| Two weeks ago we had an unexpected snowstorm. | | | | 2. Made the enclosure.There is a shed in the yard |
| The snow melted in a day but it was a wake up call. | | | | with an overhanging roof close to the house, which |
| I live in an area with a lot of stray cats. We have | | | | made a natural place to set up the boxes. We will be |
| been feeding them. Our humane society is overrun | | | | able to clear a route out for them and easily put in |
| with cats and won't take them in; they will be | | | | food and water. Any semi-protected area in your |
| outdoors for the winter. We decided to try and | | | | yard - against a garage, the fence etc. will help |
| make them some kind of winter shelter. I have | | | | against the high winds that come with a snow storm. |
| never built anything in my life and do not own any | | | | We made a platform to set 2 boxes on. You want |
| power tools. We used materials we could get for | | | | the boxes to be off the ground. We put the straw |
| free (boxes from the supermarket), materials that | | | | bales at each end of the platform, up against the |
| could be bought cheaply (space (emergency) | | | | boxes. |
| blankets, hand warmers - a buck at the dollar store), | | | | After that I screwed some hooks into the side of |
| Styrofoam wrap, plastic wrap and a tarp (which we | | | | the shed and hooked a heavy duty tarp over the |
| already had). We were also given 2 bales of straw. | | | | whole thing. |
| Straw is one of the best insulators but unless you | | | | Heavy rocks and cement blocks from an unused |
| live in a rural area, it can be hard to come by. Ask at | | | | pond were put on the bottom of the tarp to hold it |
| your local humane society, animal rescue | | | | down. |
| organizations, riding stables etc., they may know | | | | It's not a pretty site, and until the first big |
| where you can get some. So this is what we did. | | | | snowstorm hits we won't really know how well it will |
| 1. Prepared the Boxes.Taped the boxes shut and cut | | | | hold up. But its already being used, so the cats know |
| an entrance hole in the side. | | | | its there and we hope it will afford them enough |
| We covered them in the Styrofoam wrap for | | | | protection when the worst of winter hits. |
| insulation. (If you have those blocks of Styrofoam | | | | We enclosed one other area. On the back steps |
| that electronics usually come packed in, use it.) Just | | | | landing there is bench area with just enough space |
| secure it to the outside of the boxes. | | | | for one box. We put a sheet of wood over the |
| Next we covered the insulated boxes in heavy duty | | | | benches to form a roof, put a tarp over the sheet |
| plastic to keep them (boxes and cats) from getting | | | | of wood and secured it to the floor with cement |
| wet. Large heavy duty garbage bags could be used | | | | blocks and then put heavy duty plastic all around the |
| instead. | | | | railing to keep out the wind and snow. |
| A space blanket was then taped over those two | | | | One big purchase was made, a microwave disc that |
| layers to help keep in their body heat. | | | | can be put under the blanket and will give heat for |
| A thick layer of straw was put on the floor inside the | | | | up to 10 hours. That's in case we get hit with some |
| box. On top of that is a self-heating cat blanket. You | | | | really low temperatures and the straw and hand |
| can make your own by folding a small blanket and | | | | warmers just aren't enough. It did go down to -30 C |
| putting a space blanket in between the layers. | | | | a few times last year. |