The Cat Owner’s Notebook
Winter Prep for Outdoor Cats

Do Feral Cats Actually Use Outdoor Shelters? These 6 Things Decide It

You can’t bring them inside, but you can give them somewhere to go on the worst nights. A wary cat checks a shelter for a few things before it will sleep in one. Here they are, and the heated house built to pass all six.

Outdoor Cats5 min readUpdated September 25, 2026
Heated cat house on a snowy porch at night with a cat looking out Tabby cat stepping in through the hooded entry flap Lid open showing the foil-lined interior and a cat asleep on the heated floor Cat leaving through the round side escape door in the snow Cat house on a raised frame above wet grass in the rain Food bowl set below the entry flap Close-up of the round side escape door and its flap
Heating Pad Included
Two doors · Raised frame · Foil-lined

If you feed cats that won’t come inside, you know the moment the forecast drops below freezing. You put the food out, and then you wonder where they’ll spend the night.

Maybe you’ve already built them something: a storage tote with a hole cut in the side, a box under the deck. That’s a good start, and it’s more than most people do.

A wary cat doesn’t care how much work went into a shelter, though. Before it sleeps in one, it checks a few things, and a shelter that fails them sits empty on exactly the nights you built it for.

Here are the six. Where the ASPCA’s winter-shelter guide covers one, we’ve quoted it.

Lid open on the foil-lined house with a cat asleep on the heated floor
#1 · Heat

Heat on the Nights You Lie Awake Worrying About

Getting a cat out of the wind is step one. Keeping it warm at 3 a.m. in January is step two, and most homemade shelters stop at step one.

This house comes with a heating pad that lies flat on the floor, with the cord running out the back. Plug it in when the nights turn cold, and the foil lining on every wall and on the lid holds the warmth in. Put it on a smart plug and you can switch the heat on from your phone the minute the forecast drops.

✓In the box: the house and the heating pad with its power cord. No separate heater to buy.
Cat stepping out of the round side escape door into the snow
#2 · A Way Out

A Second Way Out, So It’s Never a Trap

To a wary cat, a box with one opening is a dead end. If a raccoon, a loose dog or a bigger tom shows up at the door, there’s nowhere to go.

This house has two doors: a hooded flap at the front to get in, and an escape door on the side to get out fast. A cat inside always has a second way out.

iASPCApro, Winter Shelters for Community Cats: “Two entrances provide another way out if a cat is threatened.”
A storage-tote shelter sitting in an icy puddle next to the raised cat house on its frame
#3 · Off the Ground

A Floor That Stays Off the Frozen Ground

A tote or box set straight on concrete, dirt or snow draws the cold right up through the floor. After a storm, it’s sitting in the puddle.

Steel legs lift this floor about 6 inches clear of snow, standing water and frozen patio. The cold and wet stay underneath, away from where they sleep.

iASPCApro: “Elevating the shelter helps protect cats from cold, wet ground and makes it easier for them to warm the space with their body heat.”
See What’s in the Box ↓
Tabby cat pushing in through the hooded weather flap
#4 · Weather

Flaps on Both Doors Keep the Weather Out

Two doors come with one catch: two openings let in more cold air. The answer is to cover both.

The front entry has a hooded weather flap the cat pushes through, the side escape door has its own flap, and the coated outer shell sheds rain and snow. The cats come and go, and the flaps keep the weather on the outside.

iASPCApro: “If using two entrances, add flaps to help keep cold air out.”
Cat house set against the house wall under a porch roof in the snow
#5 · The Spot

The Right Spot, Out of the Wind and Near the Food

Set it where they already eat, with the entrance facing a wall or tucked under a porch roof or overhang. On open, windy ground, set a couple of bricks against the legs so it stays put.

For the heat, run the pad’s cord along the wall to a covered, GFCI-protected outdoor outlet, out of reach of chewing. Unplugged, it’s still a raised, insulated shelter with two doors. The pad is for the cold nights.

iASPCApro: “Face the entrance toward a wall or other protected area when possible.”
Bowl of food set right below the entry flap on a porch
#6 · Moving In

A Reason to Walk In, and Time to Get Used to It

Most outdoor cats won’t walk into something new on the first night. Caretakers get them in with food, one small step at a time:

  1. Night 1Set the house by the feeding spot and put their food right below the entrance.
  2. Week 1Put a little food outside and a few treats just inside the flap. Something that smells good, like salmon or chicken, pulls them in.
  3. Week 2Stop the outside food and keep the treats inside. Once they find treats in there every day, they start staying.
  4. First freezePlug in the pad for the cold nights and keep the treats going.

Some cats move in within days. Some take a few weeks. That’s why the time to set it up is before the first hard freeze, not the night of it.

✓If they won’t use it: the 60-day money-back guarantee covers you. Details below.

The Box Under the Deck vs. This House

A homemade shelter gets a cat out of the wind. Here’s how it does on the rest of the list.

Box or tote shelterThis house
Heated floorOnly if you rig one✓Pad included
Second way outOne hole✓Flap + escape door
Off the groundSits on it✓Raised about 6 in.
Flaps on the doorsOpen hole✓Both doors
Foil-lined walls + lidIf you add it✓Every wall + lid
Opens to cleanDepends✓Top opens

Comparison reflects general differences between this house and typical homemade box or tote shelters.

The House Built Around All Six

The Purvio Heated Outdoor Cat House

Raised, foil-lined, two doors, with the heating pad in the box. Built for the cats you feed but can’t bring inside.

Purvio Heated Outdoor Cat House with a cat peeking out of the entry flap
What’s in the box
✓The houseRaised steel frame, open-top lid, hooded entry flap, side escape door, foil-lined walls, water-resistant shell
✓IncludedHeating pad + power cordLies flat on the floor. No separate heater to buy.
✓60-day money-back guaranteeIf the cats won’t use it, return it for a full refund.
Set it up before the first hard freeze. A cat can take days to weeks to move in, and the house needs to be theirs before the cold arrives.
Get Yours Before the Freeze →
60DAY

Cats use it, or it’s free

Set it up and try the food trick. If the cats won’t use it within 60 days of delivery, return it for a full refund. No hassle, no questions.

What Caretakers Say

You already feed them every day. You can’t make them come inside, and on the coldest night of the year you won’t be out there with them.

What you can do is make sure they have somewhere warm to go, and that they already know the way in.

Get the Heated Cat House →

Advertisement. The Cat Owner’s Notebook is published by Purvio, which sells the cat house featured on this page. Quotes are from ASPCApro’s “Winter Shelters for Community Cats: FAQs and Cold Weather Tips.” The ASPCA has not reviewed or endorsed this product. Follow the instructions supplied with the heating pad and use a covered, GFCI-protected outdoor outlet.