So here's the short of it, 
 Happy New Year Kitty Annie!

And here's the long.

After the incident with Plato being kidnapped (or would that be catnapped) and finally being rescued but going to live with another family - then Hershey going to live on a big farm, Mom has taken in another cat.  Our vet had an older cat who had been surrendered by her family.  She's a small calico cat who is probably 10-12 years old and has been an indoor kitty her whole life.  The Vet knew that Mom was looking for a calico, and Mom was happy to have Annie coming to live out her life there.

Now - the only thing is that winter is coming on and Annie had to understand when she came to live with Mom that she was going to be an outside girl.  I've been worried that as the weather got colder that she would be uncomfortable outside.  I've been trying to help Mom figure out something.  Mom had fixed up a box with styrofoam around it, but we really worked it out today! We built a cat house!

Here's the master plan we ended up using to make Annie's house.  Our tub was 18 gallon not the larger 25 gallon.  We used some Tyvek scraps leftover from a project and cut them to fit into the crate.  It's big enough for little Annie Cat to get in, turn around, sit up, and curl up, but small enough to conserve her body heat.  I'm on a mission to get a mylar blanket and some straw to finish it up.  Everything I've read says that straw is the very best bedding - but Mom and I only have wet straw that's been out in the weather at this point.  

I got Mom about 2 this afternoon and we came up to the house and worked on Annie's new home.  Within about an hour Alan, Mom, and I had it pretty much put together.  Mom and I took it down to her house and put the finishing touches on it.  We got it set up in the place where the other one was for the time being.  We took the styrofoam from the box Mom had built and used it to further insulate.  Mom used the old throw rug that had been in the bottom of the old box in the new digs. Before I left, Kitty Annie was investigating her new house.  I'm pretty convinced that she'll get into it when the temperatures drop.  And I'm pretty relieved to think that she's got a place to stay dry and get in out of the cold. 

If you want to see the directions the link is here.  You can also google outdoor cat shelter to see some other variations for this.   Just below is a picture that's really similar to the way Kitty Annie's shelter turned out!