One of the goals of the animal division of A Hand Up is to make the community we live in better for everyone by helping homeless/community cats by providing food, outdoor shelter, neutering (trap, neuter & release back to where they live) and vet care.
This helps to keep the stray population down and improve their quality of life as well as the people around them. We are working with one cat colony in Wendell NC with approximately 20+ cats. We are hoping to provide assistance to other cat colony caretakers and animal-assisting nonprofits.
At this time various types of donations are always welcome:
- Dry/canned cat food
- Puppy training pads for traps/cages
- Veterinary care
- Neuter/Spay
- Financial donations to use for all of the above
Feel free to just check our page out for various types of information regarding caring for community/feral cats or how to become a caretaker of your own community cat colony.
A Hand Up is a 501c(3) tax-exempt organization and donations are tax deductible. Donation receipts are available upon request.
Thank you for caring!
Here is a feeding station with a 2×4 for the ramp, or they can climb the tree. It keeps the food off the ground and away from roaming dogs. The plastic bin is attached to the platform by cable ties so we can cut them easily if we need to take it off to clean or replace.
We do get possums on occasion but they are not destructive and by night when they come out, the cats have eaten most of the food. The smaller width on the ramp makes it almost impossible for larger animals to climb up.
Here are some of the shelters we have made to keep them warm in the winter. The wooden ones we built and the black plastic ones underneath we made with plastic totes, styrofoam insulation sheets and straw which is the best bedding as it doesn’t mold like hay. Their little radiator bodies keep them warm in smaller spaces. There are many types of shelters to help them out.
ONE TYPE OF COMMUNITY OUTDOOR CAT SHELTER
44-gallon outdoor tote & 66-quart clear tote that fits inside larger tote leaving room for thermal board. You can also use a bit smaller totes. Smaller shelters are better to keep cat warm as the body heat needed will be less; they don’t generally share a tote with other cats unless it is a mother with kittens.
1/2 “thermal board
Duct tape
Box cutter
Sharpie
Tape Measure
Hair Dryer
Straw
Cut thermal board to fit in bottom of large tote – make slightly smaller. Then cut sides to almost top of outside tote. Do long sides first and then front & back. Sides will slightly overlap.
Cut a piece to set on the top. Duct tape or use all-temp glue to the piece to the top of the lid of the inside tote.
A couple inches above the ground, cut a 5-6’ hole on the outside tote use hair dryer to soften plastic first, cut foam board and then mark the inside tote and cut that – can soften with hair dryer to make clear tote easier to cut. Put duct tape on sharp edges.
May want two holes so cats don’t feel or get trapped by attacking cats. Don’t put holes right across from each other – offset them so wind and weather does not blow straight through.
Put straw inside; use a lot because they will burrow into it in cold weather. You can take leather or vinyl strips or something similar to cover the door to keep wind/rain or other weather elements out. Can use black tubing around the hole. And can use a tube (flanged pipe) for entrance. Will help to keep weather out better.
Put a brick or heavy rock on top of whole tote to keep it from being blown over/or separated. Sometimes I use cable ties around the edges if it is in an area that it gets knocked or blown over easily.
Can use pallet(s) to raise the shelter and keep it warmer and off the ground.
Clean out straw every 4-6 months and replace with new. You can also spray with flea spray or powder. It will help some.
*The one pictured has a square hole but the round holes seem to work better.