Keeping the house warm without putting the heating on?

fatbelly

I haven't really noticed any cold yet. The sun is still warming during the day and the temperature not falling too badly overnight.

I would have thought dogs and cats would be fine. We used to have a cat that spent overnight in a conservatory that got down to 5 or 6 in the winter.

I don't have much experience with rabbits though sister used to keep them in a hutch outdoors. Google suggests they are fine at 10 degrees

twopenny

For the dogs bed make one or buy that is a fairly thick bean bag covered in fleece.
Make sure it is a warm fleece. They vary.
Then he can sink into it but still get out easily. The polystyrene beads keep you really warm.

A friend alerted me to the fact that some fleeces aren't warm. You need to wrap your hand in some and the good ones your hand will instantly become toasty warm.

I made my dogs bean bag so it had a waterproof casing and a 2 removable fleeces for washing when she got old. 

kimwp

A heated pet mat and an upturned cardboard box over the top gets super warm inside - I've actually had to put lots of holes in the box so it doesn't get too warm for my cat. Then cosy pet beds, some with covers gives choice. 

Wednesday2000

When people on here say heated pet mat do you mean the self heating pads or the electric ones? My two are elderly now (14 and 20) and I'm probably going to buy them heated pads for this winter.

kimwp

Wednesday2000 said:

When people on here say heated pet mat do you mean the self heating pads or the electric ones? My two are elderly now (14 and 20) and I'm probably going to buy them heated pads for this winter.

I've had two electric ones (different makes because the first wasn't available when I went to order a second). They are fab. I leave them on constantly once it's colder and the cats like to curl up on them. The first one broke because I had curled it up inside the box and it bent back on itself and the cats laid on it, so be careful to keep them flat. (There was no fire or anything, I just realised it wasn't warm in the box, so checked it and realised what happened).

Wednesday2000

Oh great, thanks. I'm just looking on Amazon now.

CapricornLass

A hot water bottle, wrapped up in a old fleece/towel/blanket/jumper?  We used to do that for young kittens, so I imagine older dogs and cats will appreciate them too,