Portable Shelters Needed NOW--Your Ideas Please

For smaller animals you could try cheap plastic trash cans turned on their sides. We knew a man down the road who used those. He set them on sides, put a chunk of wood on each side to keep it from rolling and stuffed pine straw in each one. He also used an old metal barrel and an old camper top thing....that type that just sets on top of a truck. He just set it on the ground and dogs lived under it.

Cardboard is warm. If there is a roof to keep the cardboard from getting wet, then use large size boxes like oven or stove boxes and put an extra layer of cardboard on the bottom. It insulates. Shredded or wadded up newspaper could be warm too.

Good luck.

We did the hoop house idea for our pigs. But we actually built a floor then attached the panels to the sides. This way they have a raised floor with hay to sleep on but I can also move the house/shelter to different locations.

Just an idea for a little dog or cat needing a house quick and easy. My cat Frank hates to be indoors, plus he is mean to all the other cats who come in. A friend had a plastic feed bin, but any sturdy solid box filled with hay or straw will work. I later covered the box with heavy bath towels for extra insulation. It was 11 degrees here this morning, Frank was snug as a bug!

How about advertising for foster homes.

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the hay bales are a great idea..for smaller animals use boxes with holes in them and cover them with plastic to keep them from disintegrating and then stuff them with hay or put hay bales around them outside..boxes are avail at most stores for free..

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Brenda Groth
http://restfultrailsfoodforestgarden.blogspot.com/

Saffy, what did you use to attach the panels to the floor? I think this is a wonderful idea! I could build a pig house 2 or 3 panels deep with an attached floor on skids. And make a place to attach a chain to pull it here or there with my tractor. One question though, don't the pigs or goats chew the tarp covering?

Don't know if this helps in your situation, but down by the river where random, generous people feed a lot of feral cats, they put out apple boxes wrapped in hefty bags and stocked them with blankets/towels to help keep the little guys warm. Would work well in an unheated or poorly heated structure as well.

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You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him float on his back.

Also around here we can get free apple bins that we have, in the past, flipped upside down, cut a door hole and stocked with hay or blankets, some we just added a roof to and insulated the inside with the left over pink insulation then rewalled the inside--this was great as we also get down below zero here too. Our newspaper office is always advertising free wood pallets (that's what the papers come to them on) those can be used for burning or walls. Even 5 gallon buckets on their side with a blanket works for cats to climb into. We have also found a great resource in the dumpsters behind carpeting stores for sections of carpet for dog houses or dog/cat rooms if you have those--their free if they're in the dumpster......Good luck to you and thank you for your hard work for those little critters

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You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him float on his back.

Trailrider: Frank is Too cute 11* in Kentucky? I thought it was cold here this morning with 7*, but, hey, we're in the U.P.!

These really are some great ideas for shelters. Maddy, you came to the right place

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Jesus paid it all, All to Him I owe;
Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.

I thought my goats would chew the tarp, but they *seemed* to believe me when I told them this was IT for shelter........they were used to a "real" barn, so it took them about 3 drizzly days to really give in and use the hoop houses. After 4 months, they were still not chewing the tarps...

I DID reinforce the tarp with 2 layers of duct tape where it folded over the edges of the cattle panel. The secret to the tarp not wearing over the edges of the cattle panel was to tie it TIGHT; therefore, the gusty winds couldn't "saw" the tarp back and forth over those little points left on the cattle panel edges....If I'd have had a long enough extension cord and wanted the shelters to last longer, I might have taken the time to run the grinder over those points.....

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...'o shame on the mothers of mortals, who have not stopped to teach; of the sorrow that lies in dear, dumb eyes; the sorrow that has no speech... from -'Voice of the Voicless', Ella Wheeler Wilcox

9 degrees night before last! For early December that's very cold.
I have 3 indoor only cats, 3 that usually go out in the day (but not now that it's so cold), 2 that never leave the barn (and prefer it that way) and Frank. Frank belonged to a neighbor who moved away and left him : (
He chases other cats, swats the dogs, but loves me. He stays on the porch 90% of the time, so that's where his house is. I tried to bring him inside on the 9* night, but he yowled. So I guess a plastic house lined with hay and covered with towels, a can of wet food every night, and plenty of dry food and water are all we can do. He doesn't seem to mind. But it kills me to see him out there and know its so cold : (

I was going to say old moble home or travil trailer. Gut them make pens and kennels.

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I'm so done here.

I attached the panels with fence staples to hold them in place, then attached another board sort of like sandwiching, and put bolts threw to hold them in place.

The pigs are actually the worse at chewing the tarps! This spring I am thinking of getting metal roofing and applying that to the panels once bent. I figure if I use a board on the opposite site I could bolt the metal panel in place. Has anyone else tried this?

Maddy, do the animals now have shelter? What did the rescue place decider to do for shelter. Sure hope they are all snug as a bug like Frank(the cat-such a cute picture).

my dogs would never come inside or in dog house they were happiest in a snowbank .. odd but true
one has a ~4x8 dog house but dug under it for summer and winter he's sleep in the snowbank
other at different time place she had 'dog door' into the wood shed wouldnt have anything to do with it in the winter .. always in snow

Our local response team uses an inflatable shelter for a temporary shelter. We use tarps for floors, commercial crates reinforced with extra snaps for aggressive dogs, and the plastic types for cats. We heat it with milk house heaters. We can put that shelter together in about fifteen minutes; but it takes longer to get it anything close to warm.

The nice thing about one like this is once you own it, you can take it with you. You can take it down and store it when you don't need it, and you won't need building permits from your county because it's temporary.

I discourage you from doing anything that looks too coggled; that's a way to get the authorities out and questioning your management style. Even the best of shelters has to turn some away from time to time.

Bless you for taking them in.

well you need long term plan cause well since most areas and groups focus more on the end of the problem instead of the beginning (cheap spay neuter and advertise) since what you see is a problem many unemployed i see as lots of free labor thats got nothing better to do. i say press the town/county for a permit(free and give them 'thanks') start selling the idea to the bix box stores or bigger local .. no i am sure the next company would like to get their pic on the 6 o'clock news showing how much they care nd having great PR and a sign naming the center after them. find a local possibly retired contractor to handle the "free" labor and oversee to be sure. at what a write-off of 50$ a hour donation? have people make sammiches or bring a coffee maker or a can of coffee to get every one hopped up on caffine.
as for lay out depends on location i'd definitely plan n future need and modular ie a long structure with couple internal doors/thermal breaks why heat the 1/3 thats not needed
there is a challenge not a problem and if your leadership is strong (reads as a great salesperson and tenacious) it can be finished in a week or 2

Try curbside leaves for them to sleep on under any kind of roof u can find wish i could help more, I put leaves in dog , chicken,goat cat shelter