Cats outside in Winter?

scottishchick27

Me and my partner both work fulltime and we have two cats. They are one now so this is the first Winter we've had them and they have been able to go out, last year they were too young. They are used to going out all day as I put them out when I leave for work. We have a catflap into our sun lounge which they use and then they lie on the seats and sleep until they want to go out again. This has been fine in the warmer weather but I'm concerned what I'm going to do in the winter. Even this morning with just a bit of snow on the ground they only went out for 5 minutes and then came back in to sprawl across the seats.

The sun lounge is cosy when the sun shines but it's freezing when it's snowing. It's single glazed so there's no point in having heating in there as it never heats up. Will they be OK? The sun lounge has a door into the kitchen but I don't want to leave that open, one for security reasons and two the rest of the house will be freezing too. Would the igloo beds be any good? What about an electric blanket?

Tete_en_l'Air

Hello, your cats would be fine outside all day so access to the sun lounge is even better. You might think it's freezing in there but they have a big fur coat on remember. And there'll be no biting wind in there either - I think they're very lucky little felines

geri1965_2

I think the sun lounge will be fine, but I have to disagree with the poster above slightly as I don't think it is right to leave cats out all day if the weather is exceptionally cold (e.g. snow) as domesticated animals are not used to extremes of temperature.

We were very worried about our neighbour's cat one winter as he was outside in all weathers looking very miserable, in the end we opened our shed to give him shelter. After our own cat was put to sleep we started letting him come into the house.

Tete_en_l'Air

geri1965 wrote: »

I think the sun lounge will be fine, but I have to disagree with the poster above slightly as I don't think it is right to leave cats out all day if the weather is exceptionally cold (e.g. snow) as domesticated animals are not used to extremes of temperature.

We were very worried about our neighbour's cat one winter as he was outside in all weathers looking very miserable, in the end we opened our shed to give him shelter. After our own cat was put to sleep we started letting him come into the house.

I don't think it's right, and I certainly wouldn't leave my cats out in the snow for a long time, however - they are hardier than we think and I don't think it would do any harm to a healthy adult cat. But yes they probably would be a bit miserable!

bacardi66

I think you're doing the right thing for your cats. Ive always had a cat flap in my houses so the cats are free to come and go as they want. My cat is 16 now and not very keen on going out in the cold weather but when he was younger he used to choose to stay out in the freezing weather for hours on end! When the boiler packed up in my old house and I had no heating for months the cats were fine.

I think we tend to think they are less hardy than they really are, I have friends from Norway and they don't think anything of leaving their cats out in deep snow and sub zero temperatures, they find it very amusing that I worry about my cat getting cold in this country! As other posters said cats do have a fur coat and they will be fine in your sun lounge.

Obviously while I write this my cat is curled up on his fleecy pet blanket (a fab purchase from Lidl) on a king sized bed with a microwaveable heating pad and the room heated to 21 degrees! But then he is an elderly gentleman :rotfl:

LittleMissAspie

Cats can tolerate a greater range of temperatures than humans. That's why they sit too close to fires and sit outside on a cold day even when they have the option to come in. So they'll be fine, and they are protected from wind and rain in your sun lounge.

Make them a nice cosy den to snuggle up in, they'll probably appreciate that. Or maybe they'll just ignore it, you know what cats are like.

DansMum_2

LittleMissAspie wrote: »

Cats can tolerate a greater range of temperatures than humans. That's why they sit too close to fires and sit outside on a cold day even when they have the option to come in. So they'll be fine, and they are protected from wind and rain in your sun lounge.

Make them a nice cosy den to snuggle up in, they'll probably appreciate that. Or maybe they'll just ignore it, you know what cats are like.

I agree with LittleMissAspie here, they have a catflap so can go outside to use the facilities! Make them a den and maybe put them a deep bed inside. If you're really worried there are specially designed heated pet beds if its totally freezing ...

We have a yard cat where I keep my horses and he's a big strong tom who sleeps in the straw stack or in my hay barn. My own cats though... they get under my duvet....

BitterAndTwisted

As long as your cats can get indoors to shelter from the wind and the rain they will be fine in your sun lounge especially if they have cozy bed or two to snuggle down in.

RealButter

They'll be absolutely fine They are lucky to be able to get back into the sun lounge if they wish. When I had cats we had no catflap, so once they were out they were out. They always seemed fine and still loved me when they came back (As much as cats can anyway)

Mankysteve

You could allways put an electric blanket on the chair if you really worried, but being out of the wind and rain they'll be fine.

blue_monkey_2

If you are worried then invest in one of these:

http://shop.ebay.co.uk/i.html?_nkw=heated+cat+bed&_sacat=0&_odkw=heated+dog+bed&_osacat=0&_trksid=p3286.c0.m270.l1313
http://shop.ebay.co.uk/?_from=R40&_trksid=p5197.m570.l1311&_nkw=heated+dog+bed&_sacat=See-All-Categories