I Keep My Cats in a Freezer
They seem to like it, and it’s completely dog-proof
I’ve heard the coyotes singing across the fields, and I’ve seen neighbors’ dogs running loose with fresh blood on their mouths from whatever they had just killed. Needless to say, I worry about my outdoor cats.
I live in two rooms in my sister’s house — two rooms which I share with five cats. When my nephew dumped four more cats on me, I knew there was no way I could bring them inside. They live outside with Mamacat, who came with the house we just moved into. Mamacat, who was abandoned by the previous owners, seems happy to have the outdoor cats’ company.
Initially, the outdoor cats lived in the garage, but my brother-in-law plans to evict them from that space. He wants to set the garage up as a workshop, and he doesn’t want cats crawling all over the place. Maybe it was the can of varnish they knocked over and spilled that made him decide they wouldn’t be good workshop cats? Poor kitties. They’re just doing what cats do.
In addition to leaving Mamacat, the previous tenants left a freezer. My brother-in-law cut a cat-sized door in it for me. A friend helped me install a platform to create more space inside. We also put in a ramp, which is completely unnecessary, but my friend, who knows nothing about cats, really thought they needed a ramp. Since she was being kind enough to help me (I have no business using power tools), I allowed her some creative freedom.
The freezer is right outside my sliding glass door, which allows me to keep a pretty good eye on the cats. One night recently, they had a visitor. I heard Mamacat’s angry screech and looked out to see a raccoon trying to get into the freezer. I raced outside to help, but the cats didn’t need assistance. They chased the raccoon out of the yard. Since then, I have tried to avoid leaving cat food in the freezer at night.
The doorway cut into the freezer is cat-sized. I suppose a small raccoon would be able to squeeze through, and if a skunk decided to visit, he’d fit through there as well. But large dogs will only get their head through, and no coyote is going to fit through the door. Even our chicken can’t get in the freezer to steal the cats’ food. It really is a secure space to keep my kitties safe.
