K&H Pet Products Outdoor Kitty House (Heated)

I can not give this 5 stars because-**The "outdoor" cat house has to be under some sort of roof. Kind of defeats the $50 price tag. At least the outside material should be waterproof. Especially when you consider most of us are using it for feral cats we want to give a little cold weather support to. **Then when you consider that most ferals (& most outdoor cats) like to "mark" their territory. Waterproofing would be nice so it could be easily cleaned. Which means this outdoor house that needs to be under a roof somewhere is going to smell like cat pee in no time. Which for us means - so will our garage. Ick! **SO we have some suggestions! With a few nails, a claw hammer, free pallets, and a small tarp (if you would like) you can fix these issues. **Free pallets are easy to find on Craigslist, & you will need 2-3 x's as many as you plan to use. No special skills needed. You can lean 2 together like a triangle shape, or 3 to make a coffee table shape. Biggest thing you will want to do for extra protection is pry the boards off your "extra" pallets, and nail down to the pallets you are planning to use in the end. Once you've covered the pallet so it's more like a wood floor you can nail your 2, or 3 final pallets together to provide a roof in the shape you would like. A tarp can also be nailed to the inside of the pallets (leave one side on bottom un-nailed so water can drain away), or on top of pallets. IF you put the tarp inside you can paint it with any outdoor wood / deck paint, or stain. ... **Old farm tip here is to water down used motor oil with some diesel fuel until you can apply with paint brush, or rag. Then paint all the boards that come into contact with the ground, or entire project. Leave out to dry in open space for a couple days. The diesel will evaporate leaving the oil in the wood - which now repels water, and will hold up for years if applied correctly. ***For our Green Friends - use the coffee table shape, then nail 4 wood planks to top to create a raised garden on top. Nail, or staple garden plastic sheeting, or winter window insulation plastic to the bottom and sides, add planting soil, and grass seeds under a layer of straw. ^.^ Wa-La! Fancy, functional, cool kitty garden that can have mums, pansies, and petunias planted in the appropriate season if you would like!