Keeping Outdoor Cats Safe in Winter

While it is best to get cats inside during cold weather, sometimes it isn't possible- maybe you are taking care of some strays outside or have an allergic family member who can't tolerate the cat inside.
To keep your cats safe and warm, here are some good tips:

http://cats.about.com/b/2011/12/19/its-cold-please-keep-your-outdoor-cats-safe.htm

 

Thanks for these tips! One of my longhaired cats just loves to go out even in extreme weather conditions. I just get so worried for him, but now feel a little at ease after checking out these tips. The weather is starting to warm up so I'm excited about that. I never knew About.com had a whole section on cats. Addicted!

 

The one thing I always do for my cats is shovel their own little pathways to privacy. In other words before I would let them out after a storm I'd shovel the normal foot paths, and then say pathways to under the deck, (normally where i fight to keep them out of in the summer) but I find doing this keeps them from straying down the footpaths to the neighbors or trying to make their own paths off to elsewhere. It becomes more like a quick explore, go, and then inside much like a dog.

 

Where I live, we don't have winter. Not even very cold weather. What we have is rainy weather. No problem keeping the cats at home then.

 

When it is very cold I won't let my cats out at night, but they can still pop out in the day if they want. It's only really my tom cat who likes to venture out in such weather though.

 

I usually let them outside because we have a barn and they go there and get to sleep so its not really a problem there they have a warm place to stay. But I also let them sleep with me in my room. Though they are sometimes jumping on my back and I cant move then I enjoy having them around me