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How to keep your cats safe in winter weather
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Accompanying the family hacker--just one of many ways indoor cats say thanks during Seattle winters.
Seattle cats hope they don’t need to say this, but it’s getting colder and wetter outside and they don’t like it out there.
Last night when it was thundering, lightning and dumping rain super hardcore Midwest-style, it seemed an especially cruel evening to be an outside pet.
Just because cats and dogs have fur coats and are “animals” doesn’t mean they can’t suffer frostbite and other ills of cold weather such as dehydration. Even so, just because some might be capable of surviving doesn’t mean they are enjoying themselves out there in the driving rain or snow while you’re inside curled up under the afghan with the cheesy poofs.
So, don’t be a jerkface like the neighbors across the way with the constantly barking dog. (He’s barking for a reason – that reason being -- it sucks out there.)
Here are some ways you can protect your cats this winter:
• Keep them inside. Small, sick, young, elderly and shorthaired animals will especially be thankful to be indoors this season. Animals in these categories are especially at-risk during Seattle’s long dreary winter. For the shorthaired critters, why not do them one better with a cheerful seasonal sweater? Humiliation is a small price to pay for comfort. (Unless you’re a people. Crocs are the shoe equivalent of sweatpants-in-public. You know this.)
• If your pets must be outdoors or bi-doors, don’t let them roam. It’s easy to get lost when everything is white! More cats are lost in the winter than in any other season. So your kitty better be fenced in and have a shelter of some sort (preferably filled with straw). Also, roaming kitties like to climb under car hoods to stay warm and can be injured when the car is started. Smack your car in the morning before you get in so that stowaways are alerted! (Then go smack your neighbors for being incompetent pet owners. Just kidding!)
• Feed them more. First Lieutenant Mini Muffins is burning more calories to keep warm during the winter. If he’s hosting internal parasites (which I’m sure he isn’t since you obviously keep up with your yearly vet visits), he’s losing even more nutrients.
• Stand up for strays. If a miserable, shivering little someone is huddling outside your door take her inside – at least in the garage or porch. Make a bed for her from that stinky sweatshirt your husband’s friend left in the Man Cave on Xbox night. Provide plenty of food and water and call your local no-kill shelter or humane society for help. Seattle Humane Society provides free food for needy pet owners in King County. Help them help you help furry friends!
• Beware the salt. If your pet is frisking outdoors be sure to wipe off her feet, legs and belly after coming in from the snow. Cats can get sick from ingesting salt and other street chemicals when they clean themselves. (If your cat was an indoors-only guy you wouldn’t have these problems. That’d be nice, right? Just sayin’.)
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