Outdoor Cats and Winter
- Jessi Papke
- Dec 20, 2016
- 2 min read
Updated: Jan 30, 2019
With the arctic blast we're all feeling, we've had several calls about what people can do to help their neighborhood cats through the winter. It doesn't have to be expensive to provide safety and shelter to outdoor cats.
Food: Keep dry food protected from moisture. This could mean putting it in a sheltered place, or elevating it above the level of the snow. Keep in mind that wet/canned food will freeze just like water, so keeping dry food out in the winter is the best option.
Water: Water freezes, but there are good solutions including electric or solar heated bowls. Find a great in-depth article about good water solutions from NeighborhoodCats.Org here: http://www.neighborhoodcats.org/how-to-tnr/colony-care/stop-freezing-water
Shelter: Shelter is the biggest concern for outdoor cats. These cats, the ones that have been outside for more than one winter, acclimate to the low temperatures and put on extra padding for the winter just like any other outdoor mammal, however sometimes that just isn't enough. You can give them a boost by constructing a simple and affordable shelter. Alley Cat Advocates has put together a great step-by-step shelter tutorial that would be a fun weekend project. It's simple enough that even your kids can help you! Get the PDF download here: http://alleycatadvocates.org/assets/ACA-winter-shelter.pdf
Medical Care: If you see a sick or injured cat that needs medical care, you can either take the cat to the vet on your own, knowing that it will be at your expense, or you can contact your local animal services agency and find out what they can provide for sick or injured stray animals.
In Kalamazoo County, Kalamazoo County Animal Services & Enforcement can pick up the cat, or you can bring it to the shelter at 2500 Lake St. The cat will not be returned to the colony, but it also won't be suffering. Friendly stray cats that can be treated can be pl aced for adoption, however feral cats will likely be euthanized.
The most important thing you can do for a neighborhood with a stray cat problem is SPAY and NEUTER! By eliminating the possibility of future litters of kittens, you can manage the cats that are already there without having them destroyed.
The Kalamazoo Humane Society offers affordable spay/neuter help for feral cats. Call us for more information at 269-345-1181.
this is a very practical guide for helping outdoor cats in winter. the tips about dry food and simple shelters are especially useful. i appreciate that you included resources from other organizations like alley cat advocates. it's good to see a focus on affordable, actionable steps that anyone in the community can take. AI Image Editor
Excellent practical guide. Side note for the KHS team: between Wellness, Pet Food Bank, Cremation, Adoption, Spay/Neuter, Foster, Domestic Violence Assistance, Dog Houses & Straw, Pet Health Handouts, and the blog archive, your services page has a lot going on. A sortable "What Can KHS Help With?" landing page (filter by need + species + urgency → matched service + relevant article + form) would dramatically improve activation. I help small animal-welfare nonprofits build that with a copyweb ai — Figma to working filter page in an evening. 50+ years of community service deserves the navigation upgrade.
The Alley Cat Advocates shelter PDF is the resource I send to anyone asking how to help neighborhood cats — bookmarking this post. I help with comms for a small TNR group in the upper Midwest and we've started using an Banana AI image generator for our outreach posts (cleaned-up illustrations of DIY shelters that match different yard setups — Styrofoam cooler, plastic tote, two-cooler design — without needing 6 separate build-day photoshoots). Drives way more share-throughs than stock cat photos. KHS does excellent work, sharing this with our chapter.
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The chat with KHS Staff sounds fun. I learned about winter care tips for outdoor cats and it got me thinking about my own pet. Nano Banana Pro