When winter cold arrives, stray cats need a place to stay warm too. We have a stray cat with an injury hanging around our place. He or she won’t let us get close to it to treat it’s limp so we provide a meal a day and a warm place to sleep. But how to do that on a budget?
One solution came to us from a couple who also care for a stray cat. They built a double wall house by nesting two plastic storage containers, one inside the other, with straw for insulation between the walls. The lids were tied closed with cable ties to keep everything in place. A hole cut through the double wall allows the cat in and out. I thought that was a good idea but I didn’t want to spend the money on two storage containers so we repurposed a damaged ice chest. Cutting a hole through the wall at one end was easy with a reciprocating saw.
To make it a little more comfortable on those sub-zero nights, we put some loose straw inside. Opening the lid makes cleaning easy.
Bob Postis a mechanical engineer working in the waste-to-energy field. By day, he designs process machinery. By night, he is a recycler, composter, gardener and inventor. He contributed to the bookHow to Build, Maintain and Use a Compost System. Read all of Bob’s MOTHER EARTH NEWS postshere.
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