Winterizing Outdoor Cats

Winter is a time of temperature challenges for outdoor and indoor cats.

The indoor temperature needs of most cats can be met pretty much by conscientious pet owners. Cats are pretty comfortable at temperatures that humans strive to keep inside of their homes. It is the outdoor cats that need some help.

I care for outdoor cats on an as needed basis. I provide them food and water and some decent place to sleep. I choose larger boxes with one end open to help them enter and leave the box. Usually a fruit box is a great size.

They are often double walled and I like the ones that are around 2'x2' and about 1' high etc.. One end being open is not the case with these boxes but they are larger and easy to leap out of.

In colder weather I provide them with a pad, and some fleece blankie on top. I keep extras for each cat station.

Fleece is easy to wash and quick to dry and are warm to sleep on. I put the pads, made either out of foam mattress toppers that I cut up and put inside of a zippered cover or cat pads that are sold in various stores. I keep extra setups in case of excess moisture or other accidents happen. I store them in a lidded tupperware when not in use.

The cat pads are made out of a sort of polyester and have to be zippered because of the cats propensity to sometimes eat fur like materials.(wool eater syndrome).I place the pad in the bottom of the box and often, in colder weather, I place a heating pad on top of the pad and cover that with the fleece blankie.

I make some pads out of old mattress toppers too(foam rubber). I cut them to fit the zippered covers. You need to use covers that can be opened because both the foam and the polyester pads tend to bunch up when washed in the washer and have to be straightened out once they are cleaned.

The fleece blankies can be found in larger sizes at discounts or fleece material can be purchased and cut into convenient sizes. The edges of fleece or foam toppers don't unravel so just cutting to fit is good enough.

I run extension cords from the house to the pads in various locations and tend to locate them in dryer areas because of the problem of getting water or snow on the controls.

If you can keep the control out of low spots and place some waterproof plastic or other material(small bucket, waterproof pot etc. on top of it will work too) on top of the control and keep the control facing down, that keeps the water from going inside of it.

I haven't needed any, but there are also small appliance type ground fault interruptors that plug in between the plug and the power source to keep shocking to a minimum. These come in various configurations so you may have to shop around to find one that you can use.

On the porch I tend to hang a fleece blankie up to block some cold from the wind. I place a fitted box or just some fleeced with a pad under it on the porch for any cats that might happen by and need to get warm.

Using a box with some sort of heat inside of it provides cats a place to snuggle and helps them survive the cold.

I use standard heating pads and have done so for several years. These types do not auto shutoff and they use around 50 watts per pad and provide reliable heat on cold nights.

It helps to check out the heat to the laying area, and check each area daily to make sure that they are dry. Just place your hand on where the cat sleeps and see if it is too warm.

I tend to keep the pad temperatures on low but higher is ok as long as it is not burning hot. Do not let the pads touch each other or double up, that can cause excessive heat production. The pad should be placed so that there is some area in the container/ box that is not covered by a heating pad so that a cat can choose to be cooler etc.

Even unheated, a lined box will help animals a lot. So do your pets and favor and go get a box at the liquor store or food store and fix one up. Copyright 2008 Marmay.net