Built for the colony

What we've built

Caring for a colony of cats means more than food and vet visits. It means giving them real shelter from Houston's heat, storms, and cold snaps, and giving them a little bit of joy along the way.

Board member Katrina Ellsworth has taken that on herself, building improvements around the property one project at a time. An insulated cat cottage gives the colony a warm, dry place to sleep. A weather shelter gives them somewhere to ride out heavy rain and wind. And flowerbeds planted with catnip give them something simple: a place to just be cats.

None of this happened because anyone was paid to do it. It happened because someone on our board looked at what the cats needed and built it herself, on her own time. That's a lot of how the Woodleigh Cats works. We're not a big operation. We're neighbors who noticed cats needed help, started feeding them, and kept showing up — through TNR, through daily care, through projects like the ones below.

Here's what's been completed so far. More is always in progress.

A two-story cat cottage painted pale yellow with white trim, a shingled roof, and a small balcony, standing on a lawn by a wooden fence

The Cat Cottage

A full two-story cottage, rebuilt by Katrina into an insulated retreat for the colony — complete with a balcony, a hammock, lattice windows, and cozy perches inside. On a cold or wet night, having somewhere insulated to retreat to can make a real difference for an outdoor cat. On every other night, it's simply the nicest address on Woodleigh Street.

The cat cottage balcony under the gabled roof

A tabby cat lounging on a wicker shelf inside the cat cottage

Three cats resting on a cushion in front of a raised sage-green wooden weather shelter with two cushioned entrances

The Garden Shelter

A raised wooden shelter built to give the whole colony cover from Houston's rain, wind, and heat — up off the wet ground, with soft bedding tucked inside each entrance. It's another safe, dry spot cats can duck into when the weather turns, because one option is never really enough when you're caring for a whole colony.

Two dark gray garden benches whose bases are enclosed shelters with small cat-flap doors, topped with patterned cushions

The Bench Hideaways

Garden benches with a secret: their bases are enclosed, weatherproof dens, each with its own cat-flap door. Neighbors get a place to sit; cats get a warm, dry hideaway underneath. It's the kind of double-duty thinking that keeps a colony sheltered without turning a shared street into a cat compound.

A black cat and a gray cat curled up together in a cat bed in front of a bench hideaway

Two raised cedar flowerbeds with young plants, each shaded by a bright green patio umbrella, in the sanctuary yard

The Catnip Flowerbeds

Raised flowerbeds planted right on the property, filled with catnip for the cats to enjoy — with umbrellas overhead to keep the young plants (and their visitors) out of the brutal Texas sun. It's a small addition, but it matters: enrichment means the cats get to explore and play, not just get by.

Insulated fabric cat houses on a wooden pallet and plastic tote shelters lined with straw, with an orange cat and a black cat investigating

Storm-Season Shelters

When Gulf Coast weather turns serious, quantity matters as much as quality. Insulated cat houses raised on pallets and straw-lined tote shelters give every cat in the colony a dry place to wait out a storm — no one has to share if they don't want to. (Want to build one yourself? See our winter shelter guide.)

Want to help fund the next project? Every dollar goes to the cats.