Tips on Cleaning the Outdoor Cat Shelters for Winter

This is the time of year where my garage gets taken over by outdoor cat houses.

This year we’re making another colony cat house for the cats in my yard. We also bought heating pads for all three shelters.

In addition, I’m cleaning out all the cat shelters and adding new straw for their bedding, as well as new insulation.

Dash came to check out what I was doing to his cat house underneath our deck. Can you see him? Most of the cat shelters I have around the neighborhood are made out of Rubbermaid bins.  Cleaning them and changing the insulation is easier because all of the measurements have already been done.

Here’s a couple of things I’ve learned along the way.

I empty the bins and hose them down in the yard. The old straw can be composted.

In some cases the sheets of insulation also need to be replaced. You can see the old insulation on the floor here is dirty and scratched up by the colony cats.

Add straw inside and close. If you add too much straw the cats will just pull it out to make more room. This is not a problem, especially if the cat house is underneath a deck or stairs. The straw acts as extra bedding for them on the floor.