Colony Care

Insulating materials

More protection against the cold

For extra warmth, add insulating materials inside your shelter which the cats can burrow into. Best is straw. It can be purchased online by the bale from Home Depot or in smaller amounts from The Kitty Tube or craft stores like Michael's. Horse stables and nurseries sometimes also have straw for sale. Keep an eye out for autumn displays using straw - see if the owner will donate it when the decorations come down. If you can't find straw, shredded newspaper will work.

Avoid using hay which, unlike straw, is moist and can grow harmful bacteria and mold. Items which the cats lie on top of, like blankets or towels, will trap some body heat, but not nearly as much as insulation that surrounds the cat (like straw). An exception to this rule is Purr Pads which are more efficient at absorbing and retaining body heat. Snuggle Safe Pads are also good on a frigid night. Whatever you use, replace it immediately if it gets damp.

If you're dealing with extreme cold and build your own shelter, line the interior walls, floor and ceiling with pieces cut from a Mylar blanket, using a non-toxic glue like Weldbond. Mylar is a thin polyester material that traps and reflects body heat back at its source and is often found in winter survival kits.

Flaps & doors

In our experience, well-made winter shelters do the job without a flap door. That said, putting a flap over the doorway does help keep cold air out and warm air in. The flap should be waterproof and thick enough to provide insulation, but still light enough for a cat to easily pull it back. A piece of vinyl or part of a rubber mat should do the trick. Use extreme weather VELCRO or cold-resistant glue to attach the flap above the doorway.

Wait to attach a flap door until after the cats are using the shelter. Otherwise, it might deter them from going in and exploring. Once they've decided their bed is inside, they'll figure out how to pull the flap back and go in.

Do you need two doors? Usually, no. Two doors can create drafts and take away valuable warmth. Only if there are frequent predators in the area, like coyotes, might two doors ever be needed. In most cases, the chances of a predator trapping a cat inside a shelter are remote and it's not worth making the shelter less warm.

Placement

Put the shelters in a location where the cats already spend time, like near where they're fed. Close to the feeding area has the advantage of limiting how far they'll have to travel to eat during inclimate weather. Don't place the shelters out in the open, like in the middle of a yard or lot, but under or up against something familiar, like a wall, fence, tree or porch. Ideally, the spot will be out of the wind yet exposed to the sun. Encourage your cats to use the shelters by sprinkling catnip inside and at the entrances.

Ideally, to prevent flooding, raise the shelters off the ground with pallets or bricks, making sure they remain stable and not wobbly. Most cat shelters are lightweight so weigh them down by placing heavy objects on top, like concrete bricks, though of course avoid putting too much weight on and damaging the roof.

If you have more than one shelter, position a pair so they are a foot or two apart with their fronts facing each other. Place a board on top of both to span the gap between them. This setup will help break the wind and create a space between the two shelters protected against rain and snow where you can put food and water if necessary.

If the surfaces of the shelters are paintable, camouflage them with a color that blends in with their surroundings. Grey, green and reddish-brown are often most useful. For the best protection as well as ease of application, use an exterior latex deck paint.