Man Building Bespoke Home for Family of Feral Cats Melts Hearts

A man has gained viral attention online after he shared how he built a miniature house for a family of feral cats near his home in Los Angeles.

Sharing a picture on Reddit, the user called OJ wrote: "Setup a cat house for a family for ferals," alongside a shot of an animal curled up.

With more than 47,000 upvotes on Reddit and hundreds of comments, the kind deed melted hearts online.

OJ told Newsweek: "I started noticing these cats (a mother and two male kittens—I estimate to be a few months old) show up in the yard weeks ago. They would scurry at first sight of me from a distance. I started feeding them because I felt bad and also I wanted to befriend them."

As the weather started to change and days became rainy and cold, OJ became more worried for the cats.

"I noticed them huddled in the backyard and I felt so bad, so I decided to make them a shelter. It took a week for them to start using it, and I was so happy when they did, I wanted to share it," he said.

Using a large storage tub and adding layers of cardboard, Mylar and straw, OJ created a space with two openings in an L-shape to keep the space from getting too much of a breeze.

"I also added clear flaps on the openings to serve as doors to help keep the cold air out. It took me about a few hours to make after gathering all the materials," OJ said.

Online, animal lovers were thrilled with the man's creation and rushed to share their thoughts and thanks.

"Thank you," wrote one commenter on Reddit. "They really need some safety and comfort," while another posted: "Awww, lucky kitties."

At the moment, the two kittens seem to be enjoying the space, but the mother cat hasn't spent much time in the custom-built shelter.

"There's enough space for all three of them, so I don't know why and I have no idea where she sleeps at night," said OJ.

The plan going forward is to try to trap the cats and have them seen by a veterinarian.

"If I could try and get them to socialize, I would try to rescue them and find them homes," said OJ. "I recently signed up for a local TNR (trap, neuter, release) program that does the fixing for free and lets you borrow traps, but I haven't yet heard from them.

"A kind Redditor offered to cover the cost of spaying or neutering, so I might take them up on it."

Another commenter on the viral post wrote: "My uncle did this, he made a cat condo and would feed the neighbourhood cats they would go to their cubbies to sleep for the night and wait to be let out in the morning, kept them all safe from the coyotes."

Capturing video and pictures of the small cats, OJ continues to watch their progress and is pleased that they have found somewhere safe to stay.

"I didn't anticipate the post to go viral and I was surprised it did," OJ said. "I'm really happy because there were great discussions in the comments section about the plight of feral cats and also their impact on the ecosystem and how to go about helping them. It's also spurred others to make shelters for their feral cats for the coming cold months."