Outdoor Cat Care: How to Build a Safe Cat House For Ferals/Strays

If stray or feral cats frequent your neighborhood, providing shelter for them might cross your mind, especially when the weather begins to turn chilly. Maybe you've thought about building a DIY cat house for them but wonder if it's feasible. Building a safe cat house is definitely possible, especially if you aren’t afraid of a little hands-on construction work. With a little effort, you can build a safe, heated cat house that community cats can rely on for shelter, as well as provide a place to keep their food and water safe from cold temperatures.

Building an Outdoor Cat House

Building your own cat house may sound easy enough. And trust us, it's very doable. If you're new to carpentry, you need a little know-how and a few specific tools. Before you purchase anything, do a little research and get trained on how to use any tools safely.

That said, an amazing number of cat house possibilities can easily be built with some lumber, but you need a bit of planning. You can always sketch out a simple design of your own or find pre-made templates or guidance online. But generally, you're looking at something about 2' wide by 2' long, or perhaps 2'x3' if more than one cat will use it.

Start with basic 2x4s, which can be found at home improvement stores. You won’t need long pieces for your project, so you can purchase 2x4s about 3' long. (And most stores will cut the lumber for you.) Another good choice for a lightweight cat house is 2x2s, the smaller cousin of the ubiquitous 2x4.

Typically, pressure-treated or cedar lumber is used for projects intended for outdoor settings since the wood is less susceptible to rot. But these products could be harmful to cats that chew on the wood, so you might want to go with plain pine for a cat house, then paint it for protection against the weather. Don't use untreated plywood, which doesn't hold up to the weather very well.

To assemble your cat house, use exterior screws, as these won’t rust outdoors and will hold the structure together better than nails. (You could use nails for a project like this, but for a beginner, screws and a cordless drill are super easy and quite safe to use.) Get a few different lengths from 1 to 3 inches. You'll need longer screws for fastening the frame together and short screws for adding things like trim or siding. Make sure you don't use screws that are too long — they'll poke through!

Once you’ve built a basic frame, you can close it in with a simple weatherproof outdoor siding. A slightly slanted roof (called a “shed roof”) can help keep water from pooling on top of the cat house. After that, it’s really up to you to decide how fancy you’d like to make the house and how far you go with embellishments like trim or roofing.

For time, plan for several days if you're working on it in your spare time — maybe a three-day weekend.

Useful Tools for Building a House for Stray Cats

If you’re planning to construct a semi-permanent cat house to last for a few years, you might find these tools handy:

• Circular saw: Makes simple wood cuts easier than with a hand saw

• Cordless drill: Makes assembling the house quicker, easier, and more secure than a manual screwdriver.

• Tape measure and pencil: Mark where you'll cut before you cut (triple-check your measurements!).

• Carpentry square: Actually shaped like a triangle, this tool helps keep your lines straight and your corners — well, square.

Tricking Out Your Cat House for Winter

A simple cat house is a great place to start, and local feral and stray cats may use it all by itself in cold weather. But you can make the house even more comfortable by adding a few helpful products. Consider adding a pet-safe heating pad, like the K&H Extreme Weather Heated Kitty Pad (or the petite version for small cats), inside the house to help keep the cats warm when temps dip.

If you want a cushioned bed, try the K&H Lectro-Soft Outdoor Heated Pet Bed with a built-in thermostat to ensure the heat only activates when a cat is actually using the pad/bed. These outdoor heated kitty pads can really increase comfort for your feral feline friends.

If you offer food or water to the neighborhood cats, keep the goodies more palatable in cold weather with a K&H Thermo-Kitty Café. Warm food is a lot more pleasant than frozen! Pair the Thermo-Kitty Café with a small, specially designed shelter that will help keep rain or snow out of the dish.

Or, Go the Pre-Made Route

Not everybody has the time or skills to build a cat house. No problem! You can always offer community cats a pre-made, safe, heated outdoor house. A nice option is a K&H Thermo Outdoor Kitty House with insulated walls and roof or its extended extra-wide version for multiple cats. Smaller cats might enjoy the K&H Thermo Mod Kitty Shelter, which offers all the benefits of a heated cat house but in a smaller size. For placement, whether you build your own or not, choose a quiet location the cats already use. Ideally, you want to choose a place somewhat protected from winds and away from low areas that might puddle in the rain.

Happy Community Cats

You can easily help community cats in your neighborhood thrive during the frigid winter temps by supplying them with a safe outdoor cat house. It's not only beneficial for the cats, but you have the satisfaction of knowing you've helped them through the challenging winter weather. When the snow falls or a bitter wind is in the air, you can know you did your part to help the neighborhood cats stay safe and warm.

This article is part of our Outdoor Cat Care series. Be sure you're following us on Instagram for the final post, "How to Keep an Outdoor Cat's Food and Water from Freezing." And if you missed the first article in the series, be sure to check out, "Are heated houses safe for ferals and strays?"