Winter Weather Tips
Stray and feral cats are at home outside, but they can always use some extra help in cold or severe weather. Follow these tips to help them stay even safer, warmer, and healthier during severe storms and winter months.
Shelter
Shelters keep feral cat colonies comfortable in cold and other harsh or severe weather conditions. Placing discreet shelters in quiet locations away from foot traffic helps keep cats from taking shelter in places where they are in danger or not welcome.
There are endless variations of cat shelters. Check out our list of shelter ideas sorted by ease of set up, or learn how to build one yourself. Dog houses also do the trick with a few modifications (read on.) Here’s a few tips to help you get started:
A good size for a shelter is at least 2’x3’ and at least 18” high. Larger shelters are not necessarily better, since heat disperses quickly, leaving the inside as cold as the outside.
Cats will huddle together inside for warmth, so provide colonies with multiple shelters that can fit three to five cats each. If you are caring for fewer cats, use a smaller shelter so it takes less body heat to warm up.
Make sure the door is no bigger than six to eight inches wide to keep out other animals. If you’re modifying a dog house, you’ll need to block off part of the door to make it cat-sized. A flap on the door will also keep snow, rain, and wind out.
Insulate the shelter with straw to repel moisture and keep cats warm and dry (note: Make sure it’s straw, but not hay, because hay absorbs moisture). Blankets may seem like a good idea, but since they are also extremely absorbent, they make bad bedding.
Raise shelters off the cold ground to conserve warmth. Wooden pallets stuffed with insulation work well for elevating shelters and keeping out drafts.
That’s a start – read more about constructing feral cat shelters in our Colony Care Guide.
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