Best Place for a Nesting Box

Hi everyone,

I've read of a couple of people who put their nesting box inside a big dog crate, and sometimes closed it for the kittens' safety. Is this a bad idea for any reason?

My cat Fluffers loves sleeping in my bedroom, and it'll be the warmest room in my house during the night. But my dog (who Fluffers loves, actually) sleeps in my room too. Even though they get on obviously a cat and her kittens need to be left alone. So that's why I was thinking about the dog crate.

Is it ok to have a large dog crate with a nesting box, a litter tray, and some food and water in it, just for the hours that I'm asleep? Or would that be unkind to the mum? I work from home, so during the hours I'm up Fluffers and her kittens can be wherever is best for them. It's just the night time I'm worried about. I live in an old cold house, and everywhere that I've set up a thermometer is too cold for kittens.

Kris78 said:

Hi everyone,

I've read of a couple of people who put their nesting box inside a big dog crate, and sometimes closed it for the kittens' safety. Is this a bad idea for any reason?

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The drawback may be if you want to get to the kittens.  And you want, as you want to weigh them every day.  Also doing chores like changing their bed clothes now and then, will be a little more troublesome.

Otherwise, if you want or need to isolate them by any reason, this solution is good.

You can of course leave the doors open when no isolation is necessary.

You can also cover a big part of the crate, for making it more warm in there, and stopping up of winds.

Good luck!

I was thinking that yours is a good idea, if you intend the crate to be a large cage so the dog cannot enter. I was also thinking a large box with a small cut-off entrance, would and should keep the dog out but let the mother walk in and out as she wish. Also the crate with grid walls would give less privacy and maybe it is more calming for the cat to have closed walls, in which case you could simply cover the crate with a towel or something as suggested by StefanZ.

If the cat and the dog are friends she might not mind if the dog enters the same room. If she has a safe nest and the dog stays out of that. Which he might, since he might realize to give them privacy. I was thinking that the food to be close to the next is good idea but the litter box maybe not so close. So if you are able to let the mother to go in an out and keep the dog out of the nest or larger crate, it might work that way.

For the issue with the temperature, I would consider buying an heating pad. My mother used to have one and it would come handy whenever she was helping fostering cats with their kittens. I recently bought one which is very similar, except it self shuts-off after 2 hours which is not so convenient, so maybe you can try to make sure you find one that doesn't. I would set it in the nest so that is covers half of the space, so the kittens could decide if they wanted to stay on the heating pad or not. I would often find them right in between. I would set it on low setting and put it under the towel or fleece blanket that I use for the bedding.

I know this thread is a few weeks old but I just wanted to add that this is what I do and it works great. I line the whole crate with blankets and put the nesting box, food and water dishes, and a litter box all in there. I also cover the whole thing with a sheet so that she has more privacy. I leave the door open during the day so Mom can come and go as she pleases but I lock it up at night. Depending on the size of the litter I can usually keep the kittens and Mom closed in at night until about 6 weeks (sometimes less if it's a big litter). After that they start to get all little too crazy to be confined and I want them to learn appropriate bedtime behavior so I leave them out at night (and wake up with kittens sitting on my face). Because that's the way it always is the kittens know it's coming and generally settle down pretty quickly. 

As Stefan mentioned it does make it a little more involved when it comes to changing the bedding but other than that I love this set up and I think the Queens do too. They know they have their own space and I think it helps with the transition process. Personally I don't think it's cruel- they are only confined while I am sleeping and still have plenty of room to walk around and stretch their legs. So long as all her basic necessities fit in there too you are just fine!

CatDoll said:

For the issue with the temperature, I would consider buying an heating pad. My mother used to have one and it would come handy whenever she was helping fostering cats with their kittens. I recently bought one which is very similar, except it self shuts-off after 2 hours which is not so convenient, so maybe you can try to make sure you find one that doesn't. I would set it in the nest so that is covers half of the space, so the kittens could decide if they wanted to stay on the heating pad or not. I would often find them right in between. I would set it on low setting and put it under the towel or fleece blanket that I use for the bedding.

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Sorry I just wanted to add- while this is generally good advice and the way to do it if you are going to use a heating pad don't use one with newborns if Mom is there. It may seem chilly but she will keep them plenty warm with her body heat. Heating pads only need to be used if there is no Mom, and even then a hot water bottle or a sock filled with rice and heated is a safer way to go. Heating pads can get too hot too quick and sometimes kittens can't move off of them fast enough. 

If you really do want one be sure to use a pet heating pad and not a human one. They are set at a lower temp and automatically turn on and off when the animal moves. 

You aren't wrong CatDoll so don't read it that way- I just wanted to flesh out what you said. 

Thank you for adding to this! I didn't know about heating pads that turn off when the cat moves, but you made a very good point about the fact that when the mother gets in, it suddenly becomes way too hot, I would remove it or set it aside from below her once she would come in the nest. In fact I guess that is a good point in the heating pad that self shuts off! They do also do get pretty warm, I noticed I only used the very low setting.