Long intro, if you're interested: I've been putting food out for a feral kitty I call Karen (long story) that we've seen in our "back 40" which is a large section of our 1 acre back yard which the municipality does make us cut but we cut it long and not as often so it's meadow-y. We think Karen lives outdoors at a house a couple doors down. We don't believe they take care of her at all as we've seen her hunting in our back yard in weather *very* much below zero F. We don't want to ask them because frankly they're a bit scary. Anyway, she eats the food every night, although if we get too close to the back door she runs away (and comes back to finish).
Actual question: I want to make one of those feral shelters with two Rubbermaid totes like on Alley Cat Allies. I know the bedding material needs to be straw and I understand why. But in the gap between the inner and outer bins, would polyfill (like from pillows) do as good a job as straw? I ask because we have a lot of old pillows lying around and I feel like this would be a better use than just throwing them away, IF it would provide good insulation. The shelter will be well sealed and have an entrance tube so I don't think there's a danger of the polyfill getting wet.
Thoughts?
Actual question: I want to make one of those feral shelters with two Rubbermaid totes like on Alley Cat Allies. I know the bedding material needs to be straw and I understand why. But in the gap between the inner and outer bins, would polyfill (like from pillows) do as good a job as straw? I ask because we have a lot of old pillows lying around and I feel like this would be a better use than just throwing them away, IF it would provide good insulation. The shelter will be well sealed and have an entrance tube so I don't think there's a danger of the polyfill getting wet.
Thoughts?