Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

We are about to be hit with this deep freeze that’s all over the news. I bought 2 of these boxes months ago for our feral cat friends but unfortunately they are not made for this brutally cold weather. BUT in a pinch I’ve successfully turned them into warm and weatherproof cat boxes! This is only a temporary fix to get through this freeze and the next 2 months. See attached photos. I’ve created an insulated box within the box itself. 1” insulation board on the floor, walls, and ceiling. I also added a heated K&H bed and a thin fleece. Straw is always preferable but I haven’t been able to find it locally & need this box done today. Thin fleece won’t hold water like other blankets or towels and the heat from the bed will dry out any moisture. The purpose of the fleece is that the weight of the blanket warms up the bed & will keep it warm to the touch. Without weight on the bed it will get cold. Keeping the bed warm increases the ambient temperature & the bed will be far more warm & comfortable in sub zero temps. Please note, without the heated bed I would only use straw to keep moisure off the cat. Imagine being outside in subzero temps and wrapping up in a wet blanket. Not good and likely deadly. There are a few problems with this cat box design so I had to get creative. First, there are paw shaped cut outs on the sides of the box and on the rear window. Cute... but pointless and & rain/snow gets inside so I wrapped the House in 3m window insulation plastic. It keeps water out, protects the untreated wood, and adds another thin insulating layer. I used indoor/outdoor Gorilla duct tape to secure the plastic, taped to the inside and underneath the box. See photos. The front of the cat box is left wide open and the little roof oning is insufficient, rain sprays inside at the front of the box. To remedy this I left some room between the front cat door and the front of the insulated inner box so that the bed stays dry. I also insulated the rear window separately for extra insulation... it’s a thin plastic window with a hole in it. I did this in addition to wrapping the entire box in the plastic. Once the roof is screwed down you will need to caulk everywhere that the shingled roof meets a wood edge including the wood strip down the center. Without caulk I suspect the roof may leak. This box, before modifiying, is probably best to be placed on a porch with an overhang or somewhere protected from the rain & elements. It’s not waterproof, definitely not sufficient for cold weather. We do not have a covered porch so these modifications should do the trick until the weather breaks and I can permanently modify the boxes for long term use. Hope this helps!