cat isolation shelter

Finally visible progress on the isolation shelter!

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For the past while, all the stuff that’s been done on the cat isolation shelter has been preparing pieces before assembly.

Which meant that, while progress was being made, it didn’t really look like much progress was being made!

Well, today, all that prep work finally paid off.

Assembly has begun!

I’m not going to go into too much about the assembly now; I’ve decided I’ll be making a voice-over video of the process when it’s done, so I can go into more detail. For now, here’s the short form.

The first thing I did was mark the centers of all the cut lengths on all sides. I even remembered to bring my carpenter’s triangle this time – and I got a lot of use out of it, today!

The front and back panels, which will be 4′ square, got assembled first. These used the true-to-size 2x4s for the outside, with a single regular 2×4 across the middle.

Of course, that didn’t turn out as easy as expected.

The regular size 2x4s turned out to be a fraction of an inch too long. With the first frame, I ended up recutting it too short, but was able to use the piece I’d cut off, sanded down until it fit, to fill the gap. With the second piece, I used the miter saw’s blade to basically shave off a bit at a time until it fit, so I didn’t have to fill a gap again!

Once the front and back panels were done, I used the side pieces and the centre marks to work out where to attach the triangle blocks. Once those were attached to the front and back panels, the panels were attached to the pallet, with the cross pieces to make sure they were spaced properly.

Once the first panel was attached flush with one edge of the pallet, that officially became the front of the shelter. The bottom cross pieces were set in place along the short sides of the pallet – making sure all the corners were at 90° – before the back piece could be attached, then the side pieces were attached to the pallet as well.

The top cross pieces were then added, which also set the front and back panels correctly, and finally the middle cross pieces were added.

Once it was all together, I rolled the whole thing out of the garage and through the grass. The wheels handled the grass just fine, and it was quite easy to move around! One of the last things I’ll do is add some handles to use to move it around but, for now, I can just grab the frame.

None of the joins are prefect, of course. In fact, some of them are downright messy. But, the corners are square and the whole thing is extremely solid and stable, and that’s what’s important!

Once that was done, I was able to use the funky calipers my daughters got me for Christmas a few years ago to measure the distance inside the frame, at the centre mark. A 2×4 was cut, checked and double checked for it, then got half painted. Since I had the paint out anyhow, I covered a few spots on the frame that needed touching up.

This cross piece will support the floor. The floor in the back half will be from one side to the other, while the front half will be from one side to the middle, leaving an open space for any isolated cat to access the upper level.

That was as much as I could get done today. Tomorrow, the other half of the cross piece will be painted. Until that’s dry, I won’t be able to measure and cut pieces for the floor, but the bottom half of the back panel will be walled in, so I should be able to start measuring, cutting and painting boards for that, as well.

The boards I have that are left over from another project are 12′ long, though. I’m going to have to rotate the table I have the miter saw on, to have the space to work with them!

As I’m doing all this, I’m always turning things around in my mind about what should be, or can be, done on the inside before the whole thing gets the welded wire mesh added, since none of it can be done once the mesh is in place. I find myself thinking of adding something across the front or side to hold food and water bowls, slightly elevated and secured somehow, so they don’t end up knocked about. If I do that, I might change things up so that the front door, which will be made to swing down and become a ramp when left open, is in front of where the litter box will be, instead of in front of where the sleep cubby will be.

I’ll think more on that, as the floor boards are added, as well as the vertical pieces that will need to be added to support the access doors and panels. I also want to include things like a scratching post and other spaces for cats to lie on.

I wonder if we have any scrap carpet somewhere that can be used for this? I know we have a roll of carpet in the barn, but it’s been sitting there for probably at least 10 years, of not longer, and I doubt it would be useable. There might be something in the storage shack, but it would be hard to find anything under all of my parents’ belongings.

Still, it might be worth a look!

If we have cats that have to be in this thing for possibly weeks at a time, I want it to at least be fun and interesting for them!

Have I mentioned that we’re sucks for the cats?

The Re-Farmer

Kitten news and isolation shelter progress

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First up, the good news!

I need to head to a Walmart to get more cat kibble, and the Cat Lady will be able to meet me.

That means, Button is finally going to be going to her forever home!

She’ll be staying with the Cat Lady for about a week for standard vet care, then go to the home of the large animal vet that is adopting her.

Finally!!!

Button is in the bottom cuddle pile of the photo above, wrestling with the black and white kitten.

The kitten being used as a pillow by the orange while white kitten is the one with the messed up eyes. We brought her in last night again, to spend the night in a carrier in my bedroom. We have to keep her completely isolated from the inside cats. She seems okay with the carrier. I gave her a stuffy, and she spent the night sleeping right up against it.

Unfortunately, her eyes are still swollen shut and she’s essentially blind. We’re washing them, of course, but that helps only so far. We did make sure she had cat soup for food – extra thin, for more hydration – with supplements that should help boost her immune system. The Cat Lady has medication to give us, but as of this morning, she still couldn’t find it. Hopefully, she’ll be able to find it before we meet up this afternoon.

After they have Button for a week, then pass her on to her forever home, they might be able to take in eyes baby, too. I have really been trying to avoid that. They’ve taken so many sick kittens from us, and end up keeping them permanently, because hardly anyone is willing to adopt healthy cats, never mind any with past health problems. Plus, it seems the cats at our place have a particularly bad strain of herpes. The sick cats they’ve helped us with before have recovered, but are still prone to relapses. Other sick cats they’ve helped from communities around us have recovered and not relapsed.

Also, it seems the cats from us have a bit of a reputation among several vet clinics now. We’ve had some very unusual cases, with Cabbages being the first anomaly. At least her treatment is now saving the lives of other cats. Then there’s the one that turned out to be Down’s. Who know cats could be Down’s?

Anyhow.

All the more reason we need the isolation shelter, and I got a bit more progress on that this morning.

I cut more corner supports from the remaining true to size 2×4 piece that I have. I was able to cut them larger this time. The smaller ones were ready for more painting, as were the frame pieces. As of right now, the only things left that need to be painted are a couple of 2×4 frame pieces, and the larger angle cut pieces. Once those are done, assembly can start. I’m hoping I can get that done this evening, if this morning’s coat of paint is cured enough.

As you can see by my hat in the last photo, it was quite hot and muggy in the garage while I was working! I normally wear a hat to help keep the sweat out of my eyes, but today was just too hot, and I took it off pretty early on, so all that wet is from a very short time! Lately, I’ve taken to folding up a strip of paper towel and putting it between my forehead and the hat band, to help absorb the sweat. That does make it more bearable, but by the time I could have done that, my hat was already soaked!

Well, time to start getting ready to head out with Button. I need to make sure the smallest cat carrier is ready. We keep it with several others in the sun room these days, so cats are in and out of them – and climbing on top of them – regularly, so they get pretty dirty.

I still need to go to the post office first, but I’ll do that along the way. I did already go this morning, but I went too early. I was sure the post office opened at 9am, but when I got there at 9:30, they were just opening up and hadn’t sorted any of the mail, yet! I think Button will be okay in the carrier alone in the truck for a few minutes.

I’m so happy she is finally going to her forever home!

The Re-Farmer

[addendum: I just had to include the AI generated feedback I got for this!

The content reflects a heartwarming story of finding a forever home for Button and the dedicated care for the kitten with eye issues. The updates on the isolation shelter’s progress are interesting. Consider adding subheadings to distinguish between the different topics discussed. Additionally, breaking up the text into smaller paragraphs can enhance readability and make it more visually appealing for the reader. Good luck with the ongoing care and shelter construction efforts!

The AI is hilariously complimentary!]

Such a good mama! plus, isolation shelter progress

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Must start with the cuteness!

I spotted Adam nursing this brood in front of the sun room – and I needed to get past her! I had to go back and forth from the sun room a few times, and saw her nursing in the same spot again, but with different kittens!

She is such a good creche mama. So chill with the babies!

Not with people, though. She still won’t let us near her, and ran off when I got too close. Unfortunately, she seems to choose high traffic areas to lay down and nurse!

Meanwhile, I got a bit more progress done on the cat isolation shelter.

As I mentioned in my last post, I changed the plans a bit. The original plan was to basically have a cube with the outside frame divided into quarters, vertically and horizontally. I had it in my mind to attach the vertical pieces first, like wall joists, then horizontal pieces to support the floor boards in the second level. The problem was, how to attach the shorter horizontal pieces, with the materials I had on hand. There are brackets and braces that can be used to make the job easy and secure, but I don’t have any, and don’t have the budget to get them.

Then it occurred to me that this shelter doesn’t need vertical support. The true to size 2x4s are strong enough on their own. I’ll still add them, as they will help hold the welded wire mesh, but it’s the horizontal pieces that are more important, since they will be supporting the floor boards.

So the longer regular size 2×4’s I cut will now be mounted horizontally instead of vertically – they will be doing inside the 4′ square front and back frames, so the measurement doesn’t change. I needed two more for the shorter sides, which meant I needed to more pieces the same length as the pieces that will be the top and bottom.

In the first photo of the Instagram slide show, you can see the two new pieces that were cut. The others, meanwhile, were flipped and ready to get their other sides painted.

The rough cut true to size 2x4s sure use up a lot more paint compared to the smooth regular size 2x4s!

I still had the problem of how to attached them to the front and back frame pieces. They will be butted up against the edges. I decided to cut pieces at 45° angles that will be butted into the corners to give me something to screw into. These will be needed for the top and middle pieces of one side. I’ll need 4 more of these for the other side. I used leftover scrap pieces of true to size 2×4 I do have a short length of that left. I’ll see how these work out before cutting more. I might decide to do it a different way. Or just cut them a bit longer. That was my original intention, but the pieces I had left over weren’t long enough.

Hmmm… now that I think about it, I can use longer pieces to support the top corners of the frame, and these shorter ones to support the horizontal pieces in the middle of the frame. I’ll have to think about that some more.

I did have an issue making the 45° cuts. I’m using the miter saw I picked up at a garage sale a couple of years ago. Today is the first time I needed to make angled cuts.

I don’t know how long its been since this thing was used for angle cuts, but it had to be a long time! I had to get lubricant to get it to turn all the way, from one side to the other! But, I got it done, and am soooo happy I have this saw! Previously, I used a hand saw and miter box to make cuts like this, and that really sucks. Especially with wood as hard as this! My soil sifter’s frame would have turned out much better if I’d had this when I made it. 😄

At this point, there isn’t much more I can do until all the painting is done. Once I have the outside frame assembled, I can take the measurements I need for the cross piece that will go through the middle to support the floor, and for the vertical pieces. I’m not working with two different sizes of wood, so I don’t want to count on just doing the math.

I’m not that good at math!

After cutting the 45° angles, I was left with a bunch of equally sized triangles that I’m hanging on to; they might come in handy, later. I should have had 8 of those, but one of them fell apart, because the end of the 2×4 I was cutting off was one of the more damaged pieces.

The painting, unfortunately, is going to take a while, since it basically needs a whole day to cure. It wouldn’t normally take that long, but it’s humid enough to slow things done and keep things very tacky! About the only other thing I can do in between flipping and painting the boards is cut and start painting four more angled pieces.

Still, progress is progress, and I’m happy with how it’s going so far.

The Re-Farmer

Beautiful night, productive day

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As I posted earlier, in the wee hours of the morning, my daughters and I had done out last night to see the Perseids meteor shower. My daughters had read that the peak viewing period would be around 3am. We even brought out the tripod so I could set my phone up and take photos.

Well, we didn’t see very many meteors, but we did get a light show!

My older daughter’s the one who actually took most of the photos. I the fourth one of the slideshow, at the top near the middle, you can just see that a meteor was caught in the shot.

It was an awesome night, too. Lovely and cool – just the perfect temperature! – with nice clear skies for viewing the stars.

The meteor shower is supposed to be visible tonight, too. I checked The Farmer’s Almanac, and it says that the peak viewing period should be around midnight, not 3am, but I guess that depends on what time zone you’re in. Either way, we plan to be out again tonight, at around midnight.

After we were done, my older daughter got back to work and my younger daughter ended up staying up as well. They have been arranging their sleep schedules so that and one of them is up and available, any time of day, and my younger daughter has the “day shift”. 😁 She was a sweetheart and took are of feeding the outside cats this morning – and washing the one kitten’s infected eyes – for me, so I could get a bit of extra sleep.

Once I got outside, my priority was to water the garden before it got too hot, then did a bit of harvesting. After I had breakfast… er… lunch, I made a trip to the post office, making sure to leave the gate open when I got back. I got some more painting done on the pre-cut frame pieces for the cat isolation shelter – three sides are now done. I then spent the next couple of hours, mowing. The driveway hasn’t been done in so long, I had to go over it twice to get it cut to the length I wanted.

I’m going to have lots of “hay” to collect! The grass is so thick in places, even this mower, set as high as it could go, was struggling!

Gosh, it all looks so much better!

Now that that’s done, I’ll get back to cutting more lengths of wood for the isolation shelter frame, so they can be painted before construction, too.

As I think about the construction, I am debating how to make the access doors. There’s going to be a main door that will swing down and convert into a ramp when it’s open. When not in use as an isolation shelter, we plan to leave it open and available for the cats to become familiar with it, and a ramp would make it easier for kittens to get in and out.

Since I don’t have salvaged windows that slide open to incorporate into the design, I am thinking of making sliding doors instead of doors that swing out. I think that will give more security for if we have a particularly feral cat inside. We’d be able to reach in and out without having to open a sliding door all the way. With a swing door, the door itself would be in the way if we wanted to open it partially. A sliding door would also be handy for releasing a cat from a trap, as it could be opened just enough to fit the end of the trap.

I’ll have to think about that, some more. Whatever I decide for the access points, the rest of the structure doesn’t need to change, so I can literally wait until the shelter frame and interior is completely assembled, then see what works best.

I’m having fun with this build! It’s going to be the most complicated thing I’ve built and, with using salvaged materials or whatever we can afford to get, the plans have to be pretty loosey goosey!

Little by little, it’ll get done!

The Re-Farmer

Cat isolation shelter progress: looking good!

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When I first started thinking about the plans for a smaller isolation shelter, one thing I did not think about was painting it. That’s always been something we dealt with after the build. Paint, however, is going to be needed, to protect the wood and keep it from rotting too quickly. This is especially important, considering that I’m using salvaged wood that already had damage to it.

Given that this build is going to have a lot of stuff going on on the inside, I decided it would be much easier to paint the parts and pieces before assembly, rather than trying to reach inside to do it.

In going through our leftover paint, the can that felt like it had a decent amount in it was the peacock blue used on the floating benches (benches built on tree stumps that aren’t painted, so they’ll look like they’re floating when things grow back under them) and the folding table we cobbled together. The can of red seemed to have some weight to it, plus I also found a quarter can of white that was used to make our sign for those trying to find our address that doesn’t exist on any online maps.

I know we’ll need a decent amount of paint, so why not mix them together? They are all water based exterior paints, so mixing them would work fine.

I started off by setting up the frame pieces that are already cut.

They all needed a bit of a cleaning of dust, dirt and debris, first. Once that was done, I opened the cans to see what we had.

The blue was about half full, but there wasn’t much left of the red or the white.

I had a very pleasant surprise once they were all mixed together. I really like the resulting colour! When it’s time to buy more, which I expect to need to do before the project is done, I definitely want to colour match this!

I had looked for paint rollers and trays, and I did find the roller frames and a tray, but no rollers. I know we have some. I even remember finding one still in its package. Where they ended up, I have no idea.

So, paint brush it was.

With the frame pieces, they were pushed close together so the tops could be painted all at once. The cut ends were done, and part of exposed sides of the row, but that’s it. After they were painted, I spread them out for air circulation as they dried.

I really like that colour!

Once that was done, it was time to put the wheels on the pallet.

My original plan had been to cut away part of the slats at each corner, so the wheels could be attached to the solid wood below. They were far too damaged to bother, though. These pallets were used by the roofers. While they were working, I have a fire going to burn the branches and wood that were too big for the commercial wood chipper used when we got the branch pile cleaned out, a couple of years ago. It was cold and snowing while the roofers were working, and they would sometimes go to the fire to warm themselves. When they were done, they tossed the pallets to the still-hot ashes. So what you’re seeing on the bottom of the pallet is ashes and a bit of scorching. The pieces at each long end got the most damage, so it was easier to just break them off and pull the nails. The slats were so cracked, it was easy to break them off by hand!

The ends were also a bit too damaged, so when I used the wheels to mark off where the pilot holes needed to be drilled, I butted them up against the next slats in.

Then I had to dig through our collection of wood screws to find ones suitable to attach the wheels. The ones I’d already brought to the garage were for attaching the frame pieces together, so there are a lot of really long screws, but no shorter ones. After digging around in the sun room, among the boxes of screws that cats hadn’t managed to spill all over the floor, yet, I found some that would do. Thanks to the new cordless drill and driver set, and the set of driver tips my husband got me for Mother’s Day, attaching the wheels took almost no time at all!

My husband is such a sweetheart.

Once the wheels were on, it was time to flip the pallet over and test them out.

Oh, they are going to make moving this thing SO easy!! They might have some trouble going through the grass in the yard, but that should be manageable. I love that they all rotate 360°, too.

That done, the top got brushed clean, and it was time to paint!

Have I mentioned, I love that colour?

I plan to do just one coat of paint, and will not be painting the underside. I did make sure all the edges were well coated, though.

Once that was done, I went and took garden tour video, then checked on the frame pieces. They were still too wet to flip, so the other sides will be done tomorrow, then the edges. In between painting, I’ll be measuring out and cutting other pieces, so by the time those are painted and dry on all sides, I’ll have more cut pieces ready to paint.

So that is progress on the cat isolation shelter, so far.

Next, I need to work on the garden tour video.

Oh, I’ve just been getting messages from my brother. They’ll be coming over tomorrow, early in the morning, to bring stuff to store in the barn. They do know we haven’t been able to mow a path to the barn, but I hadn’t told him yet that we have no working lawn mowers at all. He knows, now. They won’t be staying long or making much of a visit. My SIL is allergic to cats, so they can’t come into the house, really.

I’m looking forward to seeing them! That will be a great start to the day!

The Re-Farmer

Isolation shelter build started

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I’ll be honest, here. We’re really just winging it on this build, even though it’s going to be quite a bit more complex than the kibble house and water bowl shelters. It all comes done so what materials we can scavenge.

There are plans, however!

Plans that needed to change, but still plans! 😁

The original plan was for a 4′ x 4′ cube, divided up inside to have an enclosed shelter that will be insulated, a not quite enclosed shelter for a litter pan, and two levels with space for food and water bowls, and just hanging out.

We had a couple of pallets that were left by the roofers. My original intention was to dismantle them and use the wood mostly for the floor.

That did NOT work out!

The pallets are nailed together mechanically. The nail heads are deeply embedded in the wood – and the wood is quite thin. When I tried to pry them off, the wood started splitting.

Time for plan B!

The pallet will be the floor, more or less as is.

I measured the pallet’s length and width at the boards inside, and each side was slightly different. I brought over the circular saw and cut the ends flush to the outside boards. The most damaged side will be the bottom of the floor.

I could still work with 4′ lengths on two walls, and the other two will be 40″, to fit on the pallet. The shelter will still be 4′ tall.

For the main parts of the frame, I’m using the true-to-size salvaged 2 x 4 lumber in the barn. There’s hardly any of that left, but there’s enough for this project. It feels like a shame to “waste” it on something like this. The wood is old and the ends have started to rot a bit, but it’s really solid and heavy wood. It is, however, what we have, so that’s what we’ll use. Other parts of the build will have more modern, standard 2×4’s, which are not true to size, and are quite a bit lighter. We have even less of that, so we’ll have to plan accordingly.

For now, I’ve cut lengths to make the front and back panels, which will be 4′ square. The frame will be attached directly to the pallet once put together, but that won’t happen quite yet. The dirt floor of the garage is pretty level, but not flat, mostly due to shallow tire ruts. Right now, the pallet can’t lie flat on the ground. I’m heading into the nearer city tomorrow, and will be looking at what wheels are available, and affordable.

Once the pallet has its wheels, it will be able to straddle the uneven parts of the floor, and be sturdier to work on.

Once the “box” is framed out, the interior will be worked on, including things like extra surfaces for cats to lie on, something they can scratch at, and so on. Once that’s all figured out, access panels or hinged doors will be made so that the litter box, food bowls and enclosed shelter can be reached from the outside. For the enclosed shelter, what I will probably do is make an insulated box that can be removed completely, if necessary.

I haven’t fully decided on how to do the roof. It will most likely be a low slope metal roof. I just haven’t decided how I want to make the slope while not having any gaps.

Last of all, the welded wire hardware cloth will be added to those walls that are not enclosed with wood. We might not be able to pick that up until the end of the month, though. Unless we find something on hand that we can use.

Anyhow. That’s progress so far. Reworking the plans and making the first cuts for the frame.

Little by little, it’ll get done!

The Re-Farmer