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Friends For Life Animal Shelter

#BeUnsheltered

We stand for an animal-loving community.

Each winter, Friends For Life builds and distributes #ProjectWARM shelters made out of specially modified plastic tubs and lined with foam and hay for insulation. They are durable and reusable year after year, designed to keep free-roaming cats safe and warm through the winter.

We stock up on these at the shelter when it starts getting colder, but you can also make your own #ProjectWARM box pretty easily.

Written Instructions for #ProjectWARM Community Cat House Construction

Each year, Friends For Life builds hundreds of tiny homes for community cats. To cover the cost of making these, we ask those acquiring them at the shelter for a $20 donation.

If you’re not in the area*, though, or just want to make your own, we’ve put together our process to make your own. These bins usually last through at least a few years of use, though the hay should be changed out after each season change (especially if it gets wet).

Project WARM house

MATERIALS

  • 14-gallon Rubbermaid storage bin/tub
  • Roll of one-inch thick foam (a twin mattress topper works well)
  • Yardstick/tape measure
  • Spray glue
  • Box cutter/utility knife
  • Straw

If you’d like to donate supplies for us to make more warm houses OR make your own, here is where you can get them:

LINKS TO MATERIALS WE USE

ASSEMBLY

  1. Cut a doorway approximately 8” x 6” in one of the short sides of the storage bin. To prevent flooding, cut the opening so that the bottom of the doorway is several inches above the ground.
  2. Using spray glue, line the floor of the bin with foam cut to size.
  3. Size foam to the interior four walls of the bin.
    1. At this time, you can trace the pre-cut door into the foam you’ll be using on that interior wall, and cut that out before you start gluing the interior insulation in.
  4. Using spray glue, line each of the four interior walls of the bin with a piece of the foam (cut to size).
    1. This method holds best (trust us – we’ve made A LOT of these with different building and adhesive materials).
    2. If you don’t have spray glue, a hot glue gun or heavy-duty double-sided tape from the hardware store can also work.
    3. For the foam, perfect cuts are not necessary. The cats won’t mind. ?
  5. Stuff the bottom of the bin generously with straw on top of the bottom foam.
  6. Cut out a foam “roof” and glue it to fit the inside of the lid. Glue the foam onto the inside of the lid.
  7. Cover the bin with its lid. Voila!

*Our design is for warmer climates. If you live up north, a tub-within-a-tub design is recommended for better insulation from freezing temperatures.

Questions we’ve been asked before…

Why use foam instead of blankets on the inside of the bin?

You can use blankets, but foam is a better insulator and seems to hold up better after getting wet (and it dries out quicker than a blanket would). If you’ve got some old blankets and want to use those instead, go for it! Just change them out whenever they start getting gross.

Why use straw instead of hay?

Straw is normally used for a bedding material, while hay is used as a feed supplement. Straw is dried out and works well for building nests and providing cushioning for animals to sleep in. It is not moist like hay and is unlikely to mold.

Why not use staples to attach the foam to the inside of the bin instead of spray glue?

We tried it! Unfortunately, we considered the potential for injury to the cats if the staples were to come loose or poke out the outside of the box to be too great.

Can you use any different insulators in these community cat houses?

Absolutely! Here are just a few things that you could use instead of mattress pad foam:

  • Have some sort of grocery/meal delivery service that delivers your food insulated? That works great!
  • If you get stuff shipped to you in foam coolers, you can just cut a door in those – they are great insulators, since… that’s what they’re made to do. 😊
  • Blankets can be used in a pinch but don’t work as well as mattress pad foam.
Blue jean insulation in a ProjectWARM house

Have you seen that blue jean insulation stuff? This stuff is AMAZING insulation!

Is there anyway that you can make the tubs “prettier?”

We try and keep the cost as low as we can on these, and sometimes the supplies can be hard to find (read: trips to 7 different WalMarts). We take what we can get as far as tub colors go, and try to keep the cost to make each box as low as possible.

If you’re looking for a different option than the tub, there are a lot of insulated dog/cat houses out there on the internet for sale (though they tend to be pretty pricey).

Wanna get creative with your #ProjectWARM house? Go for it! Set it on your porch (if that’s where your community cats visit), cover it in a burlap fabric, and put some décor on top of it (though make sure it’s not something too heavy, like a plant, or something that’s going to scare the cats away from using it). Instantly Pinterest-worthy!