{"id":4757,"date":"2021-02-08T04:05:03","date_gmt":"2021-02-08T12:05:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/?p=4757"},"modified":"2021-02-08T04:05:03","modified_gmt":"2021-02-08T12:05:03","slug":"mindful-monday-winter-housing-for-feral-cats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/?p=4757","title":{"rendered":"Mindful Monday \u2013 Winter Housing for Feral Cats"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-4451\" src=\"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/catstraycalico-e1600949120638-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/catstraycalico-e1600949120638-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/catstraycalico-e1600949120638-375x500.jpg 375w, https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/catstraycalico-e1600949120638.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/>\u00a0<\/strong>I read this week that if you\u2019re preparing houses for feral cats this winter\u2014in particular where it freezes\u2014you should not use blankets in the house. Use straw instead. Evidently blankets tend to freeze in icy temps, defeating your efforts to warm the cats. Hmmm, definitely something to consider.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s another warning for those of you who try to help the feral cats in your area. I wrote once about the great idea I came across online to use old truck tires for cat houses. Well, it seems that isn&#8217;t such a good idea. As it<img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-4149\" src=\"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/catMillicentsMac-300x226.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"226\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/catMillicentsMac-300x226.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/catMillicentsMac-768x578.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/catMillicentsMac-500x376.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/catMillicentsMac.jpg 1095w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/> turns out, the toxins in the rubber that can be a danger to the cats.<\/p>\n<p>If you don\u2019t currently help the strays in your neighborhood, you might consider it. You can purchase ready-made cat houses from around $40 each. Or there are a lot of ways to repurpose items to create suitable shelter for homeless cats. Cut an opening in a Styrofoam cooler or a plastic storage bin, for example. Animal carriers are everywhere\u2014sitting on the curbside, at secondhand stores, being given away on local facebook pages. Snag a couple and insulate them for the feral cats in your area.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s a site you might find interesting as it features some ideas for creating suitable shelters for the cats roaming unloved in your neighborhood.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/balconygardenweb.com\/diy-outdoor-cat-house-ideas-feral-cat-shelters\/\">https:\/\/balconygardenweb.com\/diy-outdoor-cat-house-ideas-feral-cat-shelters\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0I read this week that if you\u2019re preparing houses for feral cats this winter\u2014in particular where it freezes\u2014you should not use blankets in the house. Use straw instead. Evidently blankets tend to freeze in icy temps, defeating your efforts to &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/?p=4757\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15,36,37],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4757"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4757"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4757\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4758,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4757\/revisions\/4758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}