How To Build A Cat House

Happy Ending for Stray Cat Seeking Shelter From Storm

A stray cat has found a shelter for the storm thanks to two Essex County residents connecting through Patch.

On Thursday morning, Cedar Grove resident Joe Coletta wrote in that a stray cat had made his way into his back yard, and asked for help getting the word out in the hopes that someone who might be able to provide the stray with a home during the storm was reading.

"With the storm coming I’m afraid he may not make it.  If you could put him up on the site maybe someone will recognize him/her and pick the cat up.  I have a dog that doesn’t seem to like the cat’s presence or I would let the cat in," he wrote in an email to Patch.

Within hours, inquiries started rolling in, with concerned pet lovers calling and emailing to lend a helping hand, but none of the offers materialized.

A woman who said she was an animal rescue worker from Michigan emailed within hours of the posting. She did not give her name.

"Just wondered if you found someone or a way to keep him/her safe. If so, afterwards, shelters will be overloaded, but other groups in your area may be able to take the poor lost soul until a home is found," she wrote.

Last night, as the hurricane was just getting into gear in New Jersey, Coletta got a call from a Livingston resident with several cats who offered to take in the stray. Coletta was able to lead the cat into his garage for the night.

Patch is very pleased to report that this morning, the hand-off was completed, and the stray was on his way to a good home, Coletta wrote in a follow-up email.

"He had seen the article and called me right away. I said I would keep the cat indoors until the storm passed. He just left my house with the cat. He was happy to bring him home and I wanted to thank you for putting the article up and giving the cat a chance at a home. I thought it was a good ending and it shows the power of the internet," Coletta wrote.

An Outdoor Cat House is a Novel Idea

When they say outdoor cat house. However for this dissertation you will receive my version of the outdoor cat house.

Something about closed, boxy areas have always appealed to cats, as most human staff will have noted at some time or other. As children, people will have been obsessed with cubby-houses, I know I was, and that wonderful feeling of safety, solitude and serenity that comes with having a special place all of your own to meditate in, often, the smaller the better. I don’t know if cats meditate for sure, but then again, I’m sure they do some form of moggie meditation that’s relevant to worldly matters. Knowledgeable creatures that they are!

If we are dealing with , there is nothing better than to furnish it with an outdoor cat house or two, depending on the size of the cat run, and the amount of cats sharing the run. Most cats find the need for a break from the daily humdrum of life and since cats spends an inordinately large part of their lives sleeping, should we be so lucky, the more cosy the better.

If buying one or making one, and it has the desired effect of keeping our priceless pets happy and content, then you can pat yourself on the back for a job well done. A few cats have been known to pack up and leave, due to unpalatable surrounds and clumsily erected architecture. Make sure that your name isn’t paw printed on the ‘Staffs’ Wall of Shame’, when it comes to the quality and design of your future outdoor cat house. A bit of fore thought could be the making or breaking of a fine relationship with your pampered puss/pussies, and we won’t be having that case scenario, if at all avoidable, so make sure your imagination takes flight and your cats will be delighted with you. Who knows, you might be up for a pussy-pay rise.

I’m quite partial to the free-range, outdoor cat house, and since, not having cat runs or at the moment, this makes perfect sense to me. The free-range outdoor cat house, as the name suggests, is a movable structure, therefore not too heavy and manageable in transport mode. This item of pure ingenuity, replete with railed verandah and pitched roof, also has indoor lighting consisting of solar powered, miniature dragonflies, every cat’s dream insect! With a daily change of linen and a chocolate (coloured) mouse on the pussy pillow, the mobile Hilton is ready to welcome the most discerning royal of royal feline into the luxurious depths of opulence. The main benefit, being ease of relocation from one position to another, from sun to shade, or even indoors if you haven’t had the sense to provide adequate, sumptuous lounging facilities inside. The solar lights don’t work as well indoors, in fact, most of the time, they won’t work at all, truth be known.

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