Monday, April 29, 2024

8 Best Outdoor Cat Houses of 2024, Reviewed by Pet Experts

large outdoor cat house

Catio Plan purchasers are directed to Catio Spaces’ website, specifically the DIY catio plan page. Catio blogs on the Catio Spaces website include links to DIY catio plan web page and mention 10% is donated to animal welfare organizations. The purchaser enters the affiliate’s promo code during the checkout process. Affiliate agrees to share Catio Spaces’ curated social media posts, photos, and blogs featuring DIY catio plans by Catio Spaces and the benefits of catios. The Affiliate’s promo code is included in the text (written description) of each post for promotion on the affiliate’s Facebook page and newsletters. This is a large structure — nearly six feet high — with a tall door so that adults can enter the catio to clean it and carry kitties in and out.

New Age Pet ecoFLEX Albany Outdoor Cat House

If you’re looking to house multiple cats, check out the Rockever Luxury Two Story Outdoor Cat Shelter with Escape Door Rainproof Outside Kitty House instead. For consumers looking for extra protection against predators and the elements, the hyper-fortified Kitty Tube may be worth the steeper price tag. Depending on your location, it can also provide important protection against dogs, coyotes, foxes, raccoons, and snakes. The door size and type are also important, since smaller sizes and types of doors can rule out entrance by potential invaders. Available in five colors, this Rockever cat shelter doesn’t boast the state-of-the-art insulation and waterproofing features of other homes on this list.

Petsfit Outdoor Cat House

That way, if an unwelcome guest like a neighboring dog sticks its head in, the cat can sneak out the back way. Some online reviewers suggest placing this cat cabin on a porch. Also many report buying more than one if they have several feral cats that visit.

Insulated Extra Large Cat House for Multiple Outdoor Cats

large outdoor cat house

When it isn’t in use, you can fold it up and latch it, which makes storage much more straightforward. Wooden houses are sturdier and much more weather-resistant than their nylon counterparts. You can paint them any color you like with exterior latex paint, which also extends the life of the shelter. The K&H Pet Products Heated Kitty House is just large enough for two cats to snuggle up together.

large outdoor cat house

The 9 best outdoor cat houses of 2024

While this does make the house look odd, it will keep your feline dry. It is more expensive than most other options, but that’s because it’s heated. It’s quite large and can house many cats at once in poor weather conditions. It’s perfect for outdoor cat colonies or other groups of cats. Anywhere your cat needs additional warmth, this house can be used. It can even be used indoors if your cat loves heated houses.

The easy-to-assemble Petsfit house is the ideal size for keeping a kitty warm in cold, wet conditions. The pitched A-frame shelter is made with spruce wood and lined with high-quality plastic sheeting for waterproofing. An asphalt-covered awning over the front door keeps out the rain and snow. It provides plenty of room for feral cats to have their own space, play safely, and exit quickly through its two separate entrances. One element that makes this home irresistible is the adorable balcony, perfect for luxurious sunbathing.

Whitney Phillips is a volunteer at Alley Cat Project in Seattle, Washington. She has more than 20 years of experience building shelters for feral and community cats to protect them from the wet Pacific Northwest weather. Phillips helped us better understand the importance of weatherproofing houses and explained how to build a DIY cat house. With Rubbermaid's Brute 14 and 20 gallon totes, you can make an outdoor cat shelter that is affordable, waterproof, and easy to maintain. Standing 8 inches off the ground, it's designed to keep kitties away from soggy grass or mud. It also has a slanted roof, with leak-proof wooden planks, to help protect against heavy rainfall or snow.

Best for Multiple Cats

The Best Cat Shelter to Keep Your Pet Protected and Safe - Bob Vila

The Best Cat Shelter to Keep Your Pet Protected and Safe.

Posted: Tue, 02 Mar 2021 08:00:00 GMT [source]

Stephen Quandt is a certified feline training and behavior specialist with over 20 years of experience. He consults for organizations like the Southampton Animal Shelter Foundation, Ready For Rescue, and the Animal Care Centers of NYC. Quandt helped us understand what makes a cat house ideal for hot weather and how to keep cat houses of all kinds clean. Steps or a ramp could give older kitties a helping hand, Quandt says — and this cat house by Trixie comes equipped with a handy ramp to give older cats easy access. The slightly elevated floor helps promote air circulation while keeping cats off cold or wet ground.

The last thing you want is for a predator to be blocking the only doorway and your cat to be stuck inside. Their natural instinct is to choose hiding places with multiple entrances, just in case a foe shows up. Therefore, many cats won’t use a house if it only has a single door. This means using only cat-safe materials, and the wood used shouldn’t contain tons of chemicals. Therefore, anything that they come into contact with could end up being ingested.

In her work, Wolko advocates for the safety of pet products and the pets who use them. Wolko helped us better understand the best types of bedding materials and how to safely use electricity in these shelters. This cat house by Trixie features an entrance ramp that gives older kitties easy access inside. If you're setting up a shelter for feral or community cats, it's also important to remember that they may not want to bed down together. Ninnemann recommends setting up multiple houses instead of one large house if you think more than one cat in the neighborhood may use it.

Your cat doesn’t have to literally eat the wood to ingest any chemicals that are in it. However, durability can be complicated, as it’s affected by many different things. Treated wood, vinyl, and plastic are often the most durable. Also, consider how many stories the house is, and understand that all cats won’t use every story. Some will only use the bottom story, especially if the door to get upstairs is inside. The size of cat house that you choose largely depends on the cats that you have.

"For reference, the area of a medium-sized dog crate per cat is about right," he says. Your cats should have enough space to stand up and turn around, but not enough room to let their body heat escape. Keep in mind, too, that the smaller the house, the better it can retain heat. It's fitted with a fleece-lined heated pad that is MET safety-listed, which means an independent lab has evaluated and approved it for safe use.

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