Barncat house

[Bill]

Being retired in Montana, 2 things that don’t bother me are the weather and putting out traps for field mice. My wife, however, hates mice- something from her childhood she will not discuss.

So…. I decided to get a couple mousers from the humane society and built a little house. Outdoors-only animals.

I used left over lumber and cedar shakes from our house. What was interesting was there were lots of YouTubes showing how to use an old cooler with a 6x6 hole for entry.

I only took a couple pictures. As I screwed the fir floorboards on, I sprayed insulation foam in between the cooler and wood. There’s a 25 watt 120 vac heater screwed to the bottom. It keeps the inside around 40 degrees when it was 20 outside. I got a heated water bowl and put out a bowl of cat food.

Then I brought home 2 barn cats, cute little creatures. Took them out of the cardboard travel boxes. Cat1 ran away west, Cat2 ran the other direction and I haven’t seen them since- even set up a game cam last night.

The woman at the humane society said give it 2 weeks, and if no sign of cats they’ll gladly give me 2 more.








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[Johnny Dangerr]

Wife bought a heated one and I mounted it 5 feet off the ground. Cat jumps on trash can and then jumps to it's porch.

I like yours better...

[Drycreek3189]

That’s pretty neat, I’m gonna have to do that. I have two tomcats, one sleeps in the garage, the other hangs out mostly on the front porch. The garage cat doesn’t share so I need something better for the other one to sleep in when it’s cold.

[Lost10mm]

That's a nice build!

[Bill]

Barncat house

Thanks, over-engineered but I had the wood and time. I figured I’d see it every day and didn’t want an eyesore next to the house. Somebody told me get a couple or 3 hay bales, put them with a gap between away from the house. Cats sleep in the gaps, hay attracts mice and there you go.

I’ve never had cats. I wonder where the 2 are? It’s bern in the teens at night here so it’s not comfortable wherever they went.


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[Bayouboy]

Keep a little food out. They will come around at night.

[White Falcon]

Nice work.

[Bill]

Nice work.

Funny- on Christmas our son pulled out his phone and showed my wife and I pictures of a new construction house he framed, sheathed and just had set the windows. He did it himself except paying a guy for 5 days ‘rolling’ the roof trusses.

Then I pulled out my phone and showed him the cat house- with wood he left after building ours.

It was great seeing how he’s taken the basic carpentry I taught him as a kid, worked in custom home carpentry thru college getting a construction management degree and now is a builder.


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[tps7742]

The cat house looks good they will like it in your climate especially.
On the barn cats running off, from my experience since I have been living back in the country that’s the norm but they should show back up eventually to eat. I lose at least one a year sometimes two due to varmints, eagles etc. and I have them all fixed. I have one old Tom cat approximately 8 that he usually takes the under his wing to teach them most of the ropes but not staying alive. I do have one Tom not fixed now we will see how that goes. My experience has been the best ones i get from farmers around that are half wild. The ones from the spca or pound do not never see being full grown. I think the eagles take care of them or hawks. I never was a cat person until I moved to a rural area and figured out they are a necessity imo.

[tps7742]

Funny- on Christmas our son pulled out his phone and showed my wife and I pictures of a new construction house he framed, sheathed and just had set the windows. He did it himself except paying a guy for 5 days ‘rolling’ the roof trusses.

Then I pulled out my phone and showed him the cat house- with wood he left after building ours.

It was great seeing how he’s taken the basic carpentry I taught him as a kid, worked in custom home carpentry thru college getting a construction management degree and now is a builder.


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I bet this does make you proud of him and obviously so. Congratulations

[Texas Grown]

Bill, great looking Cat-house (never thought I'd say something like that ). That ought to work great . As for the cats running off, I guess that's one way for the SPCA to get rid of them . Hopefully they will show back up. Wild cats take a bit of time to tame. Helps more when they are kittens. My grandfather always had wild ones living around his house. I've caught a few and tamed them. But the initial "meet-n-great" is a little painful without good gloves.

[Rubberdown]

That’s cool man. Nice of you to keep them warm! In the spring we have about 10 to 15 barn cats and kittens. Down to about 5 by the end of winter. Coyotes get them I guess. Or owls or buzzards or something. . I dunno. I hate cats but they keep the mice down so I don’t t fight them. There was one that would jump off the top of the hay bales on top my head and tear me up every time I walked by. It got so I didn’t want to go in there but he disappeared right after we bought the place so that was a bit of a relief.

[txlawdog]

I am planning to get some feral cats from the local animal shelter. They are always looking to get them to someone that can use them. I hope mine stay around long enough to do some good. I am so tired of all the rats and mice that seem to like my place. Going to make something like you did.

[stevieray54]

You can also stack 3 -4 tires on top of each other. Slide a board 2nd /3rd tire go a floor put board on top. Either put some straw or a cooler in there and cut you a hole for them to get in and out. Cats love to sleep up off the ground

[kmitchl]

We had feral cats on a lease I hunted. After the cats we were no longer seeing snakes around the camp. People in my hood think it’s a good idea to put out food for birds and deer. Then the rats come followed by the snakes. And they just don’t understand.