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Genius idea for Winter Homes for STRAY CATS- Old Coolers

easy to do- what a great idea for those poor strays this winter.

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Those are a great idea. I may have to make a couple but I need to put exits on because I don’t want anyone to get trapped by the stupid raccoons. I see coolers dumped everywhere.

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Fabulous idea. I just passed this on to a friend who is on the BOD of a feral cat rescue group in NE Oregon where it certainly gets colder than where Shiloh and I reside.

Thanks for posting.

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Yeah --but those circle drill bits are costly! My colony have choices around here --no one lives in my barn due to raccoons moving in if the cats do. There are out buildings, duck barns, windfalls, etc where a cat can take shelter --I feed and water and photograph (game cam) spay, neuter, and chip. If someone wants to GIVE me cat houses, I’d put them out, but not buying a “one time use only” drill bit for $50-70 and searching for old coolers for my 11 feral cats.

I think there’s other ways to make the circular cut without buying new drill bits. My handy dandy small battery operated tree limb saw would probably work just fine. Or my hoof nippers would also work. Not as quick but would cut the plastic. Where there’s a will, there’s a way. Improvise, Improvise.

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From the title, I thought you were advocating for giving stray cats your old, nice wool coolers.
This would work if you had a source for coolers - maybe a wanted ad. I doubt the hole needs to be round, so you could make a square hole with a sawsall or jigsaw or a hand saw and some persistence.

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What do you use to frame out the holes? Looks very nice!

That is an internet picture, not something I built. But you could glue some padded vinyl or rubber around the opening or even some hot glue spread on it. I’m sure there’s lots of things at your local Lowe’s or Home Depot that would work. Anything that pads the sharp edges would work.

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I used 2 plastic totes. I cut a large holes with a utility knife (only cut myself 3 times :+1:), lined it with Styrofoam, some type of foil insulation and used fresh straw for insulation. It wasn’t too hard or expensive to make.

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