Too cold for cat?

TheBigLebowski

We've been feeding a friendly cat who's been coming by the house every day for about a year. s/he'd be around the house during the day and we'd put him/her out at night. Now I feel guilty putting him/her out in the freezing cold and we've let him/her stay in a few times but s/he pisses in the corner. Should I feel guilty or will it's coat keep it nice and warm on the winter nights?

Also how do I tell if its a boy or girl without getting to close and personal?

SuperSean11

TheBigLebowski wrote: »

We've been feeding a friendly cat who's been coming by the house every day for about a year. s/he'd be around the house during the day and we'd put him/her out at night. Now I feel guilty putting him/her out in the freezing cold and we've let him/her stay in a few times but s/he pisses in the corner. Should I feel guilty or will it's coat keep it nice and warm on the winter nights?

Also how do I tell if its a boy or girl without getting to close and personal?

The coat will keep it warm in winter in winter theres 3 in my house now and we never keep them in. Does it look healthy? If it looks well fed and healthy id say it has a home and comes round for a free meal

MsFifers

Well I would think - yes, its too cold outside at night at the mo. If its a hardy cat it would survive, but when it is frosty it is a real hardship on the little thing.

Your options are:
1. Provide it with some kind of shelter for outside (inside a shed with a bed made up of old blankets/rug etc, maybe even fix something up with some boxes if you don't have a shed)
2. Get a litter tray and put it in the corner where the cat has been pissing - most cats figure out what litter trays are for pretty quickly. Get one of the sandy litter materials rather than wood chip or anything like that.


RE: boy/girl differentiation: Look under the tail - two little bumps would be the balls!

I would imagine its a girl cat because the urine smell of an unspayed male would have you moving out of the house!

the dee

Our neighbourhood cat is the same. It's a bit cold to put her outside at night, but if we keep her in she starts crying and scratching at 4am to be let out again.

She's a very outdoor cat, would be ok to leave her outside at night?

TheBigLebowski

MsFifers wrote: »

Well I would think - yes, its too cold outside at night at the mo. If its a hardy cat it would survive, but when it is frosty it is a real hardship on the little thing.

Your options are:
1. Provide it with some kind of shelter for outside (inside a shed with a bed made up of old blankets/rug etc, maybe even fix something up with some boxes if you don't have a shed)
2. Get a litter tray and put it in the corner where the cat has been pissing - most cats figure out what litter trays are for pretty quickly. Get one of the sandy litter materials rather than wood chip or anything like that.


RE: boy/girl differentiation: Look under the tail - two little bumps would be the balls!

I would imagine its a girl cat because the urine smell of an unspayed male would have you moving out of the house!

Yeah I'm thinking it's probably a girl and now that you mention the smell, it ain't very strong at all. Hope to jaysus she doesn't have kittens. She obviously had an owner before (if not still) so I'm hoping she's had the op.

We bought one of the furry beds that you hang over a radiator so I suppose I could just move that out to the shed and see how it goes...I don't really want to go down the kitty litter route as I would imagine that would smell also.

Cheers.

luckat

You can get kitty litter trays that have hoods over the top. They don't smell if you change the litter regularly.

The vet can tell you if she's had the op; if not, it's worth paying for. If you're on the dole it costs only €14, I think.

kerrysgold

I don't have a cat but I think the cat litter helps to kill the smell as long as it's not allowed to get too dirty.....

I agree with luckat, if she's not spayed you could get her done cheap, there are so many feral cats around now, every cat that gets spayed is helping to stop more being bred.

personally I'd let her stay inside during the cold weather if she wanted to stay inside.....
I used to look after a stray cat (although she may have just had an owner that didn't care where she was!) and I wasn't allowed to bring her inside so I made up a bed for her outside with a plastic box turned on it's side and filled with bedding.

the dee

On the same general topic: Is it illegal to take someone else's pet to the vet? We're pretty sure our cat's 'owners' live down the street from us but our neighbours tell us they couldn't care less about her. I was thinking we should get her a check-up, she's not obviously ill but we care about her.

stovelid

the dee wrote: »

It's a bit cold to put her outside at night, but if we keep her in she starts crying and scratching at 4am to be let out again.

Same here. They go out and disappear, and we're not usually awake to let them back in.

I bought them a kennel and stuffed it with quilt and cushions, so they have somewhere warm to sleep until we wake up.

Trev M

Howdy ,

Cats in general are hardy enough to be honest , we have two , one's the mom of the other one. She was a stray we fed and took in, she made her self at home and had a litter the little fecker, we got good homes for 4 of em and kept one , who is big bossy and a bit mental.

We feed the local strays, its hard not too , generally the population is kinda controlled to a degree, experts tell you that they will generally level out to the amount of food available in a locality I dunno how true that is though? Last summer we I found a little fella too late and he died, kinda sucked , so I just cant help but feed them when they come by. Sometimes our own go a bit mad at the window or whatever , if they feel the territory is under threat they will spray so we got this thing called felispray which for some reasons stops em spraying in the gaff.

Anyway - regarding the cold , I wouldnt worry , a healthy cat is a resourceful cat and they will always find decent shelter and food the crafty buggers. I think if possible you can get it "done" it would be advisable to keep numbers down. Not sure about the legality of it all when someone else own it, but remember we dont own the cats they own us .

tallus

Same here Trev, I feed the local strays, but it's starting friction between my tomcat and neighbouring males. To the OP one of Mine has been out on teh coldest of cold nights without any ill effect, but I keep the pair of them in most nights now as I do feel bad when they are out in the elements. As someone else on the thread pointed out too, they are pretty resourseful.

kerrysgold

Since I don't think there are actually any laws regarding cats, I don't think there would be any problem with you taking the cat to the vet and hopefully getting it spayed.

Alfasudcrazy

I let one of our cats in as she seems to want to be left in around 5pm. She lets you know when she wants to go out but is usually looking to get back in 10 minutes later.

She is always out during the day however. The other two want to be outside all the time and we have them 13 years now.