Feral Cats Need Love Too: How to Build a Summer Shelter

Feral cats are often thought of as dirty, dangerous and unlovable. But the truth is, these kitties just need a little bit of love and care to thrive. Summertime is a great time to help out feral cats in your neighborhood!

They need shelter from the hot sun, and you can easily build them a shelter using some simple materials. In this blog post, we will provide you with a step-by-step guide on how to build a summer shelter for outdoor cats.

Feral cats are often misunderstood - they’re not all mean and scary, and many of them are in need of love and care

Feral cats have a reputation for being mean and scary, but they can be gentle and affectionate too. While they may be unable to totally adapt to domestication, it is important to understand why they are in this situation; most of these cats were either abandoned or born into a wild environment, so their behavior is more an effect than a cause.

The best way to approach feral cats is by providing them with love and compassion – it will do wonders for the cat’s mental health as well as establishing trust and safety. If you’re able, look out for outdoor cats in your area. Simple things like providing food, water and shelter will help these animals feel safe by showing that people care about them too.

Building a summer shelter for outdoor cats is a great way to help them stay cool and comfortable during the hot months

It’s a nice time of year to build a shelter for cats! Doing so not only gives cats that have no owners a place of their own to stay cool and comfortable during the hot months, but can be an incredibly rewarding activity in itself. Depending on your resources and skillset, you can assemble shelters made from old boxes, laundry baskets, or other found materials.

You can customize them with paint, cozy blankets or pillows, or even plants if you want! Building shelters for cats is an easy way to show them kindness, and will not only help them during summer heat waves but may also give feral cats an additional source of safety and peace when days are too chilly or wet for them to find food or comfort outside.

Building a summer shelter can be immensely rewarding and life-saving. With a shelter for the warm months, we’re really looking to fulfill a few goals:

• To make sure that they have somewhere cool they can lay to avoid heat stroke
• To make sure they have access to water bowls & dry food: a feeding station
• To make sure that the feeding dry food, water, and any canned food stays hygienic and bug free

Here’s what you’ll need to build a cat summer shelter:

You may not need to spend a lot of time or money on constructing a summer shelter from scratch if you can thrift or find materials around your house. For feral cat care, we’re trying to find a quiet place where they can rest during the hot summer. It must have a level surface for food dishes and water bowls, and it must be easy to clean.

For hot weather, you don’t need to worry about blankets and insulation. But if you want to be able to use their summer shelter for cold weather, you’ll need to think about how you can insulate it outside of the hot summer months.

I’ve seen a lot of creative solutions for cat shelters, and these include:

• A repurposed chair or bench, partially covered, with a feeding station outside
• Natural cover under a pool, deck, or patio that avoids the daytime sun
• A feeding station next to heavily shaded bushes where the cats can get access to fresh water on extremely hot days
• Ample bushes, trees, and knick knacks to provide lots of resting opportunities to beat the extreme heat

If you want to construct your own cat shelter, I’m recommending the following materials:

• A large tupperware box or wooden crate that you can cut at least two exit/entry holes into. You can also use any other combination of materials (e.g., concrete blocks and wood) to create a shelter from the sun.
• A shaded spot, or the ability to create a shaded spot with a lean to, half wall, or other addition
• Straw to serve as flooring material for the enclosure
• Raised food bowl / feeding sets, preferably two separate stations, that are under a covered surface to avoid precipitation
• Food grade diatomaceous earth, sold at most home stores or on Amazon, to prevent ant access to food **more on that below

Follow these steps to put together your feral cat summer shelter:

Providing a feral cat summer shelter is an important activity for cat caretakers, especially during the hot months. Properly assembling the building blocks of your structure is the key to ensuring that you’ve provided your cats with a comfortable and safe refuge.

Step 1: Construct a shady place

First, you’ll want to construct a heat shelter. Remember that outdoor cats maintain territories, and may not want to rest together. So to avoid extreme heat, consider making a large shelter (at least 4 foot by 3 foot) or making several smaller shelters. The most important thing for a summer weather / extreme heat shelter is shade. So make sure that what you construct helps shade a cat for most of the day. This will prevent heat stroke in extremely hot weather.

Step 2: Keep the food and water safe

Next, you’ll want to set up a system for keeping the water bowls and uneaten food safe. Feeding feral cats is challenging because they don’t come to a dinner bell. Most people feed homeless cats dry food instead of canned because it’s easier to keep uneaten food clean and sanitary. If you’re home all the time, though, you can feed canned food. Just make sure you clean it up after a few hours so that it doesn’t attract ants, raccoons, or other scavengers.

It’s perfectly normal for scavengers to outsmart you, so don’t feel bad if it takes you a while to achieve fewer insects and safer food.

Most people will place food grade diatomaceous earth as a physical barrier around cat food and water. This repels crawling creatures like ants. It works exceptionally well on both dry and wet food sources. Don’t use DE meant for swimming pool filters, as that contains dangerous chemical additives that can harm your cats.

If you’re worried about it, use something else. You can use something gummy like petroleum jelly. Don’t use jam - that will definitely attract more ants. You can also use double sided tape, although that will need to be replaced. You could even place your food dishes in another dish with a barrier like soapy water. The fewer insects, the better.

Summer Weather Tips: Check on your homeless cats daily

During the summer months when temperatures start to rise, it is important to remember that your local feral cats need a shelter too! Checking on the condition of your feral cat summer shelter regularly can help ensure that the cats have a safe, comfortable place to stay during hot weather.

Things like torn fabrics, broken supports, and collapsed roofs should be repaired or replaced as soon as possible if you want the cats to remain cool and comfortable. Regularly cleaning out old bedding from these shelters will help limit the spread of disease and keep them as healthy as possible.

You can use an indoor/outdoor temperature monitor to make sure that the place where you provide shade is actually cooler. If it’s not, things like a frozen bottle or ice pack can be placed to passively cool your shaded areas. You can also run a fan if you have electric near the shaded area.

If you’re feeding, which you should, then that requires daily care. Wipe out dry food bowls weekly, and any wet food dishes daily. Many people use paper plates for wet food - this is a great solution. For water, you can place ice cubes to keep the water cooler for longer. Insulated bowls will also help you be successful when you leave food or water out for cats.

Keep an eye out for any cats suffering from heat stroke, too. They may be unresponsive, where normally they are quick to flee. If you think a cat is overheated, take them to a vet immediately for care. Provide an air conditioned space for recovery when you return home.

Final thoughts

Feral cats are often misunderstood - they’re not all mean and scary, and many of them are in need of love and care. Building a summer shelter for feral cats is a great way to help them stay cool and comfortable during the hot months.

Here’s what you’ll need to build a feral cat summer shelter: A large cardboard box or other shelter, some straw for flooring, old towels or blankets or a few pillows, and a water bowl and feeding station.

Check on your feral cat summer shelter regularly to make sure everything is still in good condition. Keep watch for ants and other insects on the food, and make sure that the water bowls stay full. Monitor for any cats who seem sick and take them in for vet treatment.

Do you have any advice about summer days for cats? Let us know in the comments below!