Monthly Archives: January 2009

By popular request, more cat shelter ideas and photos!  These all come from the Cat Houses & Shelter Flickr group and show several creative ideas for outdoor cat shelters.  Also, Kim from Mendota Companion Animal Hospital has offered to donate two Igloo dog houses if anyone needs assistance providing shelter for their outdoor kitties.  Please email or call us if you could use those. Extra thanks to Kim for those, and also for contacting Mendota High School about shop classes undertaking outdoor cat shelters as a class project.  What a great idea!

A fine shelter built from scrap lumber:

A recycled foam cooler:

A little bit fancier, note the sloped roof for run-off:

This is actually a covered litter box, taped together, stuffed with and surrounded by straw for insulation:

This nook right up against the house provides a nice wind break and easy access for feeding:

Another homemade scrap lumber shelter.  As you can see, they’re not picky!

Old carpet lining this box provides some much appreciated creature comfort:

An old dryer.  Notice the shelf inside and light for heat:

And finally, for the truly handy, here is a two story villa with separate feeding and sleeping rooms:

Mumford waits patiently in his carrier before surgery.  Mumford was our 100th cat to be sterilized, vaccinated, eartipped, and returned to his outdoor home where his caretaker will continue to provide him food, shelter, and compassion.  Since of August of 2008, IV Cat Taxi has sterilized 109 cats from our local area!

Below are some great suggestions on ways anyone can build an inexpensive, highly effective outdoor cat shelter for these cold winter months.

My favorite shelter comes from the CSM Stray Foundation and uses any Rubbermaid-type storage bin, available at Walmart, Target, Home Depot, etc.  For this shelter, the only requirements are the storage bin, a sheet of Styrofoam insulation (available at any home improvement store), a box knife, and some straw.  One full sized sheet of Styrofoam makes several shelters, so depending on the size of your bin, these could be made for $10-20/ea.

Instructions for the CSM Winter Shelter:

1. Cut a doorway six inches by six inches in one of the long sides of the storage bin towards the corner.  To prevent flooding, cut the opening so that the bottom of the doorway is several inches above the ground.

2. Line the floor of the bin with a piece of Styrofoam, using a box cutter to cut out the piece of appropriate size.

3. In similar fashion, line each of the four interior walls of the bin with a piece of the Styrofoam.  Perfect cuts are not necessary.  Don’t make the Styrofoam go all the way up to the top of the bin, but leave a uniform gap of at least three inches between the top of these Styrofoam wall pieces and the upper lip of the bin.  There needs to be room for an interior Styrofoam roof to fit.

4. Cut out a doorway in the Styrofoam where it is lined up with the doorway that has been cut out already in the storage bin.  Trace the outline of the doorway on the Styrofoam first before cutting.

5. Stuff the bottom of the bin with straw or other insulating material to hold the Styrofoam interior wall pieces in place.

6. Cut out a Styrofoam roof to rest on top of the interior wall pieces.

7. Cover the bin with its lid.

Another option comes from the PACT Humane Society. This very popular shelter doubles up on insulation by placing one Rubbermaid bin inside of a slightly larger Rubbermaid bin:

The inner bin is an 18 gallon Rubbermaid “Roughneck Tote”, though any variety or brand will work.  Average cost is $5.
The outer bin is a 35 gallon Rubbermaid “Latching Tote”.  Average cost is $15.
The pink insulation is 1″ Styrofoam available at any home improvement store for $10-15.
Fill with straw, seal up tightly, and you have a very warm, simple to build cat shelter for about $30.00.

Here are two more photos from Urban Cat League showing completed cat shelters in varying sizes:

No matter what type of shelter you build, here are some helpful tips:

Straw (not hay) is the best insulator.  Towels and blankets hold moisture and attract mildew, and are therefore not recommended.  Shredded newspaper is an alternative if you cannot locate straw, but it will need to be changed as it gets wet and ruined.

Using earth tone bins will blend in best with the environment, making it more aesthetically pleasing to you and any neighbors, and also more natural in appearance to the cats.

Place your shelter in a secluded spot where the cats will be undisturbed.

Orient the shelter to block the entrance from receiving direct wind and rain/snow.  Weigh it down if necessary to keep it stable.

Other shelter ideas:

Feral Villa sells a pre-made, ready-to-use shelter that can be shipped right to your door.

Walmart, Home Depot, and Mendards all sell insulated dog houses.  Shorten up the doorway a bit, and you have a cat house!

Garden sheds, barns, garages, and outbuildings are all ideal for outdoor cats.  Leave a door cracked for them, or even cut a small hole in a door or wall panel for them.

Heated water dishes have come down significantly in price lately – you can get one locally for about $12.99.

Oil filled radiator heaters are the safest way to heat an outbulding for your cats.  They are safe to use around straw and bedding, heat large spaces efficiently, and don’t get hot enough to burn you or a cat when touched.  1500 watt oil heaters are widely available locally for $38-60.  In my experience, one heater left on the high setting will heat an insulated 1 car garage to about 50 degrees, even on the coldest night.  They are much safer and more efficient than heat lamps!

Smoochie had twice been spotted hunting for mice behind the Whistle Stop restaurant in downtown Mendota.  Twice we watched her skillfully catch a mouse and then carry it ‘home’ somewhere across the railroad tracks, crossing Rt. 34 and darting in between cars.  On the third day she appeared I decided to say hello to her.  Much to my surprise, she ran right up to me, rubbing and purring.  I quickly snatched her up and headed inside with her.  She had no collar and was painfully thin, but was still extraordinarily affectionate.  We quickly set her up with food and water and watched her inhale her food with lightning speed – this was one hungry kitty!  That afternoon we posted flyers in case someone was missing her, put an ad in the newspaper, and checked her for a microchip – all to no avail.  No one claimed this gorgeous, sweet creature who was now in hog-heaven being indoors where the food and affection came regularly!  Two weeks later we had Smoochie spayed, got her all the vaccines she needed, had her FIV/FeLV tested, treated her for any fleas, ticks, or ear mites she may have had, and began looking for a new indoor home for her.

Fortunately, it wasn’t long before Smoochie’s affectionate nature won someone over; she was adopted and found her forever home.  Smoochie now lives in the company of two other rescued cats and has her own special spot on the back of a sofa where she is free to bask in sunlight and visit the food dish whenever she pleases.

IV Cat Taxi’s first public transport was in August of 2008. At that time, we had no idea whether there would be any public interest in our service, or whether people would even be willing to pay $25 to sterilize their cat. Imagine our delight when only one week into August we were booked through September! From August to December of 2008, we went from transporting 5 cats at a time, to 10 cats at a time, to our current cargo load of 20 cats per trip! We did all of this with no formal advertising, relying only on word-of-mouth from local animal rescuers and some flyers. Our experiment was working – people did care about feral cats, they would spend 25 precious dollars to ensure the health and safety of their barn cats! In a world that is, at times, merciless to animals, compassion was thriving – IV Cat Taxi was a success.

In the four months we operated in 2008, we spayed or neutered 83 cats! As anyone who has ever had barn cats can tell you, 83 adult cats will make A LOT of kittens, who in turn will make A LOT more kittens, and the cycle continues exponentially. Even by conservative estimates, sterilizing 83 cats will prevent thousands from being born. Thousands will be spared death by euthanasia in shelters, by vehicles on the road, by coyotes, or human cruelty. It’s easy to see how spaying and neutering makes such a dramatic improvement to the lives of our feline friends. At IV Cat Taxi, we firmly believe this is the single best use of our time, money, and resources. If we prevent them from being born in the first place, we have no need to rescue them, shelter them, or euthanize them. The sad cycle stops and a new one of compassion begins.

Additionally, we learned that there are a tremendous amount of folks in our local area who are passionate cat advocates. As lifelong animal lovers, even we were surprised to hear from so many people who are feeding outdoor cats, rescuing them from the streets, adopting them out, and advocating on their behalf. I know that when the time comes, there will be tremendous support for TNR as local government policy, instead of the outdated killing system we have now.

As we look towards 2009, we are extremely optimistic. At a cost of nearly $1000, we have 20 brand new humane wire cat carriers, the kind needed to bring cats into the clinic – which means we can now transport 20 at a time. IV Cat Taxi has moved from an informal volunteer movement to a legitimate corporate entity, with our 501(c)(3) charitable status paperwork already filed with the IRS. Charity status will allow us to apply for state and federal grants which already exist to help spay and neuter feral cats. It will also allow the public to make tax deductible donations to keep us running.

In 2009 we hope to double the number of cats sterilized every month. That goal would make a tremendous impact on our local cat populations and bring noticeable relief to our animal control systems. We need your help to achieve this goal. We ask that you spread the word of our services to anyone with outdoor cats. This is the single most important way you can help us, and help cats. You can even print our flyer to hand out or put in in public places like the library, grocery store, or coffee shop. We also need your help advocating for outdoor cats, let your voice be heard that you don’t want your tax dollars wasted by killing feral cats; support Trap-Neuter-Return by telling your city council, your neighbors, friends, and family that there is a better, more humane method of animal control.

We look forward to seeing even more of you in 2009. We thank you, and the cats thank you!