Winter Ready Trixie Cat House

  

We bought the Trixie cat house from Chewy.com a few years ago.  We set up by adding a cooling mat and straw on the floor.   A feral cat went into the house and seemed to like it.   When the season started to change, we knew that we had to make this small pine wood house winter-ready.

The house sits off the ground which is good but the floorboards promote air circulation which is bad for our winters.  So we covered the floor walls and interior of the hinged asphalt shingled roof with reflective insulation.  Then we filled it with a hefty layer of wheat straw.

The insulation was fine for the cool days and nights of autumn but when the rain came the overhang did not keep the interior dry and the water seemed to come in the straw and the insulated walls were wet  So, we took the house apart by removing the wet straw and insulation.

The darkness on the back wall is wet from the rain

We brought the house indoors so it could dry out and once it was dry my husband worked to insulate the house for winter and to stop the leaking.  To get the Trixie house ready for winter we added the reflective insulation on all interior walls. To stop the wind and the rain from coming in from the side walls we wrapped the house with bubble wrap.  Wheat straw was added so that the kitty could burrow in the straw and keep warm during the winter months.

Since the house does not have an overhang, and feral cats are afraid of the door flaps we set the house up under our deck to protect it from rain and snow. 

Our winters are bitterly cold and think that this winter-ready Trixie house will now provide a perfect shelter for a stray or feral cat.