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Outdoor Cat Dilemma |
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#1 |
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Join Date: Jun 2010
Posts: 1,399
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Outdoor Cat Dilemma
My cat stays out majority of the day and only comes to eat its food. it normally stays the nights in the winter.
The problem is, my house is getting completely renovated and we are not living there, its nearly finished month or so left. It was meant to be finished by now. I'm worried its starting to get too cold for my cat to stay outside. I'm I being over protective or i'm I right. We got a dog house which is hers which has a few pillowcases she's been using that for the last two months to sleep in but i'm worried that because its large it will let all the heat out and she will still be cold. The other option is I let her into house during the nights but even then It doesn't have heating, I can put a electrical heater on but i feel its too dangerous especially when theres no one around except her. when we went on Holiday I took her to a cattery, since she's come back, she's been reluctant to go inside her travelling cage when visiting the vets, So i'm assuming she didn't like it. Can anyone advise what the best thing to do would be. |
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#2 |
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Join Date: Jun 2010
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If the dog house is okay for her, I will be getting a few hot water bottles to put under the pillows and some hays bedding
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#3 |
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Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Nottingham
Posts: 11,473
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You can get electric heating pads and fleeces for kennels. Even if you don't go down the electric route you could use hot water bottles or there are barley filled pillows you heat in the microwave. You could make the kennel snugger by putting a cat flap on the entrance and maybe help insulate it by piling straw around it.
If you want her in the house (a better idea imho) there are heated cat beds and dens (usually sold for elderly cats, but would be snuggly in an unheated house). I wouldn't trust a fan heater, but an oil radiator should be safe enough if you want to heat just a room. |
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#4 |
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Join Date: Jun 2010
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I'll leave the choice to her,
I put hay in the dog house and pillows on the sides to stop any draught coming in and made the entrance smaller, just worried that she won't use it now, she went by it a couple of times but never in. also bought a few hot water bottles which i will be taking there tonight. Also ordered a oil radiator which should be delivered tomorrow so if she wants to sleep in she can sleep inside. |
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#5 |
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Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Nottingham
Posts: 11,473
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The kennel smells different now, so she's probably a bit wary of it, though she'll get braver when it gets colder tonight!
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#6 |
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Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: France
Posts: 3,592
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I'd buy a couple of cheap polartec-type fleeces, get a couple of large boxes from a supermarket. Line the box that goes on the floor with half a dozen newspapers to make a thick pad and provide insulation at the bottom and put a fleece on top. Then make her a snug area in the shed she's already sleeping in. She's comfortable there, she'll probably find the fleeces easily enough - especially if you make them smell of you first by rubbing one over yourself and putting that on the top of the bed.
You can buy Snugglesafes from Amazon (and elsewhere but Amazon is probably cheapest) and they do hold their heat over the course of about 8 hours. I didn't find that the barley-filled things held their heat for more than an hour or so. Slip one between the newspapers and the fleece or - depending on how often you've folded the fleece - slip one between the folds of the fleece. |
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#7 |
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Join Date: Aug 2016
Posts: 317
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Where are you staying?
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#8 |
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Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 6,867
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My cat sleeps outdoors all year round in a plastic cat kennel that sits about 3ft off the floor (I made the table). I bought a thick blanket that has a foil back so it retains the heat the cat's body puts out.
She's fine. She loves being outdoors. Always has. |
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#9 |
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Join Date: Jun 2010
Posts: 1,399
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She's been using the dog house, I was at home all day today, she sat next to the heater inside the house while I was there for a few hours and then went into to the dog house, she just went out now that the fireworks have calmed down.
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#10 |
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Join Date: Dec 2015
Posts: 2,699
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Question for the above two posters. Don't other cats go in there too?
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#11 |
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Join Date: Jun 2010
Posts: 1,399
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Quote:
Question for the above two posters. Don't other cats go in there too?
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#12 |
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Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Belfast, Northern Ireland
Posts: 57
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Quote:
My cat stays out majority of the day and only comes to eat its food. it normally stays the nights in the winter.
The problem is, my house is getting completely renovated and we are not living there, its nearly finished month or so left. It was meant to be finished by now. I'm worried its starting to get too cold for my cat to stay outside. I'm I being over protective or i'm I right. We got a dog house which is hers which has a few pillowcases she's been using that for the last two months to sleep in but i'm worried that because its large it will let all the heat out and she will still be cold. The other option is I let her into house during the nights but even then It doesn't have heating, I can put a electrical heater on but i feel its too dangerous especially when theres no one around except her. when we went on Holiday I took her to a cattery, since she's come back, she's been reluctant to go inside her travelling cage when visiting the vets, So i'm assuming she didn't like it. Can anyone advise what the best thing to do would be. |
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#13 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 1,086
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Quote:
My cat sleeps outdoors all year round in a plastic cat kennel that sits about 3ft off the floor (I made the table). I bought a thick blanket that has a foil back so it retains the heat the cat's body puts out.
She's fine. She loves being outdoors. Always has. |
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#14 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Dec 2008
Posts: 3,446
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We have a plastic dog kennel which we bought for a stray cat, the bottom is lined with newspaper, and then is a padded fleece covered cushion thing, and then there is this,
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ancol-Self-...eating+pet+pad.. |
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