Heated Kitty House........Reviews ?

[paintedpony]

We have not had a barn cat for quite some time, think years. In the last couple of weeks, our barn has become home to a timid little cat. She is sweet, and I am happy to have her stay, but do not want her in the house. I have noticed advertisements for a Heated Kitty House. Is anyone able to offer a review? I am happy to purchase one and think they look pretty cute, but am skeptical that they will offer enough heat for Ontario winters.

I still have a hot box built for calves that can easily be used for a cat. Think big plywood and styrofoam box with heat lamp. It is the BIG part I have an issue with, and would prefer a little Kitty House if it would work. Anyone else using one?

[longlanefarm]

I can’t offer a review on the house, however, I’d be nervous about the safety aspect of a heat lamp with straw/hay in a barn.

I am not as north as you are but live in mid-Atlantic/north east US and get very cold winters (single digits/teens at night sometimes, Fahrenheit), we have 3 barn cats that I was overly worried about last winter as it was our first winter with them.
I made a kitty house out of a huge Styrofoam cooler packed with straw, small entrance hole cut out and also a huge igloo type structure with a 55 gallon drum stuffed with straw and then surrounded with stacked bales of straw including two stacked on either side of the opening and then topped with another, like a tunnel entrance. Both are inside my barn so no rain or cold winds affect them and cats can come and go as they please.
The local farmer I bought the straw from was concerned with my mental well-being when he saw the monstrosity but that’s me. And the cats love it! They burrowed into the barrel of straw and stayed very warm.

They’d go nuts inside, they like their freedom.

Also, word of advice, pick up the cat foot and store at night otherwise you’ll have critters looking for it every night.

Might try posting in ‘The Menagerie’ too.

[js]

I agree with the safety issue of the heat lamp. There are dedicated heated cat houses (albeit small) that have something like a heating pad inside of them. If you could put something away from all hay etc. you might look at something like that. You could also use those self heating packs and tuck them inside an insulated pet house, I have used them, they stay warm for several hours.

[Palm_Beach]

I think if they can get out of the elements, they are usually just fine. Mother Nature does a good job with animals, even in really cold places like Ontario. If the cold kills them, there would not be an issue with feral cats. I have one of those unheated kitty huts and the cat also has access to the hay loft. But guess where she is at 6 AM most mornings, even in the bitter cold? On the back porch mat waiting for me to come outside and do chores.

[cutter99]

@AppaloosaDressage

I do have the heated kitty houses for my rather unusual barn cats. Had one for the older cat who insisted on living on the porch instead of in the barn. The older cat loved his house, was in it every day and night. The barn kitties use their houses but not as much as old cat. One is partial to the house and will bed down for the night (or morning) the other isn’t too interested (give him a box or leave the door to the tack room open though…) I did have to put some kitty treats to coax them in there in the houses in the first place.

Appaloosa Dressage- You cat in the box looks like he’s had a rough night out drinking!

And my barn cats cats are like Palm Beach’s- I usually find them on the front porch when I go out to feed in the morning, even though they have plenty of hay to sleep in! It can be 20 degrees out (which is cold for TN) and they are curled up on a chair on the porch.

[cutter99]

Oh, and there are some very safe inferred heat lamps out there. I did use regular heat lamps in a bank barn in PA while raising pigs, BUT you have to be extremely careful. We had nothing flammable anywhere near the lamps, and they were suspended with chains. We would clean out things like cobwebs, make sure there were no feed bags in the area, and straw and shavings were stored elsewhere.

[BAC]

I bought one of those heated kitty houses but my outdoor feral will not use it. It has front and back entrances and a warm heating pad but its made of a type of canvas type fabric which doesn’t seem very sturdy. It is now in the basement where my indoor cats like to play in it.

What worked best for me is one of those small hard plastic dog houses with a heating pad for feral cats (www.cozywinters.com) inside of it. I had two ferals spend an entire winter in my two dog houses before finally being convinced to become indoor cats and they almost never moved from it all winter. Our local shelter recommends a plastic garbage pail with two holes (avenues of escape) lined with straw for ferals if you are worried about using an electric product, but I had my electrician check out the Cozy Winter heating pads, they use minimal current so won’t add to your electric bill and are very safe, I would not have used them without checking them out with my electrician. In fact I have the Cozy Winter heating pads all over my house for my five indoor cats, and they lie for hours on them all year round.

I gave two of the heating pads to a friend who keeps her barn kitties in her hay loft year round, and she is totally comfortable using them in her barn, she’s been doing it for years with no issues.

My current feral will not use the house but he likes to nap on the other pad on my front porch but last year when we were going through an especially difficult winter with sub-zero temps (unusual for NY) I kept his food and Whiskas milk from freezing by putting it inside the dog house on top of the heating pad (which is molded plastic) and it didn’t freeze even in those frigid conditions, and he would go inside to eat and drink each night before leaving for wherever he sleeps.

[eosinophil]

I had a couple of them when I lived in the midwest - the feral barn cats loved them. When it was really cold, one cat (Spot) would only come out when dinner was in the bowl, eat up, then head right back inside her house. The other (Orange Cat) was a little more interested in dinner preparation but spent lots of time inside his, too.
I had the K and H ones and kept them in the loft in the barn, as that was where the cats liked to hang out.

[paintedpony]

Thank you everyone ! I think I will purchase a heated dog pad, and gradually build a little house of styrofoam to surround it. I will build one wall at a time, so I do not scare her. Larger than a Kitty House, much smaller than what I have, can be tucked in a corner of the feed room, and will keep water from freezing. Sounds like a win to me!

[BAC]

@paintedpony

Thank you everyone ! I think I will purchase a heated dog pad, and gradually build a little house of styrofoam to surround it. I will build one wall at a time, so I do not scare her. Larger than a Kitty House, much smaller than what I have, can be tucked in a corner of the feed room, and will keep water from freezing. Sounds like a win to me!

If you can put the heating pad in a corner of the tack room and maybe a few large items spaced around that area to kind of block off the pad from the openness of the room, your kitty may not even need a house. You know how they like to find hiding places but without a trapped in feeling. He/she may be happy just to hid in the corner on his pad.

[Gainer]

I use these for my barn cats. Five minutes in the microwave and they will stay warm fo 8 hours (more if the cats stay on them). Also good for putting under water bowls to keep them from freezing. Much safer to use in the barn than a heat lamp. I’ve used some of mine for more than 10 years and they still work great.

https://www.chewy.com/snuggle-safe-dog-cat-small-animal/dp/153940

[trubandloki]

I have This One and This One in my barn. The feral cats seems to like both of them.
We take them down every spring and store them away until the next fall and there is no problem with them remembering that this is the warm place to sleep when they come back out.

[2DogsFarm]

I had a heatlamp for my barncat, but it kept me awake worrying about something so hot near so much combustible.

The SnuggleSafe seemed like it was too hard to be comfortable, even under a blanket or towel.

I ended up getting the XL handwarmer packs - ~$1ea from Walmart - & when I did last PM barncheck I’d activate one & put it under a fleece blanket in her little fleece house & she had 8h of warmth overnight.
Half the time I’d find her holed up in spaces in the stacked bales of hay.
When she wasn’t curled up on my lap

[rememberthenight]

I bought one off amazon a few years ago. It is a little green insulated house, with a heated pad that plugged in. I put it outside my house, and my barn cat found it immediately. He loves it!!! It died last winter on one of the coldest snaps, and he told me all about how I failed him. Bought another one and he has been asking me to plug it in the last few nights by sitting in it and yowling.

[paintedpony]

I like the idea of an electric power source. At times, my hours are irregular, and I would be happy to know she had access to warmth that was not dependent upon recharging. Now, fingers crossed there are no kittens on the way, and I get her to the Vet before she finds a friend!

[Christa_P]

I made houses out of 2 plastic totes. Get 2 sizes so they fit together with a gap. Cut matching holes for access and fill the gap with insulation. Make it whatever size you want.

[paintedpony]

Pig mat…exactly what I need

[SusanO]

I have 3 of the K&H ones on my front porch of my house for my barn…er… front porch cats. They LOVE them in the winter and when it is cold they only leave them to eat and poop. My front porch is covered so the houses are not out in the elements and I am in Alabama so very little really cold temps.

I bought one small one originally and the cats were fighting over who got to sleep in it so I bought two more large ones. Right now I only have one cat that actually will hunt down in the barn but she likes to sleep on the front porch. So I have 4 cats that don’t like each other at present and 3 houses. That should be interesting this winter.

[Palm_Beach]

They make heated water bowls for dogs and cats that are outside in the cold. And also heated small water buckets - 1 gallon size? That are great for multiple dogs/cats.

[demidq]

I used a styrofoam cooler for a barn cat house- cut a smallish hole in one side as a door. It’s nice to be able to take the top off to change or rearrange bedding. I haven’t use a heater, but the handwarmers seem like a great idea!