MY GARDEN IS PROTECTED !

suzieqz.

What we did here was kinda easy. We have a couple of cat carriers made of wood nd screen. We put a piece of foil bubble foil insulation we had in the garage over the top and a piece in the bottom a small throw rug inside and one over the top. under the rug we put an old but working heating pad. We keep it on low heat all winter. No door necessary. It's on the porch and that ol black cat goes in and keeps an eye on his domain from his nice warm little house. We put food in it for a while to get him used to the darn thing. Total cost was 2 bucks for the carrier. a dollar or so for the rugs and fifty cents for the heating pad..all bought at yard sales and the thrift store. Cat was comfortable even at 35 below!!
 
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susieqz said:
anybody got any idea about the proper size for a cat door?
gotta be big enough so she'll use it but small enough to retain her body heat for winter.
Click to expand...

I am almost certain that she can get in through a 4 inch opening.
A piece of 4 inch PVC can be used to line the hole you cut in the cooler.
My suggestion is to use cooler upright. Easy to open lid to install carpet/rug/pad/etc.
Place the opening at bottom and end of the longest dimension - gives a sleeping area farthest from opening.
Try to orient the opening away from the prevailing wind.

A piece of carpet on the bottom would be nice for traction.

I suggest a padded ELEVATED sleeping/resting area at the end farthest from the opening.
Not a fan of heating pad in such a small enclosed volume.

I have no experience in this matter - just hoping common sense helps.

Bekeart
 
Don't know if shelter placement matters, but they always seem to prefer hard to get at, high places. Maybe it makes them feel safe and provides a stalking opportunity.

Kitti.jpg
 
thanks, guys.
the high idea is good but i can't do it.
i cut the hole in one end of the front side, so she can get in n hide from me.
i forgot to do drainage holes by the door, so i'll have to do that.
right now i just got an old sheet in there, but i like the idea of something raised, so i'll cut some styrofoam n put it at the sleeping end. i have time to mess with it because she's ignoring it.
in a few days, i'll lre her in there with friskies, but i'm not sure that's necessary.
she is very snoopy.
i think knowledge of terrain may be a survival tactic.

you know, i thot when she started taking all her meals within arm's reach she crossed a thresh hold.
not so, when i'm walking around she still runs.
except of course, when food will be forthcoming.
she knows that before breakfast, i bring out my padding. n set it up.
then i go back to get my book, cocoa, garden tools etc.
only then do i get her food.
so, she ignores all the bustle n walking about because food is soon coming.
but any other time, if she sees me upright she runs.
it's like, she has a rule where she must run from fearsome susie when standing, but forgets the rule when she wants something.
there are people like that.
 
Sue, you have made remarkable progress in such a short time. She will run less with time but will probably never completely stop. My feral inside kitty still runs from me sometimes and I have had him 9 months and began taming when he was 3 months old. I think he does that he when wants to be alone as he usually runs and jumps on something so he can get pets. Even the stray cat we adopted was skittish for about 6 months until he calmed down.

I think a 6" x 6" hole should be big enough for a small cat to squeeze through. If it needs to be a little bigger you can always make bigger. You can maybe hang a clear plastic flap that will keep wind and cold out but allow the cat to pass through. Sometimes cutting the flap into strips helps. I just looked and you can get a cat door on amazon for as little as $6.00. Maybe you can screw into the cooler? Not sure if you are using a plastic one.

Keep up the great work. I think many of us enjoy reading your posts. :-)
 
i just looked at those cat doors. if she demands entry, i won't be able to say no, so i'll probably have to install it on a house door.
i see they sell dewormer.
is that something i need to do?
on her current diet, she looks the picture of health.
when i first saw her she was so emaciated i thot she was dying, but
after a few weeks of good food she looks fine.
how do i tell if she has worms?
 
A couple of things. Cats do not like loud noises and I doubt you will ever get a cat, especially a true feral cat, used to gunfire. On the other hand, as someone else stated, I doubt that gunfire will cause the cat to leave, either. The cat will eventually learn that gunfire is a 'normal' noise at your place. The feral cats that lived at our place also heard gunfire but learned there was no threat. They might take off and hide but returned.

I will be surprised if your feral cat will take up living in any type of enclosure where there isn't more than one escape route. I say this only because it has been my experience with them. Our feral cats preferred an old, no longer used, dog house on our property that was falling down and had holes in several places. I put straw in it for them. The cats also liked big brush piles we had made for wildlife habitat. I would guess that old out buildings like barns. corn cribs, machine sheds will also serve as preferred housing for your feral cat.

Lastly, I liked the suggestion that someone else made about contacting a shelter for a companion cat that you can love and enjoy inside your home. I don't know if you will ever be able to coax a feral cat inside and even if you could, it might not be a good idea. Feral cats always (in my experience) retain some wild and will never be as tame as a regular cat that has grown up around people.

I hope this helps and good luck!

PS. You are correct that all cats like Friskies.
 
The only way to tell for certain if they have worms is to look at its stool and see if you see them. If you see where she goes potty you can look as they usually don't bury it very deeply. You can check for pinworms and tapeworms which are the most common. Sometimes you can see worm eggs (tapeworm segments) that look like rice stuck around their rear end or on the ground where they go potty. If you get fleas around your property you might want to spray for those since ingesting fleas is how the tapeworms get in.

The deworming medicine will not harm them if they do not have worms so it is fine to add to wet food if you are concerned. I have also been told by vets to not worry about ferals having them because they will not affect their lifespan. Still, I would think it would be uncomfortable for them and kind of icky. :(
 
ok, good, thanks. i have seen her stool because the lazy thing doesn't bury it.
all normal.
so, i won't push any drugs right now.

i won't let her in the house unless she's standing in the snow, pleading.
i really prefer pups n kittens to come in before 12 weeks.
i judge this wild animal at over a year.
i can teach little ones not to mess with my food n other house rules.
i don't think i could do that with her.
no, not completely sure i have a she, but i think so.
 
I was thinking of the cat door to put on her cooler house not on yours though you might be able to train her to go into the garage for shelter. Coons and other critters can use them too though you said you don't have to worry about those. Luckily you have time to see what she likes before it gets too cold.
 
oh, i'll make the cooler as cozy as i possibly can
the question is, can i get her to use it.
if she does n a coyote breeches my defenses , he couldn't get at her without lots of noise.
that would bring me out.
at that range, i couldn't miss even a moving coyote.
i got guns everywhere.
 
suzie,
A suggestion. If your cat ever decides to use your cat house, then I'd be very careful when I approached it if you suspect it may be inside. Probably the best bet would be to locate it some distance from your door and then make some noise when you go outside. That would give the cat an opportunity to vacate the box without going all spastic if you should surprise it inside. Your cat may well treat your accomodation like a trap, which it very well could be with only a small door one way in and out!

When you get finished with it, place it and just let it sit for a while. Occasionally put a bit of favorite food inside if you wish, but I'd guess you'll have good luck continuing to feed your cat in the same place it's used to eating. Just try not to create any bad experiences for the cat in it's house. It may very well have little use for the house until such time as it needs protection from the cold/snow/wet, etc. That's when you need to be careful not to accidently spook it unintentionally. If you do that, stop and be still immediately and speak to the cat in a calm voice and then gently move away and perhaps go inside or someplace else, especially if the cat stops inside the fence. Otherwise, continue your routine as normal and be patient and I think your cat will come back!

Animals are notional creatures, but they figure out pretty quick what they can expect from you. When we moved here to the big city a couple years ago, we regularly saw cotton tail rabbits grazing in our front yard. In the beginning, the minute the door opened, they were gone in a flash. Over time, I can now walk out in the yard slowly and as long as I do not walk toward them, they may move slightly away, but they won't leave. This arrangement is OK with us since we don't have a garden for them to desecrate. They can help me with mowing the yard all they want! As long as I can avoid the temptation to collect three or four during the winter months so we could have fried rabbit with biskits and gravy, they are pretty safe. I doubt seriously if the neighbors would tolerate the gunfire anyway, and I don't care to get really closely acquainted with the local constabulary unless I am the one who calls them here!

Just keep on being friendly and patient and give that cat plenty of time to investigate that cat house. It knows when you go to bed and when it can safely check it out. It'll get used to it in time and will make up it's own mind when it feels it needs to use it. Starting at this time of year, the cat will be completely used to the house and have figured out it's probably not a trap! I'd continue to feed the cat outside the house even in really bad weather.
 
Cat will make the decision on occupancy of the cooler/shelter.
I have visions of Snoopy sleeping on top of the dog house.

Suggest that you NOT use straw. Hay is better choice.
Remember reading that dogs could chew straw and it could perforate intestines.

Intelligent Donkey comment - (using synonyms to avoid infraction) :
One large round hay bale - reach in and pull out some of the center - leave a perch out front about half way up for cat to use for access. (five gallon bucket with lid comes to mind) well sheltered and well insulated.

Bekeart
 
DAY 31:
i'm well into phase 2.
phase 1 was getting her to depend on me for feed
no big deal for me because i give handouts to any wandering critter, mostly dogs.
didn't take long because she was literally starving.
but getting her to come to mooch a meal is not the objective.
food is a great training aid to get her to like me.
that's done. she eats right next to me.
when i set up my nest in the morn, she knows food is coming so she acts for all the world like a house cat.
but the strategic aim is to get her to live in my garden.
phase 2 is convincing her that i do not intend to interfere with her movements.
the garden is a nice place.
i think, as long as she can leave when she wants, she'll think about it n say to herself, ''why bother?''.
i already know that when i go out at 7 to hang laundry, she complains that i work her up, from her end of the garden. she isn't there for food at that hour. she knows breakfast is at 10, n she knows when 10 is.
so, she spends most of the night in the garden, just because she wants to.
today was a real nice cloudy day, n my back hurt.
so, i spent 5 hours out there, observing.
she had her friskies no more than 12'' from me. that's no longer an issue as long as i don't touch her.
then she kept me company for a while, until it was time for her to patrol the garden, which she did.
when she got back, she had a drink n sat down only 2' from me.
that's a first, since no food was involved.
of course, she moved off but stuck around until she had enow of this mad social whirl.
here's the big thing. when she wanted to be alone, she just moved to the far end of the garden n probably took a nap. but she stayed.
after a bit she jumped to the top of a 4x4. zip is right, drifter like being high.
she spent some time checking to see if anything interesting was happening outside of the garden.when she saw nothing interesting she hopped back in.
sounds to me like she thinks this is home.
after that she made her rounds again, checking to see if any food had magically appeared.
she even complained when i went in the house.
if i'm right n she has decided this is home, all i gotta do is get her to accept me moving about.

she does leave the garden, but i tnink she has a certain area staked out that she thinks is hers, so of course she has to patrol it.
i doubt she goes very far.
 
susie::

I think that we are all happy for the both of you!! Sounds to me like you two are going to be friends as well as business partners!! Good for you, and good for kitty as well. I know that there are a bunch of us out here who have been, and will continue to wish you both well.

Best Regards, Les
 
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