@retrofit Where are you located? Maybe a COTH member can help out kitty? If you are vaguely near Wilmington, DE or Pottstown, PA I may be able to help. I will also be in Cochranville for a horseshow on Saturday
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Hey - good thought on running the extension cord over the doorway. I hadn’t thought of that (duh)
So far my plan is just to add something to help insulate the outside wall and add the heated bed, which just arrived (yay Amazon Prime). I went to TSC looking for a smaller kitty bed with sides, but also with a walk-in opening that might be more inviting than previously-rejected beds but they were out of everything. More errands needed after work. Would that be enough? Sides to nestle in, and layers & a heated bed under her?
@SonnysMom - I’m somewhat close to Wilmington and I appreciate your offer, but I need a longer term solution. There’s a lot of winter left, unfortunately.
As far as why she was dumped - I don’t think this cat pees all over the house. She belonged to an elderly lady who ultimately had health aides in & out and Kitty was hiding under the bed and hissing at them. Which is totally par for the course. She’s very hissy but not at all aggressive. It’s just defensiveness. She’s not super personable but she has warmed up to a few people who don’t push the issue with her. She’d be a tough sell to adopt because she’s old, possibly a little senile, and just wants a nice warm spot in the sun to sleep and not be messed with. Kind of like we’re all going to be at her age.
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I have tried many things to keep cats in outdoor areas warm, and the only one that works is a heating pad. We finally ran heavy duty extension cords to a couple of areas, and they are so happy it gives me a warm cuddly feeling when I see them now. Microwave warmers don’t work, as you note, and no matter what else I have tried, nothing keeps them warm like a heating pad. I’m waiting for someone to figure out a way to heat them with batteries.
I’ve found the microwave discs to work very well. I slip one under a towel in the bed and the cat lays on it all night. The disc is still slightly warm in the morning.
The only reason it wouldn’t last all night would be if the cat wasn’t using it. The they’ll cool off faster.
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Oh how sad, that poor old lady kitty. She was probably used to a very quiet life with her elderly owner and to just be dumped in a barn after all those years. Sad, sad, sad. Thank you, OP, for trying to help her. I hope you can figure something out that she’ll be happy with.
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Self heating cat beds. I don’t know how these work but might be worth a try?
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I’d buy a crate and take her home and network the crap out of her on facebook to find her a hospice home. She’s 17- it’s not like this is a 10 year commitment. I’m sure there’s someone willing to help her in her last years. Because I am, but I’m in New England. I would also be absolutely horrified if I was late in life and someone decided that my beloved cat should be dumped at a barn because she doesn’t like my home health aides. That poor woman and that poor cat.
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My barn cats are outside and it’s been -30C all weekend. They curl up in the loose hay in the hay loft. They are fine.
Update: I insulated the outside wall as best I could with another folded up saddle pad (better than nothing), added a “cuddler” style bed that she took to immediately (unlike the self-warming bed which was Not Acceptable), and once the bed was accepted I added the heated pad. Ran the extension cord over the doorframe and put a zillion duct tape notes on it DO NOT UNPLUG. The heated pad fit PERFECTLY in the bed - for once something worked! She was seriously Put Out that I had rousted her off her bed to add the heating pad and I had a few moments of anxiety that she didn’t like the new addition. But I left her alone for a while and when I came back, she was on her newly-heated bed purring loudly. Makes it all worth it.
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You did good! I’ll bed she doesn’t leave that heated bed much until summer.
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Bless you for tak You just open the pack & they heat up & last 8h.
This:
I put them under a baby blanket-sized fleece, inside a fleece house* and barncat was toasty all night long.
Pack was still a bit warm in the morning - so 10P to 7A.
*one of these:
Great solution!
This warms my heart probably as much as it warmed Old Lady Cat. Thank you for doing this.
BTW I’ve had great luck with infrared radiant panel heaters. I have one like this
https://www.amazon.com/Cozy-Products-CL-Radiant-Heater/dp/B00FRFFC4W?ref_=fsclp_pl_dp_1
I like them because there’s no risk of overheating-- the therapeutic heating pads for people’s achy joints, etc, are not meant to run full time. And the IR panels are very low cost to operate.
One idea when you have multiple barn cats is to put an old water trough on its side and put a radiant heat panel in the back of the trough. Add some milk crates stacked 2-high (by however many fit lengthwise). Drape an old horseblanket over the trough to insulate from the outside, and you have yourself a nice multi-unit heated cat condo. I love coming out to the barn to feed in the morning, and see cats all peering out from their own little warm box. (And, I do have one senior citizen that gets chased away, so she gets her own special place and separate feeding area.)
Of course anything electric carries electrical fire risks, so need to follow the usual precautions of protecting your cords from chewing critters (take a section of crapped out garden hose, slit it down its length, and voila! you have a cord protector!) and not overloading cords or circuits.
I buy “Hot Hands” packets and put them in the cat bed. You shake them to activate. They provide heat for 10 hrs. I use 4 packets per bed. (The packets are less than 2.00 for 2 at walmart.).
. I bought the barn cat a kitty clam bed. Holds in heat, soft and comfortable.
Bless you! What a wonderful update!
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Old Lady came through the last cold snap in great shape and we’re ready for Round 2. Actually she’s gotten a little more affectionate. Maybe she knows I’m taking care of her the best I can.
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Great update!
Thank you so much for taking such good care of this senior kitty. I believe she would be 84 in people years!
Dear little kitty - thankyou.
I heard that cats in Prince George (north of here and very snowy) often get stuck in the deep snow because they cannot get their back legs out of the deep snow…horrible way to die.
