Rockever Outdoor Cat House, Large Outdoor Houses for Feral Cats Wooden Outside Cat Shelter Weatherproof with Escape Door

This home was pretty easy to put together. It didn’t take very long maybe an hour. There is a pine smell that didn’t seem to bother my cat. I’m sure this will decrease with time spent outdoors. I didn’t need to use the step or platform for the entrance, the cat prefers to enter without it. The entrance is pretty small as you can see in the photo, which made entering with the platform really awkward for him. My cat has a smaller fabric house that he was using before so I put it inside there to help him adjust to the house. He doesn’t seem to care about the exit in the back so not having it accessible wasn’t a problem for us. This keeps my cat dry in the rain and gives him a nice place to sleep in the shade. I have a heating pad in there too but haven’t needed to use it yet. It could probably use some insulation for winter because it doesn’t have any, but for now it won’t need to be modified. I am very pleased that there are adjustable feet on this box as I have an uneven patio! Also it’s actually really beautiful in person. Would recommend this house for your cat.Update: we had a big storm lots of rain, you know the sideways kind, there’s a small amount of water coming in from the front entrance. The rest of the house remained dry inside! The wind was blowing so hard and I was pleased to know my cats home wouldn’t blow away like his old one did. Still happy with purchase. His other fabric house was useless in comparison.

I purchased it for a semi-feral outdoor cat, and he really likes it. We live in a warm and humid area, so we tacked up the plastic door flap, removed the covers over the air holes, and propped the back door open to give him more circulation. I also added a cooling mat for him to sleep on in summer. We'll restore all of that to the original way for winter.

We have two outdoor cats and I wanted to find them a new shelter on the porch for them during the winter especially. I usually make the cat house but this time I didn't have the time to put together something. I took a chance and purchased this one and overall its pretty good. Now don't expect a perfect solid construction but for an IKEA like experience this does well. The only part I think is unnecessary is the tacky flower box that you don't have to install. I do really like the top and how it opens all the way up for access to clean or whatever you want.Although it says its for outdoor use, I wouldn't trust this to keep your animals weather proof in any type of heavy storm. If its on an outside covered porch or under some type of shelter then it will work well. This could be insulated a bit more if your handy enough but I think depending on where you live some cat beds will suffice.Overall this is a good choice for a shelter for your cats.

My house was in very good condition when it arrived, with a minor crack that was easily glued. The paint was very good, and the manufacturer responded immediately to my questions about how to fix and offered replacement parts if i wanted. They were very open to suggestions and corrections. Previous review about short screw to attach roof was corrected, my house came with long roof screws. I chose to insulate roof with foam panel from Home Depot, easy to cut with kitchen knife. We assembled with wood glue and are caulking openings and weather proofing and sealing exterior. We are keeping this house under porch eave until they improve design to make it able to withstand rain from entering the top porch entrance, per my comments to manufacturer as follows:I would like to compliment whoever designed this clever house. However, here are some practical suggestions, which are not a criticism of this fine design, but rather, based upon a lot of experience with outdoor cat housing in snow and rain. This house must be under a porch roof to really be rain proof, but it would be good to make it so it can truly be outside.I think that the idea to make it accessible for cleaning by removing the floors instead of the roof was a good idea, but it doesn't work for this reason: rainwater will hit the top outside porch shelf, and slide into the top floor, getting the pet bedding wet no matter what you do. It will help if you put a low barrier, like a 1 or 2" threshold at the doorway. The cat can still cross it to get in. Because the top floor slides out, there are gaps that strong wind can leak thru. So no matter what, i still think it would be best to go with a sealed upper floor, and make house accessible thru the roof. If a hinge is not practical because the wood could split, maybe you could design the roof as a one piece structure that sits on top with a deep cap, and a ring of weatherstripping or a seal that fits into the house like a cork. You could secure it with a hand tightened wingnut for easy removal. Then just make the floor so you can lift it out to access sealed bottom floor.Also, i prefer to have the cut out opening for the top floor placed next to the window side of house, because any cat bed would need to be pushed up against wall opposite window so cat can look out. Since you located the floor entrance hole opposite the window, That puts the hole where a cat bed need to be, and leaves it unsupported and would cover the hole up. The way it is designed now, the hole must be left open for access, which means the cat has to back up against the window to sleep, and it's harder to keep an eye out for predators. I thought i could just flip the floor panel over to reverse its direction, but because there is the little notch and braces, it doesn't work, unless i do a little construction work.However, i do see the logic your designer employed, because the current design separates the outdoor opening away from the upstairs access hole, providing protection from direct wind or predator coming upstairs. My idea would result in any wind coming in the lower door would more easily get upstairs if you used my idea to move the hole closer to the window side.So an alternative would be to leave the design as is, and move the window itself over to the opposite solid wall. This would be great, but would require the house to be placed with the one solid back wall against your house for bracing, and lessen the ability to back the cat house along its side against a structure. I would be fine with that, as cat house would then stick out long ways instead of sideways, but some people might prefer it as it is for a shallower profile.And finally, it would be good to put a small hole in corner of floor board for access for an outdoor heater plug. Most of us want this to be waterproofed and insulated for outdoor use. You can see how I bought insulation panels to improve roof interior insulation cut to size. This thick panel also solves the problem of the long gap along interior ceiling-roof line, which allows wind to come through. It would be good to insulate the entire house. I would actually be willing to pay more if this work was already offered in a deluxe model.Thank you for a fine product, and being so open to suggestions for improvement, and actually acting upon them.