How to make a Very Quick, Easy, Inexpensive Shelter for your Cat or Feral Cats ...Give a Little Love to Feral Cats this Winter

How to make a Very Quick, Easy, Inexpensive Shelter for your Cat or Feral Cats ...Give a Little Love to Feral Cats this Winter

As my regular readers will know I love cats ....we have two beautiful cats that live with us and can go outside whenever they like but we also have a Feral cat that lives on our front porch.
His name is Big Daddy.
We gave him this name when he was a large Tom that would roam around the area looking for lady cats.
As years ago we had a large Feral cat problem but with the help of Neighbors we managed to get them fixed and now there is only Big Daddy left .
He is very old and frail ....he waits for me to get up in the morning with his nose to the front door and comes back again at just before dusk for another mouthwatering meal.
He sleeps around the garden and on the front porch in the day.
He is very talkative and chastises me if I am late with his meal.
So each year we make him a shelter on the front porch.
​We usually make it out of boxes but this year I wanted one that was more excessible for checking on him and cleaning it.
​Danny and I came up with this simple idea.

We went to our closest Dollar General shop and purchased this plastic storage tub ..Danny chose the blue as Big Daddy is a boy ...there were lots of colors to choose from.

We then went to our nearest Truck Stop 'Loves' and purchased a Styrofoam Ice Box ...that you would buy to store cold drinks in etc...

The Ice box fits in the storage tub perfectly across and leaves a small space for Big Daddy to enter the storage 

Danny used a tub from a Cool Whip container that was approx. 5 1/2" diameter to mark out the penciled line for the entrance to the tub ...then cut the hole out with a little hand blade ..pointing out that it would be much easier with an electric Jig saw but he couldn't be bothered to go down in the basement and get it and deal with the wire ...ha! ha! ...he cut it out easily.

Danny also cut the same size hole in the ice box but off set it to the side so that Big Daddy can curl up in the larger area at the side 

This ice box will give Big Daddy a floor that is warm styrofoam and 4 sides plus with the lid on the roof ..his body should radiate heat in to the styrofoam and make a warm bed for himself.

On below freezing days I can even put food in this little gap in the entrance to the tub.

I purchased a yard of fleece fabric and cut it in two ..so that each week I can remove the dirty one and replace it with the clean one ...this will also stop Big Daddy
from scratching the floor up too much.
As you can see I can take off both lids very easily to vacuum and clean out his little shelter every week.

So here is the shelter in place ...it's at the North end of the front porch that has a large covered roof over it ..the North winds can't get in the shelter as the entrance is facing South ..I then put a flower pot in front of the entrance to block the other winds and to give him a bit of security ..plus the tub is wedged by the rocking chair so that the winds won't move it ...if you can't do this you could place some large stones or a concrete block on the top ...
I hope that this may be useful to those that love cats 
I have also found that Opossums love to sleep in such shelters ....but they won't enter this one as it will have Big Daddy's scent on it.
I have also placed it far away from the front door of the house so that our cats can come and go on the porch without Big Daddy thinking it's part of his lair and getting territorial.

This is Big Daddy ...Hiding ...he won't come near us even though we have been feeding him for around 10 years ...he must be somewhere between 12 to 15 years old.

Thanks so much for popping by 

Please think of animals and birds this winter.

Even if it's just by replacing water in the frozen bird baths or containers as often as you can.

They will all be very grateful.

Toss out some kitchen scraps.

Happy Days to you all 

Janet