I have been feeding 8 feral kittens. Only one will come to me. I have an old doghouse that some of them are sleeping in. How can I winterize it? I live in Ontario and we get cold winters here. Has anyone used a heat pad from home depot? Supposedly you can heat it in microwave and place it in cat bed and will keep warm for 12 hours. I'm not sure that it will work.
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Get some straw bales and pile them around the house, with just a little opening in the front. Put some old blankets inside first though. Maybe even put some of the straw inside the house. Straw is a great insulator and will keep the kittens warm during the winter. They will cuddle together in the old dog house during the winter.
This might sound silly but we used to have an outside dog and we lifted the dog house up on concrete blocks and put a water bed heater on the floor of the doghouse and then put a thin layer of plywood over that. Then we put the thermostat on about 70-75 degrees and our dog stayed warm all winter.
I had an older dog that I had to move outside as he was losing a control.
I built a plywood dog house with Styrofoam sandwiched in a double floor made of presswood in a 2 x 2" frame. I added a staggered entrance. That is to say an extended roof and double wall. The walls were separated far enough to let my dog walk between them. The outer wall had the opening on the left and the inner one the opening on the right. The inner one was covered by a piece of hanging carpet to further cut the drafts. Inside I installed a heat lamp with a thermostat. The dog would sleep so that the heat lamp would aim at his haunches and keep him warm. As the dog house was on my patio next to my sliding glass doors, I installed a window from a garage sale so that he could stay in visual contact while warm in his house. It's a good idea to seal the joints with sealant and insulate the walls and roof to further cut the drafts and aid in saving energy.
In my opinion it's awful you would throw out your senior dog, fancy box or not. We don't deserve dogs.
If the kitties are in an enclosed area, say a garage or a shed of somesort with electricity. you can get an electric blanket at some pet stores, and pet catalogs, just plug it in and it will be toasty warm, we have 2 in our garage for stray cats that have adopted us. we can pet 2 of them and one we can't , but he does not run away anymore when he sees us, and also think he is deaf.
Forgot the mention, in my other post === PLEASE be sure to raise the dog house up off the ground a bit, like sit it on 4 x 4 's or bricks to keep the floor off the cold ground. sorry I forget to mention this in my first post.
Another idea is to get a large styrofoam cooler with lid at your local store, they should be on clearance at this time of year but they are inexpensive to begin with. Turn it upside down so the lid is on the bottom and then cut an entrance hole into the side. You may want to temporarily secure the lid somehow so that it won't get separated if the cooler should get knocked over, just make sure you can get it back open to change the bedding. Styrofoam is an excellent insulater, just try placing the back of your hand on it, you will feel the warmth. Add an old towel or soft throwrug for bedding, even newspaper.
I also take care of ferrel cats and have put several dog houses out side for them,i buy straw bedding that wal-mart sells inside the house,also i put plastic over the dog house that helps keep rain,snow from leasking in..they seems to be happier with this done.
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