Where I reside the winter has been bitter cold and our city
had notified the pet owners with newspaper posts and on the nightly news about
keeping cats and dog indoors during the extreme
cold weather. So I was surprised to
see a neighbors short haired tabby going into the neighborhood sewer for
shelter. The cat spent 2 nights in the
sewer and on the following night when it was extremely cold (5 below zero) we
rescued the tabby from the bitter cold weather and brought him
indoors. We dried him off with warm
towels and then brought the cat to our heated mudroom where we have cat crates
set up.
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| Rescue Cat in Crate |
The rescued cat was behaving badly. He meowed loudly and when he was not meowing
he tore up his disposable litter box, knocked over his water and food. My husband held the cat and I cleaned up his
crate. Lined the crate with newspaper,
filled anew disposable litter box and then folded over a towel for cat to use
as a bed.
Put the cat back into the crate and he again tore up his
litter box, knocked over his water and made another mess. Once again my husband removed the cat and
when I went to clean up his crate I found that the cat had diarrhea and
suspected that this could be a symptom of frostbite or stress.
We examined the cat’s ears, nose, scrotum, paw pads and toes,
all areas where there is not thick covering of hair. The skin appeared to be pale and blotchy white
on his paws this I knew was a sign of frostbite.
Fortunately, we live in a country without snow. But when the weather gets a little colder, I prepare a large box with warm clean rugs for my pet cats to sleep on.
ReplyDeleteIf rugs are not in a waterproof box then they will retain moisture and make the cat feel cold. Better to get a heavy duty plastic box and fill it with straw. Cut an opening so the cat can get in and out. The plastic will block the wind and the rain and the straw will keep outdoor cat toasty and warm.
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