I’m not a cat person- total dog person- but there’s a neighborhood stray who’s kind of grown on me. (I call her she even though I honestly don’t know, so I’ll call her she in this.) It started when I caught her going through my garbage, so I left some scraps out for her the next night, and it’s evolved into my buying cat food (she doesn’t like dry) and leaving it out daily, and while I don’t see her often she comes to get her Food Offering daily and has gone from running off like a scalded monkey when she sees me to not being afraid and even purring and letting me pet her. (Gray tabby, beautiful green eyes.)
I can’t let her inside for several seasons, mostly my dog (an aging Jack Russell mutt who loves every person he ever met but hates all four legged creatures). However, now that we’re starting to have cold nights I built her a house using an as-seen-on-the-internet method of cutting a hole in a plastic storage box and putting in cheap blankets and bedding (none have dog smell on them- they’re new- some sites recommend wood chips instead).
Anyway, I put the house on a pallet a few inches off the floor and I’ve been putting her food and water on the pallet in front of it. It’s weighted down and covered with rugs and blankets, has two openings (which was recommended on the sites) with one covered by a light blanket to keep out the wind but still capable of easy evac.
She still comes for the Food Offerings but I haven’t seen any evidence she’s been using the shelter on cold nights.
Any suggestions for how to get her to?
Obviously I don’t mind her sleeping elsewhere if she has a warm place, but I don’t want her sleeping in the cold because she doesn’t know that this is available.
The cat will use it if s/he wants to. You don’t know, maybe the cat has a place that is nice and warm already. The cat needs to feel safe, and that means not only warmth but the ability to get away and to hide effectively. Just letting the cat know it is there is enough. S/he will undoubtedly try it out several times.
But cats, being what they are will do what they like and if they already have, what they consider, a nice place to stay, you won’t change his/her mind.
Remember too, that cats and other small critters don’t have a huge problem staying warm. They can curl up in their fur and if they get into a small tight place it can be nice and warm. Try it, go out on a cold day and find a small corner, isolated from the wind and curl up. You’ll get warmed up.
The real problem for animals in the winter is finding food.
If you have some thick shrubery you might try placing the box in the shrubery backed up to a fence or building. I have never been able to get my house cats to sleep in designated places but I have noticed they like boxes a lot and hiding in shrubery.
How you try putting some food inside the house , does it have a front and back door? The cat may feel too closes in and having no way escape if a wild animal try to go after it. This a feral cat and they don’t like being boxed , someone gave me a feral cat and she hated living in a house, she needed to more in control of her movements. You could nail some old shower curtain over the doorways to help keep the rain/ snow out.
We once adopted a cat that the previous homeowner abandoned.
This was a problem since Mrs. J. is highly cat-allergic, so the beast had to remain outdoors. I set up an enclosed cat box with a heating pad plugged into an outdoor outlet. He would huddle in there on the coldest days (for the worst, he got to come in and stay in a pen at night) and otherwise go on with his feline activities.
Is the box tall enough that ‘she’ can stand up with legs fully extended?
(easy escape)
How high off the ground? Some cats strongly prefer a high perch.
In addition to catnip, a small electric blanket is a nice touch.
As someone who cares for five to seven feral/stray cats (not counting my own indoor cats) …
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[li]Good for you on the night shelter. However, do not use blankets. Blankets mat down and hold moisture. Use straw, filled 3/4 full in your shelter. The cat will burrow in to keep warm. I use human food coolers (48 qt or larger), with a six-inch hole drilled into the end and filled with straw. Bought mine at Home Depot for $20.00. If you can protect your shelter from the wind, all the better. I also have four/five simple plastic storage bins filled with straw scattered in the yard (under trees and bushes). All are occupied over the course of the winter.[/li][/ul]
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[li]Keep the food separate from their shelter. Probably five to ten feet away. Make sure you fill the food dish at least once a day, twice a day when it gets cold, at the same time every day. I use dry food, but on occasion feed my ferals wet food as well. I started with the food bowls inside a large plastic storage bin with a large opening in the side to protect them from the wind and wet while eating. Last year I built a 6 foot long, four foot deep and three foot high food shelter using 2x4s and with a raised (one foot) floor covered in cedar fence boards. The entire shelter is covered in a large tarp, with the long side open, facing the house. It easily holds all of the feral cats at once, each with their own food bowl.[/li][/ul]
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[li]Keep the water separate from the sleep shelter and from the food. Use the storage bin to hold the water dish. I refresh it twice a day.[/li][/ul]
That you can pet the cat says it’s a stray and not a feral. True ferals will not let you get close to them, if you ever see them at all.
How do you know she’s a stray? Don’t assume just because she doesn’t have a collar. Does she look ratty or matted? If not, she’s likely someone’s cat from the neighborhood just roaming near your house and getting an extra meal.