I’m watching my neighbor’s cat while they’re away - she’s a terrific lady, love her to pieces. But I don’t quite get her cat situation. Because she wants the cat in their garage, not in their house. It’s an attached garage, with bedrooms above it. The door from the garage to their house is locked, I couldn’t let the thing into the house if I tried.
When I went over this afternoon, the cat’s water was frozen solid, along with its wet food. The cat seemed fine, he’s fat and was sleeping in a box. I brought a new bowl of water from home, and heated up its food. Plus brought him a towel for cuddling.
I see in the paper that it’s going down to -7 tonight. I’m afraid they’re going to find a catsicle when they get home tomorrow; on the other hand, apparently they’ve done things this way for years.
Our cats have always been strictly indoors, so I don’t know from outdoor cats. We have 3 cats right now, who have no desire for visitors, but maybe I should stick her cat in our guest room? Or maybe he’d just spray everywhere to mark his territory; I don’t even know if he’s neutered.
All I can say is if it were me I’d be worried, and it sounds like you are too. If you have a place you could put the cat inside your house, I’d say better safe than sorry.
Bring the cat into your house. It’s much too cold for him to be living in if it’s cold enough in there for his water to be freezing. I don’t know about them always doing this; maybe it’s never been this cold before.
Thanks for the link - that explains why my neighbor’s so unconcerned. I’ll bring him some fresh water in the a.m., and some more warm food.
I’m with you, featherlou, as I wouldn’t do things that way myself, but my friend was very clear as to my instructions. They’ve had cats for probably 20 years. I fear she would be insulted if I followed my own preferences as opposed to hers.
However, I DID leave a message on her cell phone, just in case.
If the cat has a place to be out of the wind, he’ll be fine. If you would like to help him, though, it’s probably fine too. Since he’s the type to sleep in a box, that towel was a good call; it’ll give him something else to cuddle, and the warm water was also a nice thing to do. Maybe leave kitty out some dry food, too, in for extra calories if the wet food freezes.
My old friend Jack was an outdoor cat. I was always concerned about him in the winter chills. Fur is your friend is what I learned from him.
I’m sure your neighbors cat appreciated the towel - and the fresh water.
But still…brrr.
If it was me I’d rather lounge in front of a fireplace and purr all night.
Well, I consulted my husband, and he reminded me of how the domestic cats that went feral in Antarctica are thriving (and threatening the penguin population), so I guess kitty will be fine in a garage. I still don’t like it, though. Just because a cat can survive it doesn’t make it an optimal situation for a house pet.
Still, count me in with those who don’t like the idea of leaving cats out in freezing temperatures. Cats are sensitive to cold. We’ve got four, three with fairly long fur, and even on the warmest days they often spend the afternoon sleeping together in an intertwined mass of paws, ears, and faces. They seek out warm things even if we humans are uncomfortably warm (in many cases, those warm things turn out to be us).
In my experiences with indoor, outdoor and indoor/outdoor cats, the indoor cats never build up the thick coats of their outdoor brethren, even if they have long coats. While every cat sheds and builds a thicker coat in late fall, the outdoor cats get much thicker coats, probably because they’ve been outdoors as the temperature is dropping.
I’d be concerned about the temp if my indoor cat got out, but not about an outdoor cat who’s been out all along.
I recall a story I heard about a cat who was trapped in an airplane cargo hold (which are pretty damn cold unlike the the cabin) for…well quite a while. Who survived licking the frost off the water pipes that ran though there. There’s a reason they are said to have nine lives.
That said, it’s still pretty mean. Everyone would rather be warm.
At our old house we had a couple of strays that would make their way up to eat after we’d gone to bed. A few times, when the temps were going to go below freezing, AdoptaDad put a heating pad on low, covered it with a thick towel, and set that inside of a box he rigged up.
Sure enough, even though the kitties wouldn’t let us touch them, the next morning when we checked the box there was cat hair all over the towel, which let us know they’d appreciated a warm bed.
My neighbors are back, their cat’s fine. They had him in the house for a while, then sure enough, he starts meowling and scratching so they let him back outside!
Thanks for the suggestions, it’s interesting to know these pet products exist.
I’m sometimes mystified by people’s treatment of cats, dogs and children as if they were lizards.
Human children are mammals. Cats are mammals. Dogs are mammals. Human children have clothes, cats and dogs have fur. Most mammals are capable of turning up their metabolism sufficiently to heat a dry, insulated body that is not subject to excessive convection given sufficient food almost anywhere on the planet. It’s the food that you have to worry about, not clothes or water.
