Need heater help!!!!

[kittychick]

We had a Hound Heater, but it just died.
Two questions: (1) what heaters do you all use? It’s a wooden cat shelter about 3 1/2 ft long, 2 feet wide, & 2 1/2 feet high.
(2) Does anyone have the newer Hound Heater (Bluetooth one) & if so, do you feel it’s safe? The Hound Heater site says it gets hot (duh) but is safe on wooden walls. So we were shocked when the manual said it can burn you/the cat & to place it in an area w/o anything combustible. Now we’re worried it’s not safe. Anyone have this and feel it’s safe?

We need to get the house out soon — so kind of urgent (esp if we need to order another one). Thanks for any help on this!!!

 

[fluffpaws]

HI kittychick ,nice to meet you
I have used the K&H extreme weather heating pads for years now and all the cats love them, although I live in a milder climate and have never used them inside a wooden shelter. I have a screened in patio were the cats sleep so I cannot say for sure how they will work in a wooden shelter but hopefully someone else may be able to chime in soon with other suggestions.

 

[DeesCats]

I am also using the K&H Extreme Weather Heated Kitty Pad in my outdoor DIY cat house. Bought it last year and used it in a 24" long x 18" wide x 20" high but that is the outside dimensions of the box so it's a bit smaller inside as we added 2" on foam insulation on the interior of the house. The floor of the house is wood with a scrap piece of vinyl flooring. It kept the house about 14 to 25 degrees warmer than the outside temperature according to the remote thermometer sensor in the house.

I had one outdoor cat that used the house and he spent almost all his time in there except when he came out to eat and toilet in the yard or go exploring.

We just built a 2nd house the same as the first and just added a 2nd K&H Extreme kitty pad as there are additional cats out there that will need shelter this year.

 

[kittychick]

We love K & H kitty pads! All our feral shelters have them plus a few inside for our older kitties. They’re great!

Our problem is it gets so cold here the heating pads don’t do enough, which is why we had the original Hound Heater (kicks on at a certain temp to heat the house - makes the whole kitty house nice & comfy even in -10 degree weather!). So when that one died, we wanted to replace it — but worry the “new Hound Heater version” we just got may get too hot & isn’t safe. Hoping someone out there uses a Hound Heater or any thermostat controlled outdoor house heater and can recommend one they have or know someone who has one! Thanks all in advance!!!!!

 

[DeesCats]

Which model & wattage Hound Heater did you get kittychick ? I would assume the instructions came with how/where to mount it including clearances from combustible materials such as bedding, etc. Does the housing itself get hot to the touch, either the old model or the new model?

I wanted to add that the K&H heating pad I posted above is more about keeping the cat warm enough vs. keeping the cat AND the house warm enough. The size of the house as well as keeping wind drafts out of the house also play a role in keeping the cat warm enough at least from all the research I did before building our 1st outdoor house.

 

[kittychick]

I know what you mean about the pads — they def help keep the heated cat pads. We’ve been TNRing & caring for ferals for well over 10 years now, and the pads (plus lots of insulation, etc) are all we used to use until someone wonderful from this site sent me her Hound Heater when she bought a new one. We put it in our best shelter (my husband made it from an IKEA cabinet that we insulated like crazy, put windows - & kitty pads - in, & put it in our detached garage). They liked it, but once the Hound Heater went in it, they abandoned all the others outside & used it exclusively! We monitored temp in that heated house from inside our home — even when it was -10 or -20 outside it was never lower than 38-40 degrees in that kitty house (generally much higher).

Unfortunately, some things happened beyond anyone’s control - including the cancer death of 1 of our last ferals outside (who was best buddies w/one we’re doing new shelter for). So his buddy won’t even enter the garage anymore - despite months of working w/him. We’re working hard on getting him to be 24/7 inside (we’ve done it before - even w/13 yr-olds like him!)….we’re making amazing progress with him, but know we need to have someplace safe & warm for him to go when he’s outside as we work with him. Hence the search for a new heater!

It’s a new 300w Hound Heater (attached a pic of it from Amazon). We did put the new house we just got - w/heater in place - in the driveway (in case it does burst into flames!) an hour ago, and it’s cold enough the heater’s running. Hubby just checked it & after an hour it doesn’t feel too warm to the touch, & walls/ceiling around it don’t seem very warm. So that’s promising that maybe we can keep this one. I’d STILL love an option on a heater just in case if anyone else uses one.

Fingers crossed there’s no burning wreckage in our driveway later! If it stays safe, then we just pray he’ll use the new house. We’ve trained multiples to use other houses/shelters - so hoping this won’t be our first failure!

 

[kittychick]

D DeesCats meant to answer your other question about the manual. That’s what started all this. Amazon & Hound Heater company site both stated how safe it was, how it didn’t get too hot for the animals etc. I even called the company directly to double check about it working w/house we’d just purchased (told them it was wood, how large, & how close heater would need to be to ceiling, walls & kitty). Company assured me it would be very safe. When the heater arrived, hubby installed carefully according to directions. THEN we saw in small print on back that it shouldn’t be near anything combustible (like a wooden house wall!) and that surface got hot so to keep animals away from it. We were floored - esp since I felt like it was a company we trusted, and that I’d done more than my due diligence! So yes — we followed instructions carefully (altho nothing - except tiny print we found later - talked about clearance from anything but ceiling, so we gave it more than was required, but that tiny print scared the bejesus out of us!).

 

[kittychick]

D DeesCats - meant to mention the old Hound Heater barely got hot to the touch. The IKEA cabinet it was in was taller tho, so bedding wasn’t very close to it & it was out of reach of the cats. Plus the Cat Site friend who sent it to us told us what she had it in, and her bedding & cats got much closer to it, so we felt pretty safe using it in our shelter.

 

[catsknowme]

I use the K&H heated lad on top of a piece of Reflectix which is considered fireproof.I also put the pad inside of a smaller insulated shelter so the setup is "a nest in a box in a room".

 

[DeesCats]

Thank you for the additional information kittychick ! The disclaimer on the back of the unit (I assume) is probably just one of those things that companies do to avoid liability claims in the event of a consumer complaint.

I was following your other thread on which house to buy but didn't follow up there. Which house did you end up buying?

 

[kittychick]

Thanks for asking!

Ended up buying the one I think I posted (I’ll add a pic at the end of this note). It’s actually pretty decent, even has a good Velcro-out liner for the entire inside (the liner’s oddly shown in the Amazon pic as one piece below the house pic). We had to add slow-close hinges for the roof (bc we got Aspen to go into it to get a piece of chicken out of my hand, but as I tried to pull my hand out & lower the top/roof while he was inside, it slammed shut & you can guess how scared that made him!). I put in a wireless camera, added weatherstripping to close gaps and drilled holes for the Heater & kitty heating pad cords. Still trying to deal w/escape door. It’s got a window in it - which is nice for light, but it’s like a doggie door - it has to be pushed against - far from cat-intuitive. We tried to get Aspen to figure it out thru various means, but think we’ll have to cut it out & replace it with a thick vinyl he can push out of the way in an emergency. The main door has clear vinyl “car wash strips,” but those scared him in the previous house, so we replaced it w/2 sewn-together pieces of heavy fabric & think we’ll do it w/this one too.

At least the house hasn’t burst into flames yet - & according to remote thermometer it’s 65 degrees in there! (44 degrees outside). Now pray he goes in soon! We love our little TNR’d gang - I know anyone but people here would think we were NUTS!

Thanks again for asking!

 

[DeesCats]

I do like the looks of that house, keep us posted on how it holds up over the winter.

I understand about the escape door issue and agree that vinyl strips would probably work much better. I did DIY ones on the entrance hole for our DIY cat houses but have to leave a couple strips tucked up until the cats get used to it. I'm sure once the really cold weather gets here it will be just fine.

Did you have to cut the insulated liner to install the Hound Heater?

Is Aspen the outdoor cat the house is for?

 

[kittychick]

Supposed to rain tonight so unplugged everything - will be interesting to see how waterproof it is!

Insulated liner zips together in a few places - we lucked out that where we needed to put heater was a section that just zipped off.

And yes - Aspen’s the one the house is for! A beautiful & sweet (finally) boy - and praying my years of cat shelter/rescue & feral experience make it possible to FINALLY get this skittish 13-yr-old to be a fully indoor cat!!!

 

[DeesCats]

Aspen is a handsome boy and looks so comfortable resting on you. He definitely deserves a warm place to sleep and hopefully after all your work with him you'll be able to get him indoors.

Glad to hear that liner zips together and you were able to remove a section to install the heater.

 

[kittychick]

Thanks (like I had anything to do with it i) - he is a handsome boy! And a sweet one with us (now) that we love dearly. It only took over a decade with him! We do a LOT of the difficult socializing for our cat shelter, plus our TNR & other foster work….& Aspen has been the one cat to give us the biggest “socialization run for our money.” We’re getting him inside to eat most mornings & nights, esp if it’s rainy or cold, & he’s now even staying in overnight many rainy/cold nights. So we’re hoping to keep building on his new-found comfort in here (actually thought he might have been fully inside by now, but it’s still a process) so we knew we had to have a safe, dry & warm place to go outside as we keep working with him.

So thanks for your support & hopefully we can finally get him fully inside over the winter. And the house did stay dry overnight & didn’t combust in the driveway (and it poured for hours) - so fingers crossed he’ll use it on the (hopefully fewer & fewer) hours he needs it out there!