cats in pole shed?

[WiJC]

I just put up a pole shed. There is no insulation in it, and a crushed limestone floor. Some of the floor where used is getting pretty packed down, and on the edges it is pretty loose yet. (similar to a litter box in appearance)

Anyways...I am looking to possibly get a cat or 2 to take care of any mice problems that may arise. My question is this...will a cat or 2 be able to survive a wisconsin winter in there without any heat? This is assuming I leave them food and water each day. Also, will they just use the crushed limestone on the edges for a litter box even if i put a litter box in there?

Thanks for any info.
John

[Pat]

It may help if you confine the cat with the litterbox for a couple days and then make the same litter box availalbe when in the target building.

With good nutrition and shelter, dare I say it?, a well insulated cat house inside the structure, they could make it. The more you feed them the less they will hunt but how many critters will be out in really bad weather for them to chase?

You could always put a used thrift store heating pad under their bedding to provide extra warmth. If you wire a silicone diode rectifier in series with one of the power leads it will reduce the heat output to a more reasonable level, about 1/2 power. The diode should be rated for more amps than the heating pad by a factor of 2 or so and should have an inverse voltage rating over 200 volts. A diode like this might cost a buck or so at Radio Shack. Put a couple layers of shrink tubing over the diode and the conections to it.

You can buy thermostatic controlled thingies to plug into a regular electric outlet to only turn on the load device when it gets below freezing. These are sold for block heaters on trucks and the like. This would turn the pad on when it got really cold but off when above freezing. These cost a few bucks.

I realize that this is Oklahoma not NODAK or Minn but we have feral cats surving overwinter, living off the land.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[cwarrix]

Hi John, this old thread caught my eye since I just recently did something similar. Last year my pole barn was FULL of mice, they were everywhere, and left a path of destruction to prove it. It took me four days, on and off over the summer to clean it all up. I love all animals, but man, if I never see another mouse, you won't hear me complain. I tried every trap available at my local home improvement store, only got one mouse on a little sticky trap, which as much as I hate the little critters, seems a little cruel!

Anyway, I decided, even though I'm allergic to cats, a barn cat was the way to go. So, I sent my daughter on a mission to rescue one from the local humane society. She brought our first cat home and we moved hime into his new home. Soon after that, she decided, Shadow was lonely and needed a freind, so I agreed... long story short I have five cats in the barn now!

So far I haven't seen one mouse, except for the dead ones I find now and then in the yard. And for some reason, one of the cats always wants to bring the dead ones up to the house and leave them by the door for me to find. My wife loves that [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img] Funny thing is, we used to have problems with groundhogs, and I didn't see one all summer. No problems with rabbits eating half the garden this year either. I guess the cat thing was a good idea. I do miss the birds though, they don't come around anymore either.

Now for the bad stuff... The cats, even though they have a litter box in the barn, still do their thing on the floor [img]/forums/images/icons/ooo.gif[/img] But at least it is concrete and I can clean it up fairly easy. Still better than cleaning up mouse crap.

[cwarrix]

Cats hard at work protecting my tractor from a mouse attack!

[cowboyjg]

So does that mean y'all are givin shelter to a bunch of "Pole Cats" [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[midlf]

A diode in the AC feed to a heating element will reduce the heat to 1/4 the normal rating. 1/2 the volts will produce 1/2 the amps. Power is volts times amps, thus 1/2 X 1/2 = 1/4

[Pat]

midlf, I agree with your math but not your analysis. The heating effect is a result of the time average (Root Mean Square) voltage applied to the resistive element. This is not a peak to peak phenomena! Each half wave contributes 1/2 of the consumed electrical power. A diode elliminates 1/2 of the half waves (in the time domain not voltage.)

The error of your analysis is the assumption that the diode reduces the voltage to 1/2 but IT DOESN'T! The applied voltage is the same but is only there 1/2 of the time.

To more easily visulaize this, consider a full wave rectified sine wave yielding all positive alternations (excursions). The instantaneous voltage now varies from zero to about 165 (117 X 1.414) and back to zero 120 times a second. This voltage applied to a resive element yields the same number of Watts that the original 117 volt AC voltage would have provided (with perfect diodes.)

If 1/2 of the positive alternations are elliminated the power in Watts is halved. This is no different from half wave rectifed power as refered to in my post to which you replied.

There is a significant difference between cutting the duty cycle in half and cuting the applied voltage in half. They are not equivalent. Consider the area under the curve. This area varies in direct proportion to the duty cycle (my example.)

Again, great math, flawed analysis.

Hi and welcome to CBN where we cuss and discuss just about anything with anyone (ostensibly related to one of the topic headings.) This just might be the single best site on the whole bloomion' infobahn. Credit is due in no small measure to the CREATOR, Hakim, from whom we hear very little but know he is lurking out there.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[midlf]

Duh on my part. You are correct. I was getting it confused with my other trick, putting the two halves of a king electric blanket in series to make a winter cover for the motorcycle (prevents condensation). Thanks for catching it.

[Pat]

midlf, Hey, no worries, mate. I suppose the blanket is a dual control type that is two totaly separate circuits and you put the two halves in series to run it cooler. I'm guessing, but I suppose you use one of the thermostats to control the lashup.

If each half of the blanket was 1000 Ohms then each side would produce about 14.4 Watts when it's 'stat was calling. The two in series would produce 7.2 Watts. I never had a "Dew Chaser" for a bike but it seems to be a clever idea. I have a dew preventer for the corrector plate (objective lense) of my 8 inch telescope. Runs on 12 volts.

I got the instructions for weaving wire through a set of long handle underwear to make an electrically heated motorcycle suit for cold weather riding (good for snowmobiling too.) You use a duty cycle controler to turn the power on and off to achieve variable heating. Winter was way too warm here this time so I didn't get motivated to make up a set but could sure use them in my VW powered dune/beach buggy which has no heat. Powered by 12 volts they aren't a shock danger.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[slapshot]

We just had a very friendly stray move into our garage. He has no idea what to do with the litter box. We also re-topped out driveway with limestone screenings. He does know what to do with that [img]/forums/images/icons/frown.gif[/img]

-dave