best outdoor cat houses?

[ThreeCatzGirl]

Spirite.... you said for the time being you have a plastic bin, turned it sideways and put the heated pad and his cat bed in there...

what kind of heating pad do you use for the cat house? how many wats does it use? I want to get a heated pad for my outside cat house...but dad will kill me for using up some much electricticy. Im lucky enough to use a heated water bowl for the kitties in the winter time.


I have a petmate dog house..the small one. Im looking to get a medium size one so i can fill it up with straw and keep the cats warm.

I keep the house on my porch. its out of the rain.

right now the house has one of those thermal beds that uses up body heat from the cat.

if it gets really cold...i just put a horse blanket on top to keep out the cold/wind.

[spirite]

Originally Posted by lyle

Under my profile, in "albums" is a picture of an outdoor cat shelter that I built several years ago. I don't remember where I got the basic design, but the floor plan is roughly that as shown by Builder. It has a "deck", overhanging slanting roof, entry way and sleeping quarters. I put mine up on blocks to keep it off the ground and discourage critters. The interior walls are insulated with foam board and I put straw in the sleeping area. The roof is elevated a bit for ventilation and I can add or subtract foam boards as the season demands. It's seen two winters now and is quite popular. Even the garage cats stay in it on occasion.

Yes, that's ideal! But...my problem is that I don't build stuff. Want to build one for me and I'll pay you?

[spirite]

Originally Posted by ThreeCatzGirl

Spirite.... you said for the time being you have a plastic bin, turned it sideways and put the heated pad and his cat bed in there...

what kind of heating pad do you use for the cat house? how many wats does it use? I want to get a heated pad for my outside cat house...but dad will kill me for using up some much electricticy. Im lucky enough to use a heated water bowl for the kitties in the winter time.


I have a petmate dog house..the small one. Im looking to get a medium size one so i can fill it up with straw and keep the cats warm.

I keep the house on my porch. its out of the rain.

right now the house has one of those thermal beds that uses up body heat from the cat.

if it gets really cold...i just put a horse blanket on top to keep out the cold/wind.

I have this one:

Amazon.com: K&H Lectro-Soft Heated Outdoor Bed, Small: Pet Supplies

Amazon.com: K&H Lectro-Soft Heated Outdoor Bed, Small: Pet Supplies

It's the small size and it uses 20 watts. I think it was the only one I found that was intended for outdoor use. I've never noticed that it's upped my electricity bill. Maybe I just don't pay attention, but it's definitely not a significant amount. And that's taking into consideration that I keep it plugged in all the time from October through March-ish, and that I'm losing some heat to the kitchen door, which I can't close all the way. The outlet on my deck isn't working, so I'm running an extension cord inside. Fathers...My parents came to visit and my father has not stopped hassling me about the lack of security. It's a safe neighborhood, and I have yet to meet a human who can figure out the pet gate that I have on the stairs. And if they did, they'd have to be pretty thin to get through it. Plus I'd hear it squeaking.

[spirite]

Update: well, the cat house arrived today. It looks like the construction is very solid, but it's way smaller than I expected. I guess I miscalculated or maybe was reading the exterior dimensions rather than the interior ones. Still...I know it's better to have a small space so they can retain body heat, but 14" x 13" isn't very big, especially when there's a "wind block" in the middle of the front long wall. It's not big, but it sticks out about 2" so in essence it cuts the space in half. It would probably be fine for a small feral, but Casper likes his little bed and it doesn't fit.

I cut a bathroom rug to fit on the bottom to insulate it a bit. Now I don't know what to do with it. I might hang on to it and see if he'll go in there in warmer weather.

So...I ordered him this one: Large Insulated Outdoor Cedar Cat Dog Pet House,outdoor cedar pet houses,Insulated heated cat houses,small pet dog house sales,cat enclosures,pet,dog

Twice as expensive. Ouch. If he doesn't use it, I'll scream.

[Mitts & Tess]

Did you get the one with the lounging deck and platform loft? Holy cow, thats a penthouse for a feral cat! Way way cool!

[LadyK]

Well that's disappointing that the first one was so small. That was my fear when looking at cat houses online. My indoor cat is very petite, but my two ferals that I care for are quite big boned, and I was hesitant to buy something without seeing it in person to judge the size. Hopefully the larger one will work and he'll love it.

[spirite]

Originally Posted by Mitts & Tess

Did you get the one with the lounging deck and platform loft? Holy cow, thats a penthouse for a feral cat! Way way cool!

Nooo! I thought about it for a sec, just because it's so cool, but it's nearly $300. Plus, I felt like it was a little too high up. On my deck, the lower you are, the less wind you get.

But now it's another 2 week wait. And it's just been ridiculously cold for this area. I replaced the plastic bin with a cardboard box inside a larger cardboard box and wrapped the whole thing with packing tape to keep it from getting wet. At least this way, his bed is recessed by about 15".

Meanwhile, on my deck there are now: 1) a doghouse, no longer used 2) a feral cat house, not yet used; 3) a plastic storage bin, used and refused; 4) the complicated box-within-a-box contraption; 5) a 1-level cat condo.

Geez.

[spirite]

Originally Posted by LadyK

Well that's disappointing that the first one was so small. That was my fear when looking at cat houses online. My indoor cat is very petite, but my two ferals that I care for are quite big boned, and I was hesitant to buy something without seeing it in person to judge the size. Hopefully the larger one will work and he'll love it.

You're absolutely right. Casper's probably only about 7 lbs and on the small side, but I doubt he'd be comfortable in that 14" x 13" space. These houses are all much smaller than they seem in the pics. I got out my measuring tape to get an idea and realized that a house probably has to be at least 18" in one direction for a normal-sized cat to be comfortable. The same company that makes the cat house that was too small makes larger sizes, and those look like they might actually fit 2 kitties. This one is 24" x 26" on the inside: Extra Large Outdoor Cedar Cat Dog Pet House,outdoor cedar pet houses,Insulated heated cat houses,small pet dog house sales,cat enclosures,pet,dog

[spirite]

The latest: so the second cat house arrived yesterday, and I highly recommend it. It took about 15 minutes, maybe not even, to put it together. The holes are pre-drilled, so all I needed to do was put the screws in relatively straight. The fact that I managed that tells me it's really well-made. Everything fit together nice and tight. The interior floor surface is 18" square and recessed a little, so the interior space is actually about 20" square. His bed - one of the foam cup types - fits perfectly. There was enough space for me to line the floor with a couple of towels and the sides of the house with some fleece. The house itself is also insulated with some kind of reflective sheeting.

The cat flap is just clear vinyl, cut into strips. It reminds me of the rooms where you have to part strings of beads to enter. I'm not sure it does much. Casper is a little freaked out by them (I lifted them up the first couple of times to show him), but he is inside, so the house passed the most important test.

I wish the house were a little deeper, so that there would be some more distance from the door. But overall, I'm really pleased. This house was more than double the price of the first one I bought. True, it's quite a bit bigger, but I also think it's just much better designed. Definitely worth it.

[LadyK]

Great news! I'm sure little Casper will really appreciate being nice and warm this winter.