Cats may not mind some rain or snow as long as they have access to a warm dry home. Here in Montreal feral cats lose ears and toes and even die from hypothermia during the cold winters. For those out there who care about their suffering here’s how to make an outdoor cat shelter:
-use two plastic storage containers, the kind with removable covers that snap to close on top, one small enough to fit inside the other so long as the inside one is large enough for the animal to turn around and/or stretch out in
-place the smaller container inside the larger one
-cut a door hole through both containers’ walls at the same place a few inches up from the bottom(heating the area with a blowdryer first for a few minutes makes this much easier by softening the plastic)
-tape with duct tape all around the aligned holes to smooth the edges
-insulate with straw or wood shavings in the space between the walls of the inner and outer containers
-fill the inner container with straw for warmth(not hay because it retains too much water)
-snap both covers shut
-duct-tape a pliable cutting board or equivalent to the top over the door as an overhang to keep rain out
-place shelter on a table or some other high place if possible because cats feel safer when higher up, or at least off the ground on a pallet or on bricks
