.
I do care. I'm ending the cycle with every cat that I capture and turn over to Animal Control.
I'm doing my part. No guilt at all, thank you very much.
Many years ago, my husband built a two-chambered "cat condo" on our porch. It was a rectangle about 5' long, made of wood, lined with Styrofoam sheets, filled with straw with that sherpa blanket stuff over it. It opened from the top so we could launder the material and change the straw.
Anyway, my husband owned a small convenience store at the time, so we always had boxes of candy in storage. One Halloween, we ran out of minatures so Chuck started handing out full sized Snickers bars. Well, that, of course, brought every kid within a mile radius to our house. He found out from the kids that our house was "the spooky house" because we had a big, scary pine tree in front and "a coffin" on the porch. He explained what "the coffin" was, and the kids "oohed and ahhed" over it. From that point on, all the kids in the neighborhood were our friends and we were no longer "those scary people with the coffin on their porch."
On edit: We always spayed & neutered the ferals in our neighborhood. We had a deal worked out with our vet. She'd do it for a greatly reduced price.
I will get them fixed as soon as I can. That is part of the plan.
Full sized candy givers were my favorite people as a child.
A fun postscript to the "coffin" story is that we managed to tame the ferals who made it their home. One came to live with us, the other with my parents. Since cats no longer had use for it, it became a convenient home to neighborhood possums. We also had a porch swing and one morning as I was going to work, I noticed a light gray "cat" sleeping on the swing. I said, "Hi, kitty!" This needle-nosed face emerged from the furry lump and hissed at me. It wasn't a cat.
What great surprises you got with your "coffin".
I hiss when people wake up me up too.
I had to help them. I don't feel bad about that at all.
Thanks!
Since I want them take them to the vet for shots and surgery.
People have strong feelings.
rare today.
I had to help. To do something.
Now I need to work on getting them to the vet, cared for, and adopted into a forever home.
Thanks, blm.
Gotta love an animal lover. 
We have a farm, and currently, 25 cats. Two are inside/outside, the others are "barn cats". In actuality, only two live at the barn full time, the rest like to hang out around the porch. They have a warm kitty house. All started out as strays, with a couple litters born from moms that showed up pregnant. They are all spayed/neutered, and I just gave everybody their annual vaccinations again.
They have all become love bugs, and all have names. They're very affectionate, and each gets their share of petting and attention. I brought several back with me from Calif. I don't abandon animals, and I can't stand to see one mistreated.
They do catch a few birds I'm sorry to say, but they also catch plenty of pesky vermin. I have huge gardens/landscaping, and they do not tear up anything--chickens are far worse.
They add so much to our lives, along with the rest of the menagerie here.
