Outdoor Cat Shelters - Adopting a Stray in Canada

This summer I noticed that one of the neighborhood cats had an injured tail. I had seen the cat around for years and because he was so friendly I assumed he was someone's pet. After inspecting the cat closely I realized that he probably wasn't someone's pet after all. I began to ask the neighbors if they new anything about the cat and it turned out he had been abandoned by his owners a year earlier when they moved to a new location without him. Some of the neighbors had been feeding him and kids had been giving him attention, but he was basically out there on his own.

Adopting a Stray 

I called the animal control center and the lady on the other end of the phone asked if I had been feeding him. I told her that several of us in the neighborhood had been feeding the stray, and she informed me that since he was being fed he did not qualify as an abandoned cat and that I should just adopt him. So I did. After a really difficult visit to the vet's office, he was officially my cat, and I named him Puffy.

After months of teaching him how to come indoors and relax, I finally taught him how to act like a loving house pet. It took a lot of patience, but Puffy now comes inside to sleep every day for several hours. The only problem is that he refuses to stay inside overnight. I initially thought I should just force him to stay inside overnight, but since I have two very tame female indoor cats the vet recommended I let him outside whenever he wanted to go, so he would not feel trapped and become aggressive.

Having An Outdoor Cat In a Cold Climate

I live in Ontario, Canada where the winter months are absolutely brutal. I am definitely worried about Puffy being outdoors at night (even though I know he lasted a year out there on his own). I've decided the best solution is to buy him an outdoor cat shelter and add some extra insulation to it so he has somewhere warm to sleep at night until he is ready to come indoors. There are a lot of websites that offer outdoor cat shelters, but the majority of shelters cost between $130 - $450 (I can't afford that). I found a few nice cat shelters available on Amazon.com that are closer to the $100 range. I still think that I would need to add extra insulation to the already insulated shelters because of my freezing cold climate, but one of these two affordable cat shelters should do the trick.

The KatKabin Outoor Cat House (pictured above) has a Winter Warmer piece that can be purchased to provide extra insulation. There are also a variety of pet warmer products that can be added to cat houses during the winter season. Of course, someone living in a warmer climate would not have to worry about adding extra insulation to keep their kitty comfortable.

The only concern I have about using an outdoor cat shelter is that a raccoon or possum (I see both in my backyard regularly) could gain entry to the outdoor cat shelter while the cat is inside, so if anyone has any advice on how protect a cat from these animals please leave a comment. Any advice would be appreciated!