If you have an outdoor cat, it’s essential to take a number of precautions to keep it safe and healthy during the cold winter months. To give you some guidance on this subject, Top Tails would like to offer a few winter care tips for outdoor cats:
- Give your cat the ability to come inside if it wants to. Even cats who love to be outside will need to come indoors when there is heavy precipitation or extremely frigid temperatures. To give your cat the option of coming inside – even if it’s just into a warm garage – to escape the elements, consider installing a cat door or flap at your home. These devices typically have a lock on them, so they will also allow you to keep your cat from venturing back outside if it is too cold or unsafe for it to be outdoors.
- Provide an outdoor shelter for the cat. Just like humans, cats require shelter from the cold. You can buy a heated outdoor cat house or make your own shelter using inexpensive materials from a hardware store. The main thing you want to keep in mind when selecting or building a cat shelter is size – it should be just big enough that the cat can move around comfortably. If the shelter is too large, the cat will not stay as warm. The second order of business is what to put in the cat shelter. Contrary to what you might think, blankets or towels will absorb the cat’s body heat and make it colder. Therefore, a better option for lining the cat shelter is straw. You can also line the walls and bottom of the shelter with Mylar to provide insulation.
- Make sure fresh, unfrozen food and water are always available. You can place your cat’s food bowl inside its shelter, but be sure to put the water bowl outside to prevent the shelter from getting wet. To keep the water from freezing, consider purchasing an electrically heated water bowl. You can also put the water bowl inside of a styrofoam cooler with a hole cut in it for easy access. If you have a cat flap/door that allows the cat to come inside at any time, it’s a good idea to also keep a water bowl indoors in case the outdoor water source freezes.
When you follow these winter care tips for outdoor cats, your feline friend will remain in good health while still being able to roam outside as it pleases.
Looking for a Philadelphia Cat Sitter? Here’s Why Top Tails Is the Best Choice
If you need someone to care for your cat this winter, Top Tails Dog Walking & Pet Sitting is the Philadelphia cat sitter for you. Since early 2005, our team has been dedicated to meeting the needs of our clients (both owners and pets). In order to ensure that you receive amazing customer service and your pet gets exceptional care, we hire only the best and most responsible pet caretakers.
Are you interested in learning about the services and rates of our cat sitter in Philadelphia? Call 215-508-1903 or visit our website now. Plus, get more great pet care tips by checking out our past blog posts! In them, you’ll find useful information on everything from preventing cancer in cats and dogs to winter activities for dogs. From all of us here at Top Tails – the cat sitter Philadelphia pet owners trust – thanks for reading!