Heated cat shelter for winter

Family, Education, Health and Pets
1
Hello,

winter is coming and I would like to provide my cats with a comfortable way to pass through the cold weather. They live outside (we have a big garden) and they're used to it.

Unfortunately letting them come in the house is not an option anymore cause last winter both my wife and I suffered from some severe allergic reactions, and we don't want to repeat the experience.

So I was thinking about purchasing some of those heated shelters, one each so they don't fight for it , and place them outside close to the terrace where they usually hang out.

Do you know any good ones? Do you know if they sell them here and where? I'm willing to drive anywhere to find them as the idea to leave the cats outside is already breaking my heart.

2
They don't need heated boxes, they were born with a fur coat. A box with some insulation on the sides and underneath will be adequate.

3
if they are used to living outside they wont need a heated box. as sbrinz says, a dry box with some insulation in a place out of the draft will be more what they would like.

our stable cats also wander around outside all the time (and there is no heating in the stable), and they have a lot of fur which on the outside feels cool, but if you dig a bit deeper you feel how much 'wool' they have and how warm it is

4
Why not buy a wooden shed for the garden and insulate it REALLY well, top, bottom and sides- and provide lots of bedding- even cover the floor with a good layer of hay + bedding on top?

5
Or maybe this would be adequate:

6
Check out instructions from this group on building a shelter for your cats: http://www.alleycat.org/document.doc?id=569

There is also something called a Cat Igloo ( or actually you could probably purchase the small dog version and have it work for you) that has various models and accessories depending on your pets needs.

Good for you for thinking of your furry friends come the colder months. Yes, they have a fur coat and live outside already but creature comforts are appreciated by ALL creatures when time and budget allow.

7
Eggloos would be ideal too, but not cheap.

www.omlet.co.uk

8
Also don't forget food and water needs. We had an outdoor cat when I was a child, and we had to keep an eye on the water bowl because it would freeze over regularly. She didn't have a heated hut, just a small dog-house that was well-insulated.

9
Do NOT use hay, but STRAW.

Hay will get bad, do not dry very well and can cause allergies.

Straw is a very good insulator, will dry very fast if get wet and is very comfortable bedding and easy to replace.

Follow the alleycat.org link mentionned above, very good resource.

Here another good source of infos:

http://www.neighborhoodcats.org/how_...winter_shelter

10
These animal boxes from Landi can be easily modified and insulated with cut styropor sheeting, and then stuffed with straw,

http://www.landi.ch/deu/suchergebnis...B%3A1&ie=UTF-8

11
or one of them red heat lights does wonders

12
My old cat used to live outside in the shed.

In the winter I put one of those heated pads for sports injuries, the kind you would place on say your thigh, on the low setting under her blanket.

Seemed to work well judging by the amount of time she spent on it.

With a cat, they generally just need to be out of the wind and rain, and in a safe location. A shed would be best with the beds up high, IMO.

13
Yep. We once put our cats in a cattery that had heated beds. Apparently they barely moved for a fortnight, and were pretty dischuffed about being taken home

14
We still celebrate the traditions of the 5th of November, and will be able provide a nice warm place for our neighbourhood cats - but for a limited period, only.

15
My family here also have outdoor cats, two of them.

They got a really big wooden box (grandson made it) lined it with thick insulation sheets, put it on a low shelf in the bicycle shed, hung a thick old carpet piece over the entrance (to stop wind blowing in) and put their padded ordinary cat beds inside. The cats love it.

Although now and again they change to sleeping curled up in some old water barrels under the eaves outdoors that have straw inside (depending on the weather) - they can peep over the tops to keep control over the territory.