Peeking outagain, but not me this time

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wafflycat - 14 Nov 2005 17:55 GMT

Marble, a.k.a. PsychoCatFromHell, is a PITA of a night time. The cats have
the freedom to come and go during the day, but at night they are *in*.
Marble hates this. He is nocturnal. I wouldn't mind, but he has decided that
the rest of the household should be nocturnal too... Then there's the times
he point-blank refuses to come in, pulling a b*st**d cat trick every now and
again. When he does this on a night where the weather is less than plesant I
worry, and worry, and worry.

So I have pre-empted the cold weather. I decided that it would be a
Seriously Good Idea to have a shelter for him on the front porch, so that if
he does do his favourite b*st**d cat trick in cold weather, at least he has
somewhere warm and dry to curl up and hopefully where I'll find it easier to
get a hold of him to get him to come in the house again. I called in at
various pet places today and choked over the costs of even a small plastic
or wood 'kennel' type shelter. Good grief, £60+ for a cat sized shelter made
of plastic. The phrase is 'Stuff that for a load of soldiers!" So I have
improvised. I bought a new large covered litter tray for £8.95... When I got
home I've weather-proofed it by getting a couple of heavy-duty rubble sacks
& covered the litter tray completely so that it has a 'porch' effectively
giving an eaves overhang to the entrance, so it's got protection from wind
as well as rain. Inside I've placed a nice fluffy vet bed. As I was sat in
the office doing all of this, I had a certain striped cat sitting by me
intently watching what I was doing. As soon as I finished, he hopped in,
curled up and started purring... *loudly*... with his head peeking out
whilst he looked at all around!! I'm sure he *knew* it was for him all
along.

So tonight I'm going to pop it out on the porch, sat on a layer of expanded
polystyrene foam for insulation, to help stop cold seeping up from the
ground. If Marble decides to pull his usual b*st**d cat trick over the
winter, at least he's got a space I know he'll be warm and dry in.

Cheers, helen s

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mlbriggs - 14 Nov 2005 18:02 GMT

> Marble, a.k.a. PsychoCatFromHell, is a PITA of a night time. The cats have
> the freedom to come and go during the day, but at night they are *in*.
[quoted text clipped - 30 lines]
>
> Cheers, helen s

If he really likes it, he may be willing to come in at night to use it.
Good luck.

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Irulan - 14 Nov 2005 19:56 GMT

You are so resourceful, helen. I'm sure Marble will be so pleased with his
new sleeping place.
Lily & her mama

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Irulan
from the stars we come
to the stars we return
from now until the end of time

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Karen - 14 Nov 2005 19:59 GMT

I would like to see a picture of the winter cottage.

> Marble, a.k.a. PsychoCatFromHell, is a PITA of a night time. The cats have
> the freedom to come and go during the day, but at night they are *in*.
[quoted text clipped - 29 lines]
>
> Cheers, helen s

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wafflycat - 14 Nov 2005 20:06 GMT

>I would like to see a picture of the winter cottage.

I'll charge up the battery on the camera ;-)

Cheres, helen s

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bobblespin@yahoo.com - 14 Nov 2005 20:22 GMT

I too cringed at the price of ready-made shelters, so I made something
out of two cardboard boxes, the waxed kind the grocery stores get their
cabages in. They are very strong and thick. I got two, almost the
same size, and put them into each other for strength, taped the top
flap open so it would make an overhang, half opened the side flaps for
wind protection and covered the whole thing with thick plastic. I put a
piece of carpet on the floor. The box sits on some bits of wood to
keep it 2 inches off the deck to remain dry. Sonny loves it and often
goes in it just to hide from the squirrels who look for peanuts on the
deck. He prefers to stay outside even when it's raining, but when it
starts to pour he makes a dash to his little house and waits it out
(rather than come in the house). So I don't worry if I get delayed and
he's out, I know he'll be out of the wind and rain. Winter is not a
problem: he refuses to go out for more than 3 minutes from December to
March. Clever cat!

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Marina - 15 Nov 2005 05:33 GMT

> So tonight I'm going to pop it out on the porch, sat on a layer of
> expanded polystyrene foam for insulation, to help stop cold seeping up
> from the ground. If Marble decides to pull his usual b*st**d cat trick
> over the winter, at least he's got a space I know he'll be warm and dry in.

Sounds very comfy!

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