Winter can be the cruelest month, especially for feral cats who live in northern climates. While most humans who manage large feral colonies already know how to put together shelters and care for their cats, maybe you’ve just got a few wild kitty friends who hang out near your house. You get concerned about them when the temperature drops below freezing and it’s snowing out. You can make winter a little more bearable for them — building a shelter is not all that hard to do. The New York Renovator blog has a great post about how to make an inexpensive winter cat shelter. (Incidentally, my human, who has owned her share of “vintage” homes, likes the whole blog!) Alley Cat Allies also has a whole page devoted to cat shelters, from small and simple to big and complex (for humans who do care for whole colonies).
Just a couple more notes about caring for ferals during the cold months:
- Don’t leave canned food outside. It will freeze. A bowl of canned food can be placed in a shelter, where the cats’ body heat will slow down the freezing process. You might also consider switching over to kibble until things warm up.
- Never put water inside a shelter — it’s a real disaster if it spills, and you don’t want the cats getting wet in the winter. There are many different ways of keeping a bowl of water from freezing over. This page from neighborhoodcats.org has a bunch of great suggestions.
- If you can afford it, feed your feral kitties a higher quality food. They need better nutrition in the winter because of the toll it takes on their immune system.
Thank you for taking care of our feral feline friends! It’s a harsh life for a wild kitty, and even though they hate to admit it, they really need you.
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Wonderful article! I recently made shelters out of 18 gallon and 30 gallon rubbermaid totes and filled the inside with wheat straw. I was so happy to see they were being used by the colony cats I feed. I have read that putting a pinch of sugar in the water bowl not only slows down the freezing process, but also gives the kitties a little extra energy, so I’ve been doing that as well. We must do what we can to make these harsh winters easier on the homeless cats.
These are great tips. I have a couple kitties I feed outside and I get worried about them, even though we only have a few freezing nights a year her in Florida. Tonight is one of them! Poor babies… Can’t wait to go feed them in the morning and pet them to warm them up!
Very good tips! We don’t have any homeless kitties around us but we’ve taken care of feral kitties in the past so this was a good reminder!
Great tips! and Maggies idea of a pinch of sugar is a good one too!
Great article! Thank you for sharing!
Winter is cruel here in the north. Cats are were originally desert animals, so it’s important that they have some place to warm up.
Anna
Oh you doll! Thanks for the mention. 😀 I think maybe kitty shelters are just in time for the major freeze we’re experiencing across the nation. BRRRR!!!
Your photos of cats are so lovely. *sigh* Such beautiful creatures.
@Mrs. Mecomber – All cats seem to default to “beautiful,” don’t we? 🙂
Not really into the idea of having anything electric around anything with water, for the obvious reasons; but the “tire trick” explained on neighborhoodcats.org is a very good one! TYSM for these very important suggestions — livesaving! 💡