Feral Cat Shelter

[Q™]

You may know the thrilling story of Andy The Kitten,and his rise to fame as an international viral celebrity. Well that was nearly 1-year ago and over the past year we've come to realize that Andy's mom, brothers and sisters are living in the woods behind our property. Mrs. Q™ started feeding the entire colony and now I'm in the process of constructing The World's Best Feral Cat Shelter (WBFCS). Hopefully I can get them to try it out before the winter comes.

Soon to be added: heating and iCAT technology (of course)!



I started with a solid platform...



I went to Costco and purchased a Lifetime deck box ($130.00 and approximately 52" L x 25"W x 28"H)...



Then it was over to Amazon to purchase two (2) of the Cat Mate 4-Way Locking cat doors ($20.00 each). I put a door on each end of the deck box and bungeed the doors open to let the feral cats know that there is an alternative way out. After they start to use the shelter I'll close one of the doors...then after a few weeks I'll close the 2nd door. These Cate Mate doors have a magnet that lets them snap closed along with pretty good weather striping around the doors. I filled the bottom of the deck box with straw (not hay)...



I placed a stainless steel snap on the lock holes to prevent the top from opening...



Although I don't have a large yard, this shelter is situated in the most private area we have and I hope the colony makes use of it. We intend to Trap, Neuter and Release all of the colony members so their lives are as healthy as a feral life can be.

I can't wait to put a camera in this shelter! I'm thinking I'll use one of my 2.8mm Annke\Hilkvision rebranded cube cameras for my iCAT implementation...or perhaps my 3.6mm DahuaIPC-HDBW4231F-AS although for a center ceiling/roof mount I believe I'm going to need to use the 2.8mm Annke to get the widest interior coverage.

 

[gwminor48]

Awesome! Thanks for what you are doing. We love cats and other animals at our house too.

 

[Aengus4h]

that's great, fingers crossed they'll move into a cozy new den

A couple years back I came across a little kitten by where I lived, around 7 weeks old and winter approaching. Mum stepped out as the kitten ran to cover and stood between us staring me down. She was tiny probably not much more than a year old, skinny, dull coat etc. Saw her again late at night with 3 kittens. No agency was interested so I started to put food for her and turns out she was very friendly, stray rather than feral. Over the next couple weeks she'd come for food but want petting before eating, then started bringing the babies along.

A plan formed and I started to put food into a box and she encouraged the babies, and so the first was captured. He got a damn good grip into my hand too, teeth and claws and cried out loud enough to wake the dead! Mum raced up and went to attack but her teeth stopped at my knee never actually biting, same with her claws, was paws only, so I bent and showed her the baby was ok and she was fine, so whisked him upstairs to my flat. Came back and the mum came to me and ate and was friendly as ever. So a few days later with a trap made with a pet carrier, water bottle to prop the lid and fishing rod to pull it away... caught the next one who was much less stressed, he even started to play with the kitty toys minutes after I was back down feeding mum. Last one was much more wary till I disguised the trap which she fell for, she never forgave me for that lol. So 3 kittens safely captured, looked out and there was mum sitting on my car waiting and I just picked her up and brought her in too

I still have the 2 boys with me, my ex took the mum as we had to separate them after she was spayed and the unforgiving girl went to live on a farm where she's very happy. So glad I stepped up and rescued them all, wouldn't have forgiven myself if they'd died over winter right next to my place.

 

[bigredfish]

Good on you Q!

Love the iCAT concept. it'll be Yuuuge

We adopted 3 feral kittens 5 years ago, born in the backyard, the mom ran off, we took care of them and they still live in the backyard, though they now eat and spend nights, and any given rainy day, in the pool enclosure/porch. All 3 are quite tame now. I feed them on the porch each morning, and most often they're waiting by the screen door to get in when I get home from work.

One had a litter of 5 at six months and that one went to my Mom as a loveable inside cat. We kept a Siamese from the litter and the other original two. All were fixed, and all 3 are occasionally allowed in the house due to nasty weather, fireworks, and of course hurricanes. Otherwise they're free to roam during the day. (99% of the time they find a cool spot in the backyard under an elephant ear and snooze all day.)

Yeah, they have heated houses in the winter. One of which i just finished painting to match our new house paint job . Working on a/c but for now we keep lots of fans running out there.

 

[TonyR]

We intend to Trap, Neuter and Release all of the colony members so their lives are as healthy as a feral life can be.

Thanks for this. You're a good man....

I wish more owners around here in the rural south that let their dogs run out would have theirs spayed and neutered.....come to think of it, I actually would prefer to have some of the dogs' OWNERS spayed and neutered.

 

[gordo]

We intend to Trap, Neuter and Release all of the colony members so their lives are as healthy as a feral life can be.

WTG Q! The birds of the area will eventually benefit from your efforts.

 

[Q™]

Andy: International Viral Celebrity and Resident Terrorist.

 

[Fastb]

Q,
You gotta be dressed when taking pics of that cat!
Her wide-open eyes scream out:
"Put Some Clothes onto that Q!"
"Or you gonna change your name to "J" ?

Fastb

 

[Q™]

Andy. International Viral Celebrity & Wonder Cat

(Turn your speaker volume all the way up!)

 

[Fastb]

Nice video, slo-mo, and music (2001, a Cat Odyssey)
The cat's tail looks perfect for dusting off camera lenses!

 

[Q™]

...The cat's tail looks perfect for dusting off camera lenses!

He's a real pain in the ass sometimes, so we shaved him a pom-pom tail to rank on him. We're thinking of giving him a Cat Mohawk if he doesn't behave himself.

 

[bigredfish]

 

[Q™]

I ran 100-feet of Shireen DC-1020 Outdoor Gel filled, direct burial, double jacketed Cat5e out to the feral cat shelter tonight and installed the 3.6mm Dahua IPC-HDBW4231F-AS (which I purchased from @EMPIRETECANDY...thanks bro...I named my cat after you). I didn't have a lot of time -- and I wasn't quite certain where I wanted to position the camera -- so I temp-installed the camera using Gorilla Tape. As soon as I settle on the best camera location I'll install it permanently...

 

[bigredfish]

When does the live stream start Q?

 

[Fastb]

bnb for cats and their overnight guests.
The "Q™ Cat House".

 

[EMPIRETECANDY]

Andy. International Viral Celebrity & Wonder Cat

(Turn your speaker volume all the way up!)

lol, that is very nice, haha

 

[looney2ns]

I ran 100-feet of Shireen DC-1020 Outdoor Gel filled, direct burial, double jacketed Cat5e out to the feral cat shelter tonight and installed the 3.6mm Dahua IPC-HDBW4231F-AS (which I purchased from @EMPIRETECANDY...thanks bro...I named my cat after you). I didn't have a lot of time -- and I wasn't quite certain where I wanted to position the camera -- so I temp-installed the camera using Gorilla Tape. As soon as I settle on the best camera location I'll install it permanently...

View attachment 30636

I think a fisheye on the ceiling such as the one @PapaBill mentions in another thread would be a nice addition as well.

 

[Aengus4h]

problem will be their inquisitive nature, sniffing the camera and leaving little nose prints on the lenses lol. A 2.8mm lens and corner mounted might pretty much cover the whole thing and both flaps, tho at that short range may have to go wider like 2.1mm

 

[Aengus4h]

thinking about it, external IR bounced off the "ceiling" might give better lighting too, more diffuse than the camera mounted one

 

[nbstl68]

I built a shelter for a couple of feral cats we fixed \ released a few years ago....plan was live in the woods, sleep in the shelter. I could never get them to use it...It was nice, insulated...my wife even added a leopard print wallpaper border on the inside.
A few years later, here is there preferred sleeping spot....not sure how that happened.
Feral cats are sneaky.