I’ve had the Feral Villa in my yard for years now. The outdoor cats have always loved it, and it’s proven to be so popular in my yard that our band named our last album after it. This year I upgraded the villa and installed an outdoor heating pad. The pads are activated by body weight and the cats love it. All three cat houses now have the pads and I always wanted a photo showing it being used. But this is not quite what I had in mind.
Yesterday I caught Dash, our TNR’d feral grey cat that’s been in our yard since 2007, in the Rubbermaid bin shelter rather than one of our luxe heated cat houses. I laughed to myself and thought “cats want what they want,” and it goes to show how well they brave the elements if he’s going to choose a plastic storage bin over a wood house with a shingled roof. Normally he uses the Feral Villa because that is “his.” He stays apart from the other colony cats, who use the other cat houses together.
I told Jim about it and he also laughed. Then hours later we went out to dinner and he looked at me and said, “I bet that opossum is in the Feral Villa. That’s why Dash wasn’t using it.”
I stared at him for a beat and said, “You think Doggy is in the cat house?”
Jim didn’t know yet that I had named the opossum Doggy so he was completely amused and confused at the same time. We were at a place by our house called Handlebar that has a lot of posters on their walls advertising local rock shows. One of them was for a band called the doggiewoggies, or something like that, so we decided to name the possum Doggy Woggy.
And then we went home and I found out, as always, that Jim was right.
Occupy Feral Villa!
This is Doggy Woggy in the Feral Villa enjoying the black heating pad. You can open the villa from the top. He did not move at all during this, and didn’t even come out when I closed it.
I have no problem with this possum, but he can’t really move in like this. I mean, maybe he can, but I can’t have a possum family in the future. I live on a city lot, and my neighbors all have large dogs. I used to have a raccoon family visit all last summer to raid the garden. To discourage them from staying, my neighbor kept his outdoor lights on all night, played a radio, and I made sure not to leave cat food lying around, so they eventually moved on.
Also, I was feeling really bad for Dash. I felt better this morning, though, because when I opened up the villa I found Dash inside there again. He dashed out like a normal cat (cats don’t care about photo ops!) and glared at me for interrupting his morning nap.
I love what you are doing , so very kind. Can you tell me where you can get the mats that are heat activated by body weight? They are awesome. I want to do this in my backyard in St. Louis. I have alot of fur babies who I take care of.
I went outside and almost screamed because I mistook the opossum for Bouncy Bear near their feral cat feeding station. OK, I know they don’t really look alike, but it was dark and they were close together by the food and they’re both grey and white. And he also hissed at me because I’m sure I scared him. I haven’t seen the opossum since before this whole Polar Vortex/Chiberia mess.For the record, they both could care less about each other.
Opossums are the safest of all wildlife to have around. They do not carry rabies or any other disease. I am a wildlife rehabber, specializing in opossums and also have some feral feeding stations. Often times they sleep together and eat together. Opossums will keep the area rid of poisonous snakes which makes it safer for the cats. They really are a good animal to have around and not dangerous to have around in any way. They have a hard time finding food in these times so it’s nice he was able to grab a snack before moving on….
Thanks for sharing, Beth, I’m happy to have the opossum here, he has been coming over sporadically since the fall. You are right – he seems to coexist just fine with the cats. Please feel free to share any other tips!
The opossum came back last night for a holiday treat. Even the colony cats have a dysfunctional family for the holidays!
He stayed for a photo shoot, and did not mind the flash. He is only interested in the dry cat food. I left it out late last night since I was having dinner at my family’s house. He’s a messy eater.
I never quite noticed the Doggy Style logo before on the pet bowl. That’s hysterical. I think I’m going to name him Doggy. It’s a lot easier to spell than opossum.
But I don’t want to encourage him to rely on cat food. I found this article on The Humane Society’s site about how to gently discourage opossums from coming to your yard. Although, I am very interested in the part about them eating slugs and insects from the garden. I could use help with that this summer.
Here’s the article:
“A gentle wild neighbor, the opossum is our only marsupial and is rarely guilty of more than “playing ‘possum.”
Opossums get a bum rap. They often get blamed for things that they don’t do—like tipping over garbage cans. (It’s most likely the neighborhood dogs or maybe an energetic raccoon who provides a nice smorgasbord which the opossums enjoy, too.)
But like the kid who doesn’t run as fast as some of the others, they are the ones always getting caught.
Opossums usually don’t get into garbage cans or gardens, but they might stop to clean up the mess left by other wayward critters, and get the blame. The have been accused of killing chickens, but that happens very rarely. Most people complain about opossums just being there, rather than for any problems they cause.
If there is an opossum in the yard, don’t worry. He is not a threat, and more than likely he will be moving on in a short while. The best way to keep them from visiting is to have tight-fitting lids on garbage cans, and not to leave any pet food outside overnight. Remember to pick up any fruit that has fallen from trees.
But far from being a nuisance, opossums can be beneficial for your garden, eating snails, slugs, insects, and sometimes even small rodents. They’ll even clean up spilled garbage as well as that fallen fruit off trees.
Opossum are not aggressive, although their open-mouth, defensive hissing may make them appear that way. But they are only bluffing and trying to look vicious as a defense. And if that doesn’t work they play dead when really scared!
The best way to keep opossums from living under a deck or patio is to make sure they cannot get there in the first place. To find out if an opossum has moved in, loosely fill the hole with soil, leaves, straw, or crumpled newspaper. If she is in there, the opossum will push her way out and reopen the hole. If nothing happens for two or three nights, it is safe to assume that no one is inside, and hole can be filled.
To keep an opossum out that has moved in, wait until she leaves her den (two hours after dark is generally a safe time). Then loosely close the opening with netting, straw, or other fibrous material that an animal trapped inside can push away, but one outside will not bother to disturb to get back in. Opossum moms take their kids wherever they go, so there is not much chance that any babies will be left behind. But always check for youngsters before closing the opening.
Every now and then, an opossum will get into a house through a pet door. Provide them a way out by closing the doors to all rooms and open the doors to the outside. Opossum are usually not aggressive, so you may be able to help them on their way by gently nudging them with a broom.
People often mistake the open-mouth hissing and drooling behavior of opossums as a sign of rabies. However, this is just a bluffing behavior that opossums use as a defense mechanism and does not indicate a sick animal. In fact, rabies is extremely rare in opossums, perhaps because they have a lower body temperature than other warm-blooded animals.”
Thanks to all of you who donated towards her care. We couldn’t do this without you! Together we raised more than enough funds to cover Crystal’s care. Thank you: Annamarie F., Barb G., Ben M. and Carolyn T., Cori B., Carla F., Carlin R. and Kathy, Catherine M., Diane D., Elisa G., Heather Z., Joan F., Kristine L., Lindsey P., Lois R., Maryan S. and Oleksandra K., Melody S., Mette P., Mimi M., Paula G., Rita B., Sarah S., Terri V., and Victoria S.!
And we know how much all of you do for the cats in your care as well. Every person I’ve met within this group has done incredible amounts of animal rescue. It is extremely humbling. One of you asked about a cat that was coming to your yard with most of his tail missing. I gave some ideas on where to take the cat, and you were able to get him fully vetted and available for adoption. When I saw the photos, I asked to share the story as well. This amazing donor complied, but wished to remain anonymous. That is how wonderful all of you are.
I like to celebrate the proactive action of people who go out there, see an animal in need, and try to do something about it. I offered a few suggestions to her of resources closer to her that may be able to help. She ran with it, took action on her own, and rescued this cat.
This woman lives in the far northwest suburbs of Chicago and also wanted to remain anonymous because she does not want people to dump their pets on her, or expect the vet she used to always give free vetting. I completely understand the sentiment.
Meet Doc, a cat that started visiting her yard this winter. Most of Doc’s tail was missing and injured.
Despite that, he looked good and had a healthy appetite. He started to visit her yard for food more regularly.
She has a webcam and was able to track his visits to her yard at night.
This is another feral cat that was TNR’d three years ago that she feeds regularly.
A new pregnant female cats has been visiting recently as well that she is currently trying to trap before she has kittens.
And she also gets visits from other wildlife, such as opossums and raccoons.
Doc is friendly, so she tried to put food in a cat carrier but he wouldn’t go in. She also tried a humane trap but that didn’t work either. So she opened the back door to her enclosed porch and he went in to eat. She closed the door and Doc panicked a little, but he was more worried about eating. He settled down when she turned a small heater on and enjoyed the warmth. She got him into a dog crate.
She was able to get him into a vet who also does animal rescue. Doc weighs a healthy fifteen pounds, is pure muscle, and is about 3-4 years old. The vet gave him a full exam and cleaned up his wound. Doc was also then neutered and vaccinated, and then put up for adoption after his tail completely healed. He looks great!We are so happy to hear stories like these! Not only is it a happy ending for an animal in need, it showcases how people can network together and get things done. More animals will be saved with more people being proactive on their own.
A rescue friend who does TNR in the north suburbs is having problems convincing a a neighbor who feeds cats to put an outdoor cat house in her yard for the winter.
The feeder fed a cat family all summer, and my TNR friend did the TNR for them, and even adopted out the kittens herself.
Then my friend sent me this email, “I got the momma cat Saturday night and she was spayed Sunday. The woman that feeds her doesn’t want a dog house in her yard. Any other suggestions?”
Obviously I think the cats and their cat houses and the fact that they hang out in my yard all of the time makes my garden even more beautiful, but I understand that not everyone feels like this because they are unaware of the possibilities. A big purpose of this blog is to not only show how TNR works, but to also show how you can peacefully and beautifully live with the TNR’d cat colonies in your yard, and the relationships people have with the feral cat colonies that they feed and care for.
My first suggestion is to ask if this woman would be open to having another type of shelter in her yard. There are all kinds of outdoor cat shelters in my area to help keep the feral cat colonies warm in the winter.
The Rubbermaid bin shelter is the easiest to make, and it’s easiest to move around in a yard until you find a spot where the cats will use it. It should be placed in an area sheltered from the wind and elements, such as under your front steps.
Also, if someone objects to having it or the aesthetics of what it looks like, it will be hidden from human view. Then, in the spring, it’s easy to remove.
Otherwise, sturdier cat shelters can also be put in places not really accessible to humans, such as under a deck, or a tree, or in a gangway. The Jim Villa cat condo and Alley Cat Allies cat house are not only under our deck because it’s sheltered, but humans have to stoop to get under it. Otherwise this space would not be used for anything at all.
And when you’re in the actual garden, it’s camouflaged. Actually, if you were to paint it different colors you would hardly see it. You can get creative with it.
Really creative. In fact, you can paint a shelter any way you’d like, the cats won’t care. This shelter at another colony is one of favorites because the family who made it had their children design the outside. I call it the Kitty Graffiti House.
Shelters can also be a design element in a yard, and be completely hidden from view with plants. You can hardly see the Feral Villa in my summer garden.
Well, you can see the Feral Villa from the deck above, but it’s part of the overall design, and it’s my favorite part of the garden.
But it’s really not that noticeable, even when the garden is bare. The colors blend in.
You can also make a cat house out of something that was originally designed for your garden for another purpose. A few years ago we bought a chiminea and ended up using it only once because the cats decided to claim it for themselves.
This past winter was brutal. B-R-U-T-A-L. The polar vortex gave me the worst case of seasonal depression. I worried about the outdoor cats all of the time, despite the heating pads we installed in their outdoor shelters.
Spring was also slow to start, and some of the colony cats were showing up sick. The vet bills were racking up.
During this dark time, I started planning my garden to cheer myself up. And decided to focus on flowers this year. My friend Janessa owns her own flower shop in Uptown called Forget Me Knodt, and we talked about cutting flower gardens. Somewhere in that conversation, we agreed to plant a garden here, and sell the flowers at her shop to help raise money and awareness for the colony cats.
We had to wait until almost June, but as soon as we could, we bought cutting flower seeds.
It was clear from the very beginning that my cat Mooha was in charge. Which makes sense. She was born in my co-worker’s flower pot in 1999, and has been with me ever since.
Time to start planting!
So we did.
This is what the garden looked like when I prepped it in June.
JUNE.
No wonder I was depressed.
Anyways, Janessa started digging.
And dug some more.
I helped.
And Mooha helped.
What’s with all of the sticks?
To start plotting out the garden of course.
This is what it looked like on paper.
Ok, so Mooha doesn’t want you to see it. Let’s take a closer look.
Ok, forget it.
Anyways, put down the sticks.
And some more.
Mooha inspects the whole thing.
And here’s what it looked from my deck like all planned out.
We planted all of the seeds, including these awesome Chinese Forget Me Not seeds.
I have no idea what makes them “Chinese.”
Mooha didn’t help us plant seeds at all. She found the tiny bit of catmint growing out of the ground, and decided she was in love with the garden hose.
Like, REALLY in love.
After we finished messing with their yard, the colony cats came to take a look.
There’s a lot of quick and easy outdoor cat houses that you can make to help keep your TNR’d feline colony warm during the winter.
Years ago we purchased the Feral Villa and it has always been a big hit with the colony cats.
Then we made another wooden, insulated cat shelter, kind of like after the style of a dog house. The cats use it year-round. Since Jim made it, we called it the Jim Villa.
This year there was a lot of new construction in my area. A lot of abandoned homes were torn down, and a new park is being built. The cats used these buildings and land for shelter, and I got worried they would have nowhere to go. So we decided to add another outdoor cat house and include heat in all of them.
I am so thankful for this decision, as this winter is also the year of the Polar Vortex, and I live in Chiberia. The winter has never been this cold since I started caring for and TNR’ing outdoor cats a decade ago. We’ve been having our own problems as the pipes have burst in our basement this year for the first time.
But I digress.
First, Jim made a new insulated cat house, using these directions from Alley Cat Allies. He modified a few of the measurements, and we call it the Alley Cat Allies Villa. Here it is in progress.We have outdoor electric outlets and decided to take a step further this year. We ordered outdoor heating pads for all three of these houses from K&H Pet Products. The heating pads are activated by weight, and come in different sizes. We also purchased Thermo Cubes, which are plugs that make the heating pads turn off once the temperatures reach a certain level.
I love this company. I also bought their Thermo Kitty Cafe bowls to use for wet cat food and water. They’ve been a huge hit with the feral cats. The directions say not to leave them plugged in outside, but they’ve been outside working ever since I purchased them.
Bouncy Bear loves to eat and drink from all of the heated outdoor bowls.We placed the outdoor heating pads into all three of the wooden cat shelters.
Here is the heating pad fitting nicely in the new Alley Cat Allies Villa. That little shelf is for them to go up on, but I’m not sure how necessary it is. It’s not a waste, by any means, because they can also fit under it.
I put some straw around it to add warmth and cushion for the colony cats, but honestly, they push it to the side. They are more interested in keeping warm.
We drilled a hole for the electrical cord to go out of the villa, and then plugged it into our outdoor outlets. I had to use a few extension cords because my outlets are actually up on the deck.
You can see the hole drilled here. The Alley Cat Allies Villa was also taken over almost immediately by Dice, my James Gang Colony cat in my yard.
When it gets really cold, he lets Bouncy Bear in there with him.
The entrance hole is about six inches across, and seems to be the perfect size.
Now on to the Jim Villa.
Every year, it gets cleaned out, and we add new straw and insulation. The front can be easily removed with a power drill.
We use the old insulation pieces as templates to cut out the new insulation pieces.
And here is the Jim Villa drilled closed, with the outdoor heated cat pad inside, added straw, and a drilled hole for the outlet. You can see the cats pushed the straw to the side again.
This is the inside of the Feral Villa with the heating pad and straw in it. Again, the straw is pushed to the side. I’m pretty sure Dash doesn’t share it with any other cats, and leaves if Doggy Woggy the opossum is in there, and vice versa.
The cats come and go as they please, but with this extra added heat in this brutal weather, they don’t seem to be going anywhere as much. This is the scene that usually greets me when I come home.
I was reading your post because I wondered if I could use the straw, which I do use now with the new K&H extreme weather heating pads I just bought. I was concerned about fires but it seems you use both straw and the pads. I have ‘doors’ also on my shelters to help keep the drafts and cold out and they are find with them. I am getting cat doors to install to give even better protection. Where did you get that large black plug connecter? I need to plug in 3 things in a 2 thing outdoor outlet. I also bought a heated water bowl since water is already freezing here. Thanks for any info.
Hi, Kat, yes, I use straw with the heating pads, but if you’re really concerned, just forget the straw.The cats push it to the side anyways, since they want to get to the heat. The large connector and outdoor extension cords all came from Home Depot. Links for heated water bowls can be found in this post: http://www.catsinmyyard.com/outdoor-heated-water-bowls-847
I’d love to see photos of your own set up for the cats if you’d like to share. Thanks so much for caring for them! Vanessa
When your cats get up off of the heated pads in the winter, do they get cold because of where they were lying on the pad and got really warm? How do I know that the pad won’t to be hot for my cat to lay in? People are not susposed to lay on hearing pad long so would it be okay for my cat to lay on? Thanks for your help.
Hi Tammy, I have been using those heating pads for a few years now without a problem for the same cats. They do not seem to get too warm. You can test the heat and see how they work for yourself by placing a heavy book on the heating pad – they are weight-activated. Thank you for caring for the cats!
There is an attachment that you can buy for that heating pad which turns it off when it gets to a certain temp, so it regulates the temp using your cats body heat.
I love your ideas! Thank you for sharing. I have 3 cats that have shown up as kittens are are probably 3 – 4 months old. I have 2 jobs, so I am gone most days, when I get home in the evenings around 10 – 11, they are waiting on me to feed them. I talk to them and feed them, but have only been able to get within a couple of feet of them. I have a friend who is going to build me houses like yours and I will add the heating pads and the heated food bowls. My question is how did you trap them for TNR? Did you have a safe trap? I worry about stressing them out. Do you have any suggestions? I don’t want to freak them out or have them get hurt, but I do want to have them fixed and healthy. Thank you!!
Luann, if you call the local humane society they will place traps for your kittens and take them to the humane society to be spayed and/it neutered. They bring them right back when they’ve had time to heal. Sometimes there is a small fee but sometimes PETA will pick up tab.
I guess its because I rescue homeless cats too but this this the most beautiful page of info I have seen in a long time. Their little faces looking out of the warm homes are a picture of real love, thank you for being a caring human.
My cat shelter inside dimensions is 30.5×17. I am wondering if the Extreme Weather Kitty Pad would be sufficient enough being it’s measurements are only 12×17 or should I go for something like the Deluxe Lectro-Kennel which offers a medium size, but it has a user controlled thermostat, so I am unsure which way to go. Could you offer advice? Thanks.
Hi, it depends on how many cats are using the shelter and will be sitting on the heating pad. The straw and their body warmth together will also heat the shelter. I like the K&H heating pads because they’re weight-activated, but I know there are many products out there. Please feel free to let us know what you decide and how it works out. Thanks for all that you do for the cats!
I ended up going with K&H medium lectro kennel pad. It was the perfect size and came with a soft cover for the cats to lay on inside the shelter. It is body weight activated, which is terrific for the application at hand. I live in southern part of Georgia, so it doesn’t get that cold very often, but on those night the temperature drops really low I can rest easier now knowing they have some heat. Thanks for the great ideas here on your site that inspired me!
Aw wow, it’s really uplifting to see that there are people like you who will spend their time and money to help homeless felines. I currently foster 2 lovely indoor orange cats and live in a rental basement suite (in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan where winter Temps can reach -40 Celsius and worse). I’m just looking into what kind of outdoor shelter I can make for neighbourhood cats, if you have any suggestions. And thank you for assisting the furry ones😊
Hi Vanessa!
I love reading about your kitties, as I am a cat lover who recently lost my 20 year old Mr. Paws. Had him since he was a baby so I have many great memories of him. I have 8 outdoor feral cats that I provide food, shelter and after 2 years they are starting to trust me more and waiting at the back door every morning for breakfast. I make the Rubbermaid Tub houses and plan to buy the K&H pads for this winter, here in Virginia it can get very frigid!! Can u suggest if I should cover the outside of the houses with anything, such as old blankets. They are under a large carport with lattice siding so the cold still blows thru there. I put the white insulation panels inside the tubs but may try the kind you used in your pictures, it does look a bit more thicker and more solid.
Thanks for any and all suggestions!!!
Hi Jeanne, blankets can get wet and cold. But plastic tarps can help hold in heat and block the wind. It also helps camouflage the shelters if they’re out in a more open area. Here are some photos as an example: http://www.catsinmyyard.com/introducing-the-kitchen-colony-4277
If you make the floor of the house larger then the heating pad, the cats will adjust their position on the pad based upon the temperature. If they’re too warm, they will put more of their body on the unheated parts of the floor. This occurs in the Fall and Spring when the weather fluctuates. In NY, the Winters are generally cold, so they spend most of the time on the heat.
Appreciate all the great info! I am now the caretaker of two strays, mama and baby. Have made a temporary shelter but will build better one in summer. Worry bout the cold weather coming. We seem to do what we can.
Hi everyone,
I was led to believe the heat pad I have was designed to keep my cat’s body temp. normal. It seems like the heat pad doesn’t heat the rest of the shelter. I checked the temp inside the shelter but it is the same as outside. the shelter is well insulated, out of the wind and just big enough for the cat basically. Our temp. is about to drop down to -20F. I guess I’m asking should I have extra heat or just maintaining the body temp. enough.
Hi Art, if you could provide extra heat somehow, I’m sure the cats would appreciate it. This is what I’ve been able to provide the cats since the Polar Vortex of 2013/2014 and it kept them warm even during those plunging temperatures. In fact, wildlife like opossums moved into the shelters as well since those cold temperatures were unprecedented. If you come up with even more solutions, I’d love to hear about them and share! Feel free to email me at [email protected] Thank you for all that you do for the cats!
Since I have people in my neighborhood I have decided to make heated houses for the cats and I have a doggy woggy opossum. They don’t seem to mind each other but sharing living space may be pushing it too far. This winter seems to be brutal and
he worst of it hasn’t hit yet. I’m hoping to set it up on my front porch since this is where food and heated water dish is at. So happy to see that you care for others disposable pets also. I used a heat lamp last year I was wanting a warm area to draw the cats near hoping to entice them with warmth
Hi, I’m new at the cat thing. Never had a cat, ever, just dogs. But, last Feb. I found my “Buddy” as a kitten living in a culvert while walking my dog. After 4 days of feeding him sardines ( I had no cat food), he followed me home. According to the vet he was around 6 mo. old. But, he won’t stay in the house but a few minutes. He gets weary, and frets at the door. So, I got him a cat house and put a K&H heating pad in it, and put in in my garage, and he sleeps in there at night, and stays in the cat house on the porch if it’s cold outside. But, I am worried about the temp in the garage right now, (12 degrees)! He seems OK and is snug in his house, but will this heating pad do the job? Will he be warm enough?
Those animals are also here because they’re feeding in our yards. The raccoons especially are visiting everyone – the feeders all tell me about them. It’s not just the cat food being left out, however. They feast on the fruit and vegetables grown in the gardens during the summer. In fact, I haven’t seen the raccoons on our block since the fall.
The institute said that coyotes are most prevalent after raccoons. I’ve never seen a coyote in the city, but a friend of mine sent me this photo of a coyote on her block, mid-afternoon, on her busy city street, chasing a cat. At this point, cats relocated to barn homes do not just have to worry about being killed and eaten by coyotes. Coyotes apparently are everywhere.
I’m really surprised that the Institute’s cameras did not take photos of any feral cats, or perhaps they did not want to address the subject. Or maybe these cats steer clear of the other wildife.
Instead they seemed to take pictures of everything else. Like, lions and tigers and bears, oh my!
Not really, but I couldn’t resist. I do have little lion cats, tabby tigers, and a cat named Bouncy Bear in my colony. She is the cutest.
Honey Bouncy Bear stays dry under the garden bench.
Here’s the article in full:
“LINCOLN PARK — Humans aren’t the only mammals that frequent Downtown.
Based on the results of a successful camera trap program that recently expanded into five Chicago high schools, the researchers at Lincoln Park Zoo‘s Urban Wildlife Institute have discovered two other mammals that routinely roam the city’s streets, parks, alleys and lakefront.
“Raccoons are everywhere, by far the most urban-adapted species, and they’re followed right by the coyote,” said Mason Fidino, the coordinator of wildlife management for the Urban Wildlife Institute, which studies the interaction between urban development and the natural ecosystem.
“Whether you know it or not, if you’re taking a walk in the city, you’ve likely walked past a coyote,” Fidino said. “Most of the time you just can’t see them.”
The issue with not seeing them led to the creation of the camera trap program, which began in May 2010. The institute installed infrared camera traps, which sense an animal’s heat and motion, along three transects — or sampling lines — that start Downtown and head out of the city.
There are 41 camera traps within city limits, and all are near the transects, which run along the Chicago River heading northwest, Roosevelt Road running due west, and the Illinois and Michigan Canal going southwest. The exact locations of the camera traps were not revealed because the devices are sometimes stolen or vandalized, Fidino said.
The last 3½ years of study have led to about a million camera trap photos, plus multiple discoveries of where mammals live within Chicago and how close they’ll wander to Downtown, Fidino said.
Among the findings:
• Besides raccoons and coyotes, opossums are the mammals that come closest to the city’s epicenter. Opossums will travel into areas like Humboldt Park, Wicker Park, Lakeview, North Lawndale and Bridgeport, but they won’t go into Downtown because they tend to like more green space.
A camera trap is installed by Lincoln Park Zoo’s Urban Wildlife Institute at an undisclosed location in Lincoln Park. The institute has 41 camera traps installed within city limits. View Full Caption
Lincoln Park Zoo/Urban Wildlife Institute
• Deer, red foxes and skunks — the striped stink-sprayers were considered the “least urban” mammal — were almost never photographed by the camera traps except on the Northwest Side in neighborhoods like Edison Park, Jefferson Park, Albany Park and Forest Glen. Fidino said they also are in Far Southwest Side neighborhoods including Beverly and Far Southeast Side locales like Hegewisch, but the institute hasn’t installed camera traps in those places yet.
• The city’s river system and railway corridors are by far the primary wildlife gateways into the city.
• Animals have adapted their lifestyles to the urban environment. For example, coyotes in rural locations are usually most active at dusk and dawn, but in Chicago they do most of their hunting overnight.
“When animals are living in the city, a lot of their paradigms break down,” said Liza Lehrer, the institute’s research coordinator.
Fidino and Lehrer consistently add more camera traps. Ones recently installed near Montrose Harbor and Jackson Park photographed coyotes. They’d also like to create other transects that run through other Chicago neighborhoods.
The institute, in conjunction with the Hurvis Center for Learning Innovation and Collaboration, this fall launched a yearlong “Partners in Fieldwork” program with five Chicago high schools — Amundsen, Manley, Providence St. Mel, Taft and George Washington — in which students have set up camera traps outside the schools. The students’ camera trap results will be incorporated into the data the institute already has collected, said Sharon Dewar, Lincoln Park Zoo’s director of public relations.
“The goal is for the students’ data to be usable for our scientists,” Dewar said.
Fidino said the objective of the entire camera trap project is to understand what types of habitats attract wildlife and what kinds of wildlife are living in the city.
Lehrer said she’s been amazed by the animals that can be found within Chicago, even if the cameras haven’t captured them on film. She’s seen a mink at the North Park Village Nature Center, and she said that even beavers occasionally traverse into these parts.
“We’re only going to start seeing more and more wildlife in the city, and we’ll need to be able to coexist with them,” she said.”
We made a new feral feeding station using these instructions from Neighborhood Cats. Normally I put food out daily in a controlled amount so as not to attract wildlife, but we were out of town at the same time so I put extra dry cat food out for them.
The cats seemed to care less about the whole thing. Bouncy Bear is looking at me for more food, Dice is huddled up in the cat house, and Dash has no problem dining in front of this new visitor.
I don’t wish this new guy any harm so we’ll just have to keep controlling the amount of food we leave outside. He should move on without a problem. There’s a lot of construction going on in our neighborhood, including clearing land and cutting down lots of trees for a huge city project. It’s no doubt that some of the wildlife is currently losing their habitat and looking for other places to go.
sarah e lauzen 
Kat 
Cat lady 
Louann 
Donna 
sharon j chamberlain 
Jason 
Leah 
Jeanne 
Ronald Thompson 
Joann Asta 
art 
Kathy Williamson 
Karen 
Anna Luiggi
I love what you are doing , so very kind. Can you tell me where you can get the mats that are heat activated by body weight? They are awesome. I want to do this in my backyard in St. Louis. I have alot of fur babies who I take care of.
Thanks
Hi Michelle, The outdoor heated cat pads are available for purchase here: http://www.khmfg.com/catproducts/outdoor-cat-beds-pads-bowls/outdoor-heated-kitty-pad-and-cover.html
You can also get them usually at a lower price on amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/3093-Extreme-Weather-Kitty-Fleece/dp/B0009YWJRE/ref=sr_1_1?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1415391848&sr=1-1&keywords=outdoor+heated+cat+beds
Thank you for all that you do for the outdoor cats!