Our barn cats have a “heated” house… one of those things with a heat pad (warm pad) on bottom. They snuggle in the house together. Granted, the warm pad doesn’t get very hot, I guess thats how they are supposed to work. So what about the teens, or single digits?. I don’t look at windchill temps since the b.cats are inside. thanks!
PS - the neighborhood feral cat is out in all degrees - i don’t know if he minds it?
I think never. My barn cat huddles up in the barn when it is subzero, but he has a whole loft of hay to snuggle up in and has never seemed to want to come in the house. When it is really cold I feed him in the barn so he doesn’t have to walk to the house (where he usually eats).
Mine are always out. They have plenty of places to curl up inside buildings and there is always dry food out for them. Water gets changed a couple times a day.
Actually only 2 of the 4 are tame and 1 of those sprays in the house,
Never. I don’t know anyone who has barn cats that allows them in the house. Northern Indiana so it gets pretty darn cold (sub zero). No special care and they survive.
The cold doesn’t seem to bother the mice or rats, why would it bother the cats?
Inside a heated cat house in a barn, they should be fine, unless they’re old or sick.
Another thing I like to do is heat up some of these disks to put under their water bowl/canned food bowl, to keep them from freezing. As long as they have food and water, they should be OK. Probably won’t do much mousing until it warms up a bit.
https://www.chewy.com/snuggle-safe-dog-cat-small-animal/dp/153940
My barn cats stay out. They have the hay barn to huddle in. Plus they have an insulated dog house that has straw in it. They did fine when it was -35. Also have a heated water bowl in horse barn for them.
Out of 7 cats only 1 thinks he needs to be a house cat. He comes to back door and does all his different voices…I of course let him in. He wanted back out yesterday after being in for over a week.
They’ll tell you when they’re cold, but personally, I think it’s cruel to have them withstand subzero temperature environments. Sure, they might survive with cover, but imagine how miserable you would be in the same temperature extremes (even with a jacket)?
If it’s 30F or warmer in their shelter/environment they should be fine, but if you don’t have a heated area for them, it’s better to just bring them in. Insulated huts don’t count as a “heated” area - in my experience once it drops to below 15F the insulated huts don’t do too much.
Maybe it’s because I witnessed first hand what happens to feral cat colonies exposed to subzero temperatures… they die of exposure. There’s nothing like shoveling out snow and finding a frozen-over body of a poor cat that died during the cold snap.
Our little kitty, who is very, very hardy, started showing signs she was uncomfortable in around 10F degrees. She has an insulated kitty hut in our non-heated feed shed that I made for her, lined in a warm fleece blanket, and she would not come out brightly. She’s normally a very cheery and friendly kitty, so for her to refuse to leave the hut tells you she’s cold! She’s in the house now.
We’ve had wild temperatures from 30F to -5F the last few weeks. She’s fine in the 30F weather but the night temperatures swing wildly and we’ve been scoured by extreme wind as of late.
I think it also depends on your normal weather. We rarely get very cold here with daytime highs in the upper 40s and lows in the mid 20s during our typical winter. When we start having daytime highs below freezing and overnight lows in the teens or single digits, I hear an uptick of really upsetting stories about outside animals.
Having a heated house is one thing that many of the animals around here lack. Depending on the construction, you may be able to line the inside with one of those emergency heat reflecting blankets or styrofoam to further hold in heat. Keeping clean straw bedding in the bottom also allows them to burrow down and get warm. If you use a blanket I recommend something synthetic like a polyester “fuzzy” blanket that repels water and wash them regularly. Cotton and cotton blends can get damp and gross quickly.
I set up my little 8# Verminator with a fleece house raised off the ground, lined with a fleece blanket & a heatlamp aimed at it.
At night I put one of those XL Handwarmer packs in the house under the blanket & that kept her warm for 8h… if she chose to stay in the house.
9 times out of 10, she’d come out to greet me - morning & night - from the stacked bales of hay.
She made herself a cozy space between bales & that worked for her even in Polar vortex temps.
My feral barn cats NEVER EVER come in the house. I would have to live-trap them to bring them in, and then where would I put them???
I make sure they not only have hay bales to hide in, but plenty of loose hay tucked into nooks and crannies to hide in also. I cannot compare my feral barn cats to a “feral colony” as I imagine most feral colonies in an urban setting do not have structures/hay available to snuggle in like barn cats do.
I guess it’s a question of A) is your barn cat a domesticated, people-friendly cat who happens to have a job, or B) a feral cat who avoids people but earns their keep killing pesky critters around your farm? Trapping an otherwise feral barn cat seems like unnecessary stress on the animal if he’s already used to living out.
The main barn I’m at has a cat door built into the door of the office. Cat may go in an out as he pleases. Cat usually stays out if it’s above 15F or so but during that two week period where it didn’t get above 0, he was in the office a lot. But he’s friendly and loves people.
I teach at another farm that that has two feral kitties, brothers, that patrol the property. They are skittish and will hide if you try and approach them. The barn feeds them and have access to water but there’s no formal shelter built for them. They definitely have a couple places they bed down in the hay loft and it appears to work just fine for them. Both are in good weight and appear healthy. The pet-lover in me felt bad for them during the aforementioned cold snap, but they had plenty of protection from the wind and access to food/water and seemed to do OK.
I think you have to decide if they are going to be an indoor/outdoor cat or an outdoor cat (or an only indoor cat) before the middle of winter. Once they grow a thick winter coat bringing them inside a fully heated house would likely make the shock of having to move back outside not very pleasant. (Note this comment is made by someone who heats with wood so our house is pretty darn warm at times, if you are the type that barely heats their house this might not matter.)
My barn cats have heated huts, a heated water bowl, a constant supply of dry food and twice daily wet food (and a litter pan so they do not have to go outside if they do not want to).
They are much happier on days it is in double digits (degF), but even on the negative temp days they are up begging for breakfast (wet food) as soon as I come in the barn and pouncing on sticks of hay as they blow around when I open the big door to get the wheel barrow out. They are hunting and I see them outside doing various kitty things (where there is added wind chill to that cold temp and lots of snow).
We have a dog house, full of towels to burrow in, on the top shelf in a warmer garage corner. The barn cat prefers to burrow in the “cave” DH made out of hay bales in the hay stack. He has food and can get warm water out of the horse tubs. Even when I pour warm water in his water bowl he still prefers to drink out of the horse tub — right when I am pouring warm water for him -----. He is 12 or 13 years old and quite a tough “old bird” 
Mine all stay out and have done just fine in the -30’s . They have no heated space but I have an electric water bowl so they have access to water all the time. And I feed them. They are fluffy and happy.
I have a heated house that one of the barn cats uses when it is really cold. The other cat made herself a little hay nest in loft this week. Seriously she drug loose hay over to a spot where she can lay in it and still be close by for attention when anyone comes in. SOmetimes she was want to be in the tack room but mostly she just goes where she wants. They do have aheated water bowl to drink from.
Never, as long as they are healthy and have access to shelter, food and water. You aren’t doing them any favors by bringing them in a warm house and then putting them back outside at some arbitrary temperature. They are acclimated to the weather and have grown fur coats for that purpose.
We lock ours up in the tack room every night. When the temps are below freezing, we turn the heater on low. They have cat beds in the tack room and its insulated, so they do just fine.
Feral cats that die from the cold, didn’t die just from the cold. They had some other underling illness or injury that made the susceptible to the cold.
My barn cats never come in the house. They are not really friendly, although I can pet them, and they’ve never been inside a house. They have plenty of places to stay warm in the barn and have heated water at all times. I give them extra food when it’s really cold. They do fine and are happy.
That is simply not true. That’s as ridiculous as saying cattle, horses and dogs don’t die from exposure too… Spoiler, they do. I would suggest you read up on exposure since you’re unaware that exposure to extreme elements can kill animals… A perfectly healthy animal can very well die from exposure and hypothermia…
Feral cats are still domesticated animals, and lack the defenses for harsh weather that their wild counterparts have. They get cold, their bodies go into shock and they die. They can subsist in extreme temperatures but unlike a lynx or a bobcat they do not grow thick winter coats. People have this odd misconception that because cats are so stoic, they are hardier than other domestic animals and don’t need suitable shelter or warmth. They’re not bred to be outside in severe temperatures.
By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. You may also receive promotional emails from The Chronicle of the Horse. You can opt out at any time.
For Customers
Company
Terms of Use
