Cats not using winter shelters? Try tarps!

moxiewild

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Just wanted to put this out there because I get asked this all
the time, and while it seems obvious, many people are hesitant to do it for some reason.

We’ve had a ton of luck making shelters out of tarps with reflective lining in colonies that refuse all other shelters - tub shelters, wood shelters, k&H shelters, plastic dog house shelters, big shelters, medium shelters, single cat shelters, elevated shelters, two exits, one exit, windows, shelters in every location and configuration, etc - all available at once!

But what always seems to work, is tarps.

We try to put down a wood pallet and/or straw or reflectix on the ground, but even without any of that, it’s significantly warmer than outside and it keeps them dry, so it’s still an improvement.

I’m hoping to take some photos of our tarp-only shelters tomorrow in one of our colonies to give a better idea of the ways they can be used. They are NOT pretty, but they’re cheap, easy, quick, and the cats actually use them, whereas before, they would just curl up in long grass and were constantly wet when it rained.

We’ve also made tarps work at the back of businesses too, to where they look both inconspicuous but not “trashy” - most people seem to assume the tarps are just keeping pallets dry, but we make sure everything is tucked in tight and neatly (unlike what you will see in the pictures at my colony, since they’re in the middle of the woods where no one goes lol). Business owners have been satisfied with them.

Like I said - do not underestimate tarps (or lean-tos, for that matter!).

Yes, we’d all like them to be in something warmer, safer, sturdier - but sometimes you just have to give the cats what they will actually use instead of our human idea of perfect or better.

So if you find yourself feeling frustrated and worrying about your colony cats during winter who refuse to use shelters, just spend a few bucks and try a tarp to see if they take to that instead.

After years of trying in vain to persuade two colonies to use shelters, tarps saved our butts when Texas had its snowstorm two years ago.

We didn’t have time to prepare, nor did we enough shelters out there to begin with since our winters are usually mild, so we set out about 5 large tarps. The cats were using every single one the next morning - this was still right before the snow storm, temperatures hadn’t even dropped yet, so they were not being used out of desperation or in response to unusual weather yet.

Two years on, and the cats have consistently used them ever since in rain and cold, while continuing to ignore the other 10 “real” shelters out there, lol.
 

Deacon Blues

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We have had many ferals that would rather sleep on a chair with a cushion- and get covered with snow- than go inside a cat house made for them. Tarps sound like a great idea.
 

poolcat

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Thanks moxiewild moxiewild ... I'd love to see photos. Do you prop up an edge or do the cats know to work their way under an edge that's on the ground? Also wondering what keeps the tarp from blowing away when you don't tuck the edges into something.
 
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moxiewild

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We have had many ferals that would rather sleep on a chair with a cushion- and get covered with snow- than go inside a cat house made for them. Tarps sound like a great idea.
Same!!!

The usual adage here, and in the TNR community in general, is that if they aren’t using the shelters, then they have somewhere warmer to go, so don’t worry too much about it.

And this is what I was taught when studying for my feline behavioral consultant certifications, too.

And I do not doubt at all that can be, and often is, the case in many situations - but I also couldn’t deny what I saw with my own eyes, which was that many of our cats and/or colonies would rather sit out in the freezing rain completely unsheltered than use any of the numerous and varied shelters we had out for them.

We don’t typically ever experience snow in my part of Texas, but I’ve also talked to many caretakers elsewhere where it does snow who are worried sick because they were observing the same thing as you, with their cats preferring being literally covered in snow rather than using a shelter.

I don’t currently have a behavioral explanation for this, but I’m looking into it.

All I know is, that for whatever reason, the shelter-avoidant cats we’ve come across since the Texas snow storm two years ago, when we utilized tarps out of desperation, overwhelmingly take to tarps and lean-tos.

I realize that’s not remotely ideal for those of you in truly cold climates, but it’s still better than nothing. And not all caretakers can afford to buy and experiment with all types of shelters to see what their cats might take to, and which - like some of ours - they still may ultimately never take to.

My working theory right now is that some cats just hate enclosed and small spaces and some also don’t like sharing a space with any other cats, even if they otherwise get along with them. These cats would seemingly rather be cold and miserable and risk their lives exposed to the elements than use a shelter, cuddle up with their buddies, or seek a different shelter out they’re more comfortable with (especially beyond their primary territory).

Unfortunately, if true, this runs directly counter to traditional shelter advice, which universally advocates for smaller shelters to more efficiently trap heat, tells us not to worry because the cats will cuddle up together when cold, and says if they aren’t using a shelter you put out for them, it just means they have adequate shelter elsewhere.

And it worries me how common this seems to be - we see it here all the time with people asking for advice on persuading their cats to use their shelters.

If tarps and lean-tos (or any other option) can appeal to more of these cats, it’s vital that we get this information out more, both for the safety of the cats, and for the stress (and in some cases, wallets!) of their caring worried caretakers.

Anyway, sorry for the rant!

If any of you have cats or colonies like this and try the tarps and/or lean-tos (we usually just use plywood sheets from Home Depot most of the time), please report back here and let me know how it goes!

I’m trying to keep a spreadsheet to gauge the success rate as sort of an informal study, so any data points help!

I will say though, if they don’t take to it right away, try a few locations and catnip like you would with any other shelter to give it the best shot of success. In the case of tarps, you can also use a variation of configurations (picture examples tomorrow!).

Also, if you use straw, reflectix, plywood, etc on the ground, and they still aren’t using it, try it without adding anything on the ground too, as we’ve noticed a non-insignificant percentage of these cats seem to prefer the natural ground and will only use tarps or lean-tos without any other additions. I’m assuming these cats just object to anything remotely unfamiliar and need the most natural-seeming shelter possible to persuade them to use it.

So yeah, PLEASE report back to me if you try this!
 
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moxiewild

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Thanks moxiewild moxiewild ... I'd love to see photos. Do you prop up an edge or do the cats know to work their way under an edge that's on the ground? Also wondering what keeps the tarp from blowing away when you don't tuck the edges into something.
We do all sorts of things, honestly!

The colonies I’ll have pictures of tomorrow mostly use heavy rocks and tent stakes.

We don’t use tent stakes as much as we would like because the ground here in Texas is notoriously difficult to penetrate because it’s mostly rock, lol. Or else we’d utilize them a lot more, as they’re much more convenient, versatile, inconspicuous, and just look better.

In a couple of colonies, we’ve used bricks or garden pavers that happened to be on site.

In one case, we made a lean-to with an outdoor plant stand. The plant stand is wood and made like steps and meant to lean against a vertical structure. So we leaned it against our fence, put a tarp around it, and stapled the tarp to the fence and then weighed it down with bricks at the bottom.

I actually have photos of this one (although this was one of the first we made, so we didn’t use a tarp with reflective lining, which I HIGHLY recommend) -

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In this case, we also used plywood on the ground and against the fence with Reflectix stapled on (and eventually added reflectix to each step), but that’s not necessary, especially if you have a better quality tarp with reflective lining.

When we used them at businesses, where business owners understandably don’t want the shelters to just look like trash, we typically have to incorporate wood in the structure (usually just free scrap 2x4s and/or pallets we get from Home Depot, construction sites, grocery stores, etc). To keep things looking as nice as possible, we staple it tightly and securely to the wood and tuck it underneath.

Which reminds me - structure is often far more of an issue than how to weigh it down! This is the part that can take the most creativity and problem solving, especially if you need it to look nicer or inconspicuous (like if it’s not just a shelter going in your backyard on your own property) or you’re limited on materials available to you.

For structures, we’ve used scrap wood, plywood, scrap fencing panels, big rocks/small boulders, trees (especially with low trunks, or fallen trees), tent ropes tied between trees, stapling the tarp to an existing fence or tree to make a tarp-only lean-to, chairs, tables, etc.

In one of the colonies I’ll be taking a photo of tomorrow, we’re still trapping some cats for TNR and we trap train them, so we keep traps out there mostly 24/7.

So right now we keep a tarp over the traps to protect the traps, food, and to make it available as a shelter itself if needed - but we also pull the tarp out wide on the sides, weighed down with rocks, so the cats can use that as an additional shelter.

And they do - I’ve never seen the cats use the “trap shelter” but they will stay at the sides under the tarp (I know it’s probably difficult to visualize, lol. Pictures tomorrow, I promise!). We’ve done the same with some of our unused shelters with the same results.

Like I said, it’s often not pretty! But can definitely be made to look a lot better if you can use a simple wood structure of some sort and staple it to secure it neatly…. Most of those I’ll be getting photos of are NOT like that though since they are out of the public eye in a wooded area, lol.
 

poolcat

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Wow... you all are so creative with your cat shelters! I'm really impressed. Thanks for posting the photos!
 
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