Aivituvin Outdoor Feral Cat House 2-Story Cat Cottage Kitten Shelter with Window

Overall this was the best for us. Sadly our neighbor got a few outdoor only "mousers" kittens but they always seemed hungry so I started feeding them and they preferred to be on our porch. We are in the mountains and already have indoor only cats because we regularly get raccoons and mountain lions and it's not safe for outdoor only cats. So to help them I wanted something warm as it gets cold and reasonably safe protection from predators. Some research said that most predators won't follow upwards and it's easier to defend so I wanted something 2 stories. Also feeding them in the 2nd story helps keep the food smell from attracting other animals. Having the window is great to let in light and see if they are there. Plus the 2nd upper floor door is great as you always want them to have a 2nd way out if needed.Constructing is easy-ish. The directions are pretty minimal but the parts are easy enough to figure out. Also not mentioned is that you need to disassemble one section to properly remove the plastic protection from the window then reassemble it.Some people have complained about some off gassing smell when first opened. Which is true because of the nice tarred roof. which is will protect well and last in the rain.This is made with real wood so it will not be super warm in very cold winter. But will look better and last and can be painted. Adding in some RV type insulation will help in very cold areas. Also I needed to modify the slide out bottom floor with a small cutout to let in a cord for a heated pad (19X19") and for a blink camera to check on them and track temperature. Being a slide out floor it only had to be large enough for the cord itself.Overall it's a great choice if you must have your cats outside.

Love this ! I have a cat that was dumped at my house and absolutely refuses to use a litter box. So I was worried about her being outside. She loves this house. I did have to weather proof the side with the doors due to hard rains. I highly recommend this.

We have quite a few feral cats and we got this to try to help some of them have a place to stay away from the others. This does get used but we've had to really try to figure out how to place it exactly right so that wind and snow doesn't blow in the doors. We do live in open High Plains so wind is very dramatic. The cats do seem to enjoy the house.

After reading lots of reviews I was not sure I should go ahead and get this, but it is perfect for me. Easy assembly, I am good with an electric drill and that's the only thing I used. Put it together by myself just hanging out in the garage on this snowy 30 degree day. I used some of the packing styrofoam and then added a cardboard "rug" on the top layer before I added the small electric cat heating pad for some extra insulation. It is real wood, I will probably paint it next year but it is certainly good enough of a finish to last well until then. Well-engineered it went together very smoothly. The doors open well for easy cleaning access. I drilled a 1/2" hole on the right trim of the top access door for my heating pad wire to slide through. I think maybe next year I'll add another porch like I saw someone else did. Creating this from scratch is something I could do, but this was so easy and very cute. Well worth the money.

This arrived quickly and was packaged well. I did have a few chipped pieces but it’s because it’s a soft wood. I used wood glue in the assembly to make sure it’s good and strong. I have 2 barn cats that are living in it. It took a day or two for them to get used to it but I see them run in the bottom and out the top as they play.

I got this for a feral that refuses to come inside my house and be domesticated to give her a dry space to wait for her food and hopefully a shelter she would use. I have it on my front porch so it is protected somewhat from the weather but after it rained heavily last night I think some water got in the lower flap. The open top door and seam spaces in the lower doors do not make this a warm shelter option for cold weather. The wood is also very thin and the floor has spaces in between the wood so it would need a lot of extra work to be a real cold-weather shelter for a feral cat.Overall, the pieces had quite a strong smell when I unpacked it, I assume from the finish paint. If you are assembling indoors, be warned the off-gassing will smell up your house. The directions were easy enough to follow, though some parts assembly would be better in a different order as some things were awkward to attach. It's made of a very flimsy thin wood and does not need pilot holes drilled to screw into it, which is worrisome for sturdiness. I had a screw break off while trying to attach the hinge for the top. I did not use the casters since I don't have any need for this to roll around.My main problem with this was the floor - it's in two pieces and there's no support in the middle on two sides so it just fell through when I put it in (see photo). I had to go out to the hardware store to get metal strips to attach the two pieces together but it was still very flimsy without side underneath support. So I pried the ribs off the ramp and attached those onto the sides for floor support and it's now sturdy. I also used construction adhesive to attach both floors so that they were stable and didn't wobble. The floor should've been one solid piece with underneath support on all four sides, so if you are not handy to fix this issue the house is useless!I removed the ramp because no cat can use it imho, it ends into the wall so there's no room to get off it. It also takes up a lot of the space. My feral is small, about 8lbs when at proper weight (she is chubby for winter and probably closer to 10lbs now) and this size house works well for her. I have a 13lb cat and he was able to get in the doors but it would be tight to maneuver inside for him because he's much taller and longer. I wish the lower door had a roof from the weather and would've liked the hinged door to be in the top and the open door in the bottom, since that is the more natural place for entry. I don't think my feral understands how to use the swinging bottom door or will use it.I started my feral using the house by keeping the big side door open the first time and put her food inside. Then I left the roof open and showed her the top entry and put her food on the top floor. By the third time she went in the top floor with the roof closed, so if you have a smart cat they will figure it out. My feral is very fearful of being trapped, so I don't know that she will use it or not as a shelter, she will only go in to eat once I go back inside the house, but it makes me feel better knowing I've given her an option. Given the top floor is open to the outside, I'm using that for feeding space and hope she will use the bottom floor to hang out. My indoor cats liked it while I was putting it together, cats who enjoy hiding will probably like it. But they did not understand how to use the top entry or the swing door, so I would remove the lower swing door.Overall, I would say this is not worth the money it cost, but it does look nice on my front porch and will serve as a decent prototype to see if my feral will use or appreciate a shelter and is good to at least get them out of the rain and wind while feeding. I also think it will be helpful to keep the ants off her food being fed on the top level.If you are looking for a warm, weatherproof shelter for a cold climate do not buy this. Even with adding caulking and insulation I don't think it's worth the cost to try and keep a cat warm and the open top door and wide open seams on the others let in cold air. This has given me a good model in terms of size and design to go ahead and build something myself for next winter should the cat enjoy using it.