This article is Part Four of a 15-Part Article on How to Build a Feral Cat Shelter. Since this is the first time we’d made a shelter, it’s perfect for newbies. You can read previous installments in this series here:
Part One, Part Two, Part Three
In the previous installments, we made a plan, gathered all the materials, assembled the insulation portion of the shelter, and prepared the plastic storage tub for the external “shell” of the shelter. This step describes how to create the opening for the cat’s access to the shelter.
Step Three. Cut the hole in the tub for the cat entry point. This was one of the tricky parts. We had to figure out how to start the hole, and then how to make it fairly smooth. While you can see from the photo that we were just playing around at first (we didn’t need anywhere near as many holes in the center as we made) but honestly it was kind of fun drilling them 🙂
Yes, we figured out that the best way to cut a hole in the plastic was to drill a bunch of small holes around the edges where we wanted to cut, and then use that to remove the piece we didn’t need. The next step was to use a knife to cut apart the plastic between the holes we’d drilled. Much safer than trying to use a knife to start the hole and risk injury or ruining the tub.
Hardly rocket science, but definitely experimental.
In the next installment in this series (Part Five), we will cover how this process went, with pictures for most steps. Be sure to click through to each part and get the whole story! Here’s a link to Part Five.