Creating the purr-fect feline farm
By Mo Cranker on October 30, 2018.
NEWS PHOTO MO CRANKER Bill Dearborn places a tray of dry cat food in a cat house he has made at his shop in Redcliff. All parts of the house have been salvaged by Dearborn and he buys cheap food locally to make warm places for cats to stay year round.
mcranker@medicinehatnews.com @MHNmocranker Bill Dearborn is giving a whole new definition to the word resourceful. Dearborn is a retired farmer and has lived in and around the Hat for years with his wife Bobbi. He recently began making mini houses out of old fridges — giving cats living around his farm a warm place to stay, eat and sleep during the winter. “It started with a few cats the neighbours gave us, and now we’re over 40,” he said. “We needed something for when we were away for a bit, so we started with an old deep freeze. “Over time we’ve figured out how to make them more efficient and to make them better for the cats.” Each house is made of a fridge-freezer unit Dearborn gets for free from a landfill. He makes multiple entry points around the house to keep as much cold air out as possible and has some insulation added. There’s a tray of dry food and some meat he gets cheap from Deerview Meats. The houses are also heated by Christmas lights and have litres of water for the cats to drink. “The lights do a pretty good job at keeping the water from freezing until it just gets too cold,” said Dearborn. “Cats are very important to have on the farm because they keep the mice, rats and gophers away. “It is a little hard on the birds to have so many cats around but they’ve adapted it seems.” Dearborn has nine of the cat houses set up at six different places around his farm. He says he is hoping people can do something similar to give cats a place to stay. “Once the fridges are decommissioned there’s lots of them there,” he said. “I would encourage everyone to do this because the legacy of being rat free is being tarnished a bit and is going away.” 11
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