we've had a stray cat that's lived outside our house for like 2 years now. none of us can get close enough to touch her, (she's wild), but my mom feeds her every day, etc.
well in Houston, the next 2 or 3 days it's expected to drop below freezing, with ice and sleet, etc. i felt bad for the cat outside (usually she just sleeps under one of our cars, where it's warm, but it's going to be too cold for that, and the cars aren't going to be driven for like 2 days, so the engines won't be warm, so she'll freeze)
so i went to petco and got a 100w heat lamp, and came home, and took some tape, newspaper, two cardboard boxes, and a couple of trash bags, and made her a shelter for the next couple of days
that's a picture of the shelter. the 'outer chamber' has a hole she goes into, and then there's a hole inside leading to the second box (the 'inner chamber'). i did that so the cold wind doesn't pierce right through into the inner chamber. should help retain the heat, you know. the inner chamber has a thick layer of newspaper around it, to insulate, and has the heat lamp mounted into the top of the box (so the bulb is pointing right into the inner chamber). i've also got trash bags taped to the outside in case the rain comes down at an angle or something, so it's protected. there's newspaper on the floor of the inner chamber, and a blanket that she can lie on.
a picture of the heat lamp mounted
keep in mind i did this with minimal supplies, and 20 minutes
that's her following the food into the shelter... exploring it. i apologize for the shoddy image quality, but this picture was taken from far back, and through a (fogged up) window, so i didn't scare her.
this is her coming out after exploring it
she saw me with the camera, and was looking right at me, heh.
and another shot of her coming out.
that's her eating... i put food leading up to the entrance of the shelter, and then a bowl of food outside the shelter too, in case she gets hungry
hopefully if it gets cold enough she'll remember the shelter and will go into it :-/
i'm also going to set my car to remote start every hour for 5 minutes, to keep the engine warm juuuust in case she doesn't want to go into the shelter, at least the engine warmth will help her
