Our outdoor kitties are getting old and a bit frail. We want to have just a small heat source for them this winter, that they can go to as needed. I'm thinking of a chick brooder type lamp, but wonder if anyone has a better idea. There are about a half dozen cats.

-- Shannon at Grateful Acres Animal Sanctuary (gratacres@aol.com), October 22, 2001

Answers

My cats all sleep together on cold nights. Also, they can snuggle down in the straw and keep quite warm.

-- Ann Markson (tngreenacres@hotmail.com), October 22, 2001.

Hi Shannon, I'm wanting to do the same this winter. I have an old lady that keeps on sneaking in the house when its cold. Unfortunately her bathroom habits are not trustworthy. In the past on occasion I've had a brooder/heat lamp on in the barn for various small animals (goat kids, chickens etc.) when the whether was extreme and the cats always took advantage of it. I worry about the fire hazard if run constantly though as well as the fact that I think they use up quite a bit of electricity. I've thought of making a cat house which would conserve body heat, possibly with a heating pad type of bottom heat. Again, this would have to be checked frequently to be safe. If you didn't mind spending some $$$ I know they make a heat mats for bottom heating seedling flats. I'm sure they would stand up to moisture etc. better. I'll check back to see what other ideas you glean!

-- Amy (gshep@aeroinc.net), October 22, 2001.

We have 4 barn cats that do not get along at all. They won't even look at each other, let alone curl up together to keep warm. So, he have cardboard boxes lined with straw and pillows or blankets. These are almost completely sealed with just a small hole on the side near the top for them to crawl in & out. They can retain their heat better in small places. Let's face it, they spend most of their day sleeping, might as well make it comfy. In the barn I have more boxes than I do kitties, just incase we have a stray or there's 2 fighting. One of our cats likes to sleep with the goats and they don't seem to mind. We've set up heat lamps for young baby goats, but as already stated the electric bill can be high and it's dangerous in our old, wood barn.

-- Charleen in WNY (harperhill@eznet.net), October 22, 2001.

I'd think something as simple as sixty watt lights would generate enough heat to provide warmth without endangering the building with a fire hazard.

-- Gary in Indiana (gk6854@aol.com), October 22, 2001.

We used the baby chick heat lamp for our cats and dog a few years back when we had a super cold winter. They all slept together.

-- Belle (gardenbelle@terraworld.net), October 22, 2001.

Hi Shannon, We took a cardboard apple box (any good heavy box) and cut a kitty sized door and hung a piece of cloth for a doorway, just to keep the cold from blowing in. Then put a piece of carpet on the bottom, (the sample size you can get for a buck or two at carpet places) then an electric heat pad, with the cord coming out of the doorway, then another piece of carpet on top. This was for padding, and so they wouldn't sharpen their claws on the wire. (yikes!) We found with towels, old blankets, etc. they would just get it all jumbled up in there. We set the heat pad on warm for the winter. We also went down to Walmart and got one of those heated dog bowls for water and plugged it in near the box. Cat's can take a lot more cold with warm water available. Whenever they started asking to come in again it's a pretty sure sign the heat pad has burned out, otherwise they preferred their box. Some cats are just not inside cats by nature. It's also surprising how they would decide to get along when there was a warm box, warm water, and food for them to share :) tang

-- tang (tang@mtaonline.net), October 22, 2001.

Years ago when I lived in an apartment, I had some wild cats that I worried about. I got small cardboard boxes and cut an opening (Small) and since they were out in the yard, I covered them with a plastic garbage bag and tucked it inside the opening. I taped it down and ran tape around the box so the bag wouldn't flap in the wind and tear or spook them. I placed them where they could see out so nothing could sneak up and get them. Two "emeny" tomcats slept in their own boxes side by side and were toasty warm.

-- connie in nm (connieandkarrel@msn.com), October 22, 2001.

If you know someone who has and shear sheep get a piece of felted fleece. I have sheep that sometimes their wool will felt on their back and when they are sheared it comes off in a rug. I use pieces of it also in my ferrets bed and they stay out all winter.

-- Terry Lipe (elipe@fidnet.com), October 22, 2001.

Tang--by heating pad, do you mean one meant specifically for a cat or dog (pricey!)or a small one a person would use? Would it be safe to have the small kind on all the time?

-- Tina in WI (jtdurie@frontiernet.net), October 22, 2001.

We have a small lean-to addition on the chicken house that we call Kitty City. The cats - all somewhat elderly & they hate each other - have their own pillows & blankets. The room is insulated & we use a brooder heat lamp at night when it gets below freezing. One kitty has a litter box because she won't go outside once it snows. Sometimes I think the cats live better than we do!

-- Bonnie (stichart@plix.com), October 22, 2001.

In the old milk house, we have a tri level plywood "kitty condo" with a plexiglass front on it, and have a clamp on brooder light shining towards the kitty condo. At temperatures below freezing at night, the light gets turned on at night, off in the morning. At temperatures of below freezing for the daytime high, the light is kept on all the time. I use the red bulb one as it is better for them to sleep at night.

I also use the heated dog waterer dishes for the dogs and cats, they are wonderful, and very long lasting. Save endless hours of hauling warm water outside and busting out ice from water dishes.

There is a heated cat bed sold that is cup shaped and is fleece, that my 21 year old housecat retreats to to get warmer here in the house, and that would work nicely in a sheltered area outside too. K V Vet Supply has them, and perhaps Jeffers does too, their prices are cheaper than from a pet store, they run about 42 dollars.

-- Annie Miller in SE OH (annie@1st.net), October 22, 2001.

My wife took a sterafoam cooler, put an old piece of carpet on the bottom, put duct tape around the led and cut a hole in the end. There as snug as a bug in a rug.

-- Herb Miller (hwmil@aol.com), October 22, 2001.

I used a regular heating pad to keep a sickly cat warm on an enclosed porch. I put a cardboard box on it's side...it was a deep one and covered it up with a blanket. The heating pad went over some rags and aluminum foil and under a towel. It worked well although the cat was terminal. His last days were comfortable.

-- Ardie/Wi (ardie54965@hotmail.com), October 22, 2001.

We have done most of the above. A styrofoam insulated small box w/straw is very warm. We now have the "RITZ" cat house and use a small heater. It is a small square, I think it cost around $20 at Walmart. We also use electric heated water bowls for cats & dogs.

-- DW (djwallace@ctos.com), October 22, 2001.

The suggestion about the sheep's fleece was good.

I was thinking of wool. My house cats seemed to have special sensors for wool when the weather turned cold. They could spot my wool sweaters a mile away. I think they could even hear it drop on the bed and would come running just to lay on it.

Try old wool sweaters or blankets cut up. The thrift stores would be a good place to look.

-- LBD (lavenderbluedilly@hotmail.com), October 22, 2001.

Some cats are fine with wool. Others seem to have a mania for it, and will eat it. Then they get obstructed, and need either surgery or euthanasia.

I've made the insulated boxes for several barn cats and they really seem to help them. I put one box inside another, with insulation between the boxes (rigid seems to work best, but I've used other left- over insulation), with a small entrance, just as others have suggested. I think the styrofoam cooler (or in this case, warmer) sounds like a really good idea, even better if you can find one to recycle.

-- Joy F [in So. Wisconsin] (CatFlunky@excite.com), October 23, 2001.

Let's see how do my cats stay warm.......? One on the back of a 32" TV, one under my favorite chair (know shes there when when her tail brushes my leg and scares me to death), Two in front of the perimeter heating ducts, one in front of the refridgerator on the rug and one wrapped around the up-light behind the ficus tree in the mud room. Of course, any one or more of these will leave their spot for a good, warm lap when my wife or I have an opprotunity to sit for a spell.

I (and my cats) prefer that they stay inside no matter the weather. As my vet once said- "there is no reason for a cat to ever be outside". Also, I'd rather have them on mouse patrol in my house and use traps and a few mothballs in my shop, HAM shack and barn.

Much happiness and God bless!!

Tim

-- Tim Hager (scf06121@wvnet.edu), October 25, 2001.

Gee Tim, It's nice that you like to live indoors with your cats. Some of us prefer to keep ours outside where they can hunt (as nature intended) and use "natural" litter boxes. I'm sure you have a good time cleaning out your litter boxes and vacuuming up cat hair. Not to mention having them climb all over your countertops, etc. We love our cats and have an old summer kitchen lined with blankets and plastic in the winter (the dogs sleep in there too) and in the summer we open the windows and run a high velocity fan in there. We love to sit outside with all of our animals, even in the winter in front of our chiminea fire. We have blanket lined boxes set up in the summer kitchen for the cats to snuggle in. Some of our older cats prefer the barn and sleep in the straw and hay bale stacks. We have even stacked straw bales in the summer kitchen when the weather got VERY cold. Straw is a great insulator, is soft and can be recycled in the garden! Most of us have other animals out on the farms that keep us from having ANYTHING as a house pet. It takes up too much time tending to them!

-- Cindy Central Illinois (Ilovecajun@netscape.net), April 07, 2002.

Cindy, Why do you even care if other people keep indoor pets. Its their choice and responsibility, not yours.

-- Gayle in KY (gayleannesmith@yahoo.com), April 07, 2002.