I have always wondered if hand warmers tucked underneath a pet bed might offer some welcome warmth in a pinch.
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I used the XL ones for my barncat.
They lasted 8h once opened & activated & she loooved them tucked under her fleece blanket in her fleece house.
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I tried a horse at a heated barn in Indiana. Although it was immaculate it still smelled of urine. The indoor, though watered, also seemed dusty with kind of a musty feeling that hung in the air. That sort of thing might be nice for riders but it canāt be good for horses.
My vet said itās fine to use Voltaren if you canāt find Surpass. Just clip the area well. Surpass has a better carrier to get through fur but Voltaren is actually slightly higher concentration and both work fine. There have been times when Surpass was in short supply but Iāve always (knock on wood) been able to find Voltaren.
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NW FL checking back in.
The forecast changed and now we are expecting hard freeze again tonight. That will be a total of 4 nights in a row for us. Iām not sure if itās record breaking or anything, but Iām here to say thatās about as much cold weather as we can stand.
The horses are happier since the wind has died. Upthread there was some talk of wind chill and how/if that affected inanimate items. My observation is that wind chill does affect ice in water troughs. I had way more ice when the winds were whipping compared to similar actual temperatures but with little to no wind.
My younger horse figured out how to break his own ice last night. Proud of him.
I failed to protect my lemon tree. Iāll be curious to see if it survives.
Merry Christmas.
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In the Engineering world, we call it āNIH Syndromeā Not Invented Here. Lotsa people suffer from it. Best simply ignored, or just do it their way, if they happen to be The Boss.
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Merry Christmas! Wow - I donāt know that Iāve ever seen mine break ice. Heās spoiled. 
I laughed! Iāve experienced my fair share of NIH syndrome.
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Granted it wasnāt very thick ice, about 3/4ā was the thickest it got.
My old TB kept a hole in his trough throughout. I reckon somewhere along his life path he learned what was up lol. The younger one was like ummm I canāt drink thereās ice Mom at first.
I went out and busted the ice and shoveled the chunks out regularly for both of them and kept buckets with warmed water in the stalls so they were ok!
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One of the tanks had an open circle of water around the floating tank heater but at least it kept that unfrozen.
Weāre on the tail end now. 23 and windy today with another wind chill warning day but tomorrow is supposed to be 35. Woo hoo! Shorts weather.
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Brrrr! Glad your tank heater performed!
We are expected to get to a cozy 42 this afternoon! Itās a tad breezy today but nothing serious. Iām about to go change the horses into 100 gram blankets before they get too hot lol.
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I bought mine a few years ago, at the end of the season clearance at SmartPak. They were thirty-something each on clearance. Theyāve got ones right now, which look like perhaps a slightly different design but the same kind of thing, but are more expensive due to not being on sale.
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Filing that away for future reference! Power was just restored at my complex, thank God. Just checked the doorbell cam to make sure. Snow drifts are about 3ā high outside my front door. 
48 hours without power in subzero weather and high windsā¦Pet sitter said it was down in the 40s inside and the kitties were not pleased. Hadnāt touched their food overnight. Hopefully it warms back up quickly and the power stays on. 
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We are through the coldest, windiest part here now. The blizzard conditions here never really materialized like it did west of here because we simply have way too many trees for the snow to blow too far. It honestly didnāt get super cold here - no colder than -10 air temp, and -30 wind chills. It has been FAR worse than that. I left mine outside the whole time w/ a deep run-in shed and a heated waterer (it didnāt freeze up, yeah!). I feel they are far better outside with a heated water source and hay and able to get out of the wind and move if they want then stuck in a barn.
I didnāt come on this thread w/ any advice. However, I did one time, take my glove off to pet my old black mare who was standing out in the sun (windless) on a -20 degree day (F) and she was quite warm from absorbing the sun. She seemed quite happy.
Feel really bad for the folks who got feet of snow. thatās just simply - ACK!!
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Cats and dogs love external heating sources but depending on breed and health obviously they can use their own insulating powers to keep quite fine if they have a comfy enclosed space. Dogs used to have dog houses outside. You can rig up a box as an enclosed cat bed with fleecy bedding inside.
I never thought about this because I never had a cat sitter 
but it would be an idea to set up an enclosed bed and leave a bunch of hand heater packs for the pet sitter to use at their discretion if the power goes out.
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I had all sorts of plans to be traveling locally for Christmas. I was very stressed about being away from the farm in this weather.
A sick kid changed all that. Iām kind of grateful, but of course he shared his cold with me.
We have survive up to this point. I am very thankful we have kept power.
I had a sort-of-not-really colicky horse yesterday who gave me a dozen extra gray hairs but never became serious enough to involve the vet. She seems fine today.
My GFCI outlet that the trough heaters were plugged into tripped at some point overnight and I had frozen thoughs and thirsty horses this morning. Everyone got a good drink at breakfast and seems fine.
It was sunny, calm, and upper 20s today and it felt brilliant after days of negative windchill. It will be another cold one tonight, then I think we might get above freezing tomorrow.
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OK, upwards of 48 hours with no power. 
Horses are pretty happy, but now pipes are frozen and the automatic waterers are no longer working. Only water source is the feed room sink, so buckets have to be lugged there for refilling. Lots of soupy mash and wet grain. I let my three have individual romps in the indoor today for which they were very grateful. My veteran even took himself through a grid a couple of times! 
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@Tha_Ridge, thatās terrible! I hope your power comes back on soon. How are you at home, do you have power there?
@Amy3996 Iām glad your power is back on. I bet the kitties will be staking out heat vents.
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Thank you very much for posting that link. I hadnāt realized we have iguanas in this country. Iāve been reading posts here about falling iguanas and at first they were some kind of inside joke among people living in different climates from mine; then I was starting to suspect the posts were serious.
Itās a very interesting article you linked. Do yāall have iguanas in lower Alabama?
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Iguanas are not native, I think an invasive species.
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