Thanksgiving Weekend means repairing ferals shelters for winter

My family had a lovely Thanksgiving celebration yesterday at the cottage.

The East Side Gang
Today I took advantage of the good weather to work on the winter sleeping shelters for my dear ferals.  They are getting older and I am more concerned about them than ever.  F.J. and Doodle are the youngest at 9 years old while Jag, Spirit and Ollie are at least 11 or more.

that wee black speck at the end of the sidewalk in
the centre of this picture is Spirit waiting for me
to arrive with food

The winter sleeping shelters are in good condition and dry inside even after spending a full year outside.  I used large Rubbermaid containers which I lined with sheets of pink insulating styrofoam then buried them under bales of straw and leaves last fall.  I needed to do a little repair work where a couple of holes developed in the straw and the winter winds could blow right into the shelters


wind could blow into the shelters so these holes were
blocked off to help keep the cats warm during the
 worse winter

Doodle is probably my biggest concern this year.  For some reason this dear little cat seems to feel the cold more than the others.  He has been using the sleeping shelters for about three weeks now while the other 4 kitties find other warm spots to sleep.  When I arrive Doodle always comes out of the shelters, which is good.   There are four individual Rubbermaid containers under all the straw and leaves with a central hallway and two exits.  There is a 5th shelter which is buried under the straw in the foreground of the picture below.

Doodle coming out of shelter for food

I'm not sure what to expect this winter.  There was an old shed right beside the sleeping shelters that was ripped down over the summer. This shed blocked most of the sunshine during the winter months, but maybe now the cats will have more sun to warm themselves.  I have my fingers crossed for them.

Spirit (left) and F.J.

Jag

F.J.

Ollie on straw bale, Doodle in foreground

The Logan Gang
Tess is the oldest in this colony.  She is at least 11, while brothers Jazz and Que turned 10 this past summer.

I did an inspection of the Logan Gang's sleeping shelters and there was very little to fix. These shelters are in an open field but the nice thing for them is that it is fenced with very little activity. Right now Tess and Jazz seem to be using the recycling plant across the street for shelter but I expect they will start using their winter sleeping shelters once the really cold weather arrives. I have no idea if Que is using the third shelter with separate entrance.  Tess and Jazz are the best of buddies but Que doesn't get along with either of them.

Tess

Que

Jazz

Logan Gang's shelter with entrance into
 Que's shelter

Tess and Jazz use this shelter during the
 winter months

Last year our winter was amazingly warm and we had very little snow but the long range forecast is not as promising for this year.  I can always hope........