Lindsey's Home for Pregnant Cats

Dusty and Coco have been ruining my life for years. 

Back in 2009, Coco was moody, aloof, but well-behaved. Dusty was mischevious and high-energy but didn't cause a lot of problems when it was just he and Matt. 

Then, we combined households and got a dog. 

LONG story short, we spent years combatting their marking of our home with their urine. I'm convinced they really hate our guts and just want to punish us at every oportunity. Especially by peeing on stuff.

Everything you can read about cat pee, I've read. Every solution you can try, I tried. Foil-lined living room carpet, special quiet places for litter boxes to protect their privacy, complex potions and sprays... I've called cat rescues in tears just begging for their help. Noone would reply to my emails at "My Cat From Hell." 

In desperation, after several years, the cats got a new adventure and we got new carpet. They now live outside. 

In the summer it was great. They had the deck for shelter, we kept food and water full and accessible, and we hung out with them in the yard. 

Then, the cat food enticed unwelcome guests: 

Once it started to get cold, we relocated them to the garage. We have to leave the door cracked so they can get in and out. And we started adding amenities. It's become so appealing, we have new residents! We are on our second homeless cat squatting in our garage, in addition to Coco and Dusty.  I mean, who wouldn't want to live here? 

Amenities include: 

fully-insulated garage

heated water dish

electric warming pad

space heater

2 custom insulated cat houses (modeled after the below):

With record cold temps, we can't leave the garage open right now- it needs to stay closed so the heater can work and keep them warm and not dead. But my car is in there with them. And if I open the door, they scatter - which leads to a situation where Lindsey and Matt are in the -20 temps calling for cats (who never come when you want them too btw) trying to wrangle them back in the garage.  

So currently, my cats are holding me hostage.  I can't leave the garage. 

Also, the fact that we are now a homeless shelter (or luxury cat resort, who knows) makes me nervous. Our cats have shots and are spayed/neutered, but what if these other cats aren't?! What if my garage becomes Lindsey's home for pregnant cats? I already am going broke from feeding all the neighborhood cats and heating the outside with space heaters. How many more mouths can I be expected to feed? 

So at least I can sleep at night knowing that our cats are ok and not living in a cage, and some homeless and probably pregnant cat has a warm place to sleep. So I guess its worth it.