Cats Cuddle When they are Cold

 

Cats are finicky and overall they do not like other cats but when it’s cold an amazing thing occurs. Cats will cuddle with each other, they will even cuddle with cats they don’t get along with.

This photo is of three of my rescued cats.  Oliver is in the center and he is the special needs kitty,  Frankie is the oldest at age 15 and he is to the right of Oliver. Frankie is temperamental, wanting his own space and not into togetherness.  I suppose it's due to his old age. But as you can see that doesn't seem to matter because cuddling makes a cat feel cozy and warm.

Cats like to cuddle when they feel cold

I have observed this phenomenon with my indoor cats and with the stray and feral cats that take shelter in my shed. 

The indoor cats could be bickering with each other one minute and the next minute they are cuddling with each other on the dog bed that is located next to the heat vent. My guess is they are cold and know to come together for warmth.

Frankie and Hairy cuddling on the dog's bed

On another day these two don't get along, but today was cold so they cuddled 

Stray cats will be fighting one day over who is sleeping in the cat house in the shed. Then the next morning I will find the two cats that were hissing at each other are sleeping together. This is why I say that cats cuddle when they are cold. I guess their instinct tells them to do this.

Warm and Cozy Sherpa Blanket for Cats

 

While shopping online at HSN I found a Warm and Cozy Quilted Plush Sherpa Blanket and thought it would be perfect for the feral and stray cats that seek my shed as a winter shelter.

In the shed, I have insulated with straw cat houses but saw that many of the cats do not like to hang out in the houses and prefer to lie on the floor or on top of a box. I decided to use the heavy Sherpa blanket as bedding for the cats.

The blanket and the self-warming pad are to the cats liking.

The floor in the shed is cold so I used two large storage containers that I pushed together as a platform for the cat bed. Since I ordered the full / queen size I did fold the blanket and rolled the one side so cats could cuddle on the side of the warm blanket.

The Sherpa blanket at HSN.com is the highest quality and is really warm

The shed is cool to cold even though I have the oil-filled space heater set at 41 degrees. The shed never freezes and is a whole lot warmer than outdoors but it still feels cool to cold. Because of the average temperature inside the shed, I decided to set self-warming cat pads on top of the Sherpa blanket. These cat pads have a Mylar reflective pad inside of them and your cat's body regulates the warmth of the blanket.

Sherpa blankets are the cat Meow!

I will say that I am glad I bought the Warm & Cozy Quilted Plush Sherpa Blanket at HSN.com because it is quality-made, and warm and it enables the cats to lie in the shed without feeling cold.

Note I do not recommend using a blanket outside or in a shed or garage that does not have heat.  Blankets tend to make the cat feel colder.  However, a blanket that is used with a self-warming pad then you could add to the cat house and also add some straw. 

View my related blog and shop for fleece blankets for pets here

About Feral / Stray Cats in Winter

 

Tonight’s low was eleven degrees and the weather advisory report said that the temperature outdoors felt like negative seven. This means that cats that live in your home need to stay indoors and stray/feral cats will need to find a shelter where they can be warm.

Finding shelter is not as easy as people think. Too many people think the cat has fur it is fine. That is the furthest thing from the truth. Cat will suffer when there is a winter advisory. Cats can die from the cold and even if the cat lives outdoors permanently they will suffer from hypothermia or frostbite or both.

Caring for the feral cat during a snowstorm

“Symptoms of Hypothermia

As body temperature continues to decrease, heart rate and breathing will slow down. Without treatment, affected cats will go into a coma and death becomes likely."

“ Stray cats do not have to freeze to death in winter as long as people care about them they can survive the cold.

To provide the stray cats with the shelter/ insulated cat house we bought a bale of straw at the Tractor Store (ask for it at the cashier as they keep the bales in the warehouse at the back of the store) We used the straw to fill the cat houses that are outdoors and the ones inside our shed. As long as the cat houses are not drafty and have a hefty layer of straw the cats will stay warm even on a frigid cold day or night in winter.

Straw on top of mylar reflective blanket

Another way to provide shelter for a stray or feral cat in winter

If you have a garage then leave it open a crack so the stay cat can enter. Once inside offer the cat a self-warming cat house or a cat house with a heated pad. Even a self-warming cat bed on the floor will help the cat to be more comfortable on a bitterly cold night.

Cat lying on self-warming pet pad in the garage

One of my cat-loving friends dug a two-foot deep hole under his enclosed and covered deck then encircled that hole with paving stone before filling it with straw. The stray cat that he took care of burrowed into 3 feet of straw. My neighbor also installed a Mylar reflective blanket underneath his deck to help generate heat for the cat.

The staff at our local Humane Society received a donation of Styrofoam coolers and they added a hefty layer of straw and cut two openings for the cat. (entrance and side escape) These cooler shelters provide insulation that will keep the kitty inside warm and cozy on a cold winter's day. They are not expensive to buy and easy to make.

Know if you intend on making the Styrofoam shelter for stray/feral cats in winter then make sure you fill it with wheat straw and not a blend with hay. Hay is edible, is moist, and will get moldy. Also, set a self-warming Mylar reflective cat pad on the bottom before covering it with the straw.

Set this shelter in an area where it is flush against a wall (wind block) and is hidden. A good place would be under or behind shrubs. Another good place would be on a covered porch or deck. Note that this Styrofoam shelter is light in weight and can easily be airlifted or knocked over. Prevent this by setting brick or a stone on top of the house.

A wooden cat house with Mylar reflective blanket inside and straw. This cat house was a donation from a neighbor.

Note if you have a dog house and you bring the dog in at night. Make sure that the house is not drafty. Use a chalking gun to seal any cracks in the floorboards or sideboards. Make sure the roof is not leaking. Insulate the house with Mylar self-heated blanket for cats. Cover the floor with this blanket then add a hefty layer of wheat straw. Add straw so that it's pushed up on the sides, and covers the floor. This will keep your dog warm during the cold days and at night stray cats will use the house for a winter shelter.

Shop for Mylar reflective blankets for cats at amazon and at chewy.com

Stray Cat with Scratched Eye

 

As a caretaker for a feral and stray cat colony, we always watch for injury or sickness. If a cat shows signs that something is wrong we do trap them for medical care. One cat was viewed with blood in their eye and we did not hesitate to trap this cat and take to the veterinarian.

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The cat had been scratched and the veterinarian gave the cat a shot for infection and for pain. Along with the shot we were told to keep the cat indoors and that the cat must wear a collar. This fabric collar would prevent the cat from scratching its eye. We also had to take care of the cat by administering drops into the injured eye twice a day.

While at the veterinarian we had the cat's nails trimmed as this would make handling the cat easier.

Adding the eye drops to the cat was something I could not do alone. My husband had to hold the cat as this treatment wasn’t quick or easy. The cat thought we were trying to hurt him and each time it was time for treatment the cat would hiss at us and try to escape its cage.

We cared for the injured cat for two weeks then took him back to the veterinarian for his check-up. The eye healed well and vision was fine.

Note: The injured cat was kept in a cat cage that was located in a room where there was a Feliway diffuser. This cat product is a good choice especially when the cat is suffering from anxiety or stress. It helps to comfort and reassure a cat when it is coping with a challenging situation. It helps to prevent stress associated with any change to a cat's environment.

Follow-up The Feliway enabled us to handle the cat and to socialize the cat to be comfortable around humans. We were able to find adopters that had experience with feral and stray cats. 

About Cat with Hyperthyroidism

 A a few years ago I rescued a white tabby cat that was as normal and healthy as she could be but when she turned 9 years old her health changed drastically and her illness seemed to come onto her quickly.

Photo of Missy on the day we rescued her

At first I noticed that she was more affectionate as she was always wanting to be petted and constantly rubbed her face on mine. Another concern was that Missy had become hyper, literally she was running all over the house, playing with her toys, leaping off the sofa, rolling on the rug. We decided to stop spraying the scratching post with catnip, thinking that was why she was so active. Then I noticed that she was eating her food but losing weight.

A greasy coat is a symptom of hyperthyroidism

It was not until we noticed that Missy was losing weight and her coat which was always soft and shiny looked greasy. We thought it was time for her to go to the veterinarian.

The veterinarian gave our cat a wellness exam and then checked her blood, the blood work showed nothing wrong with her. So the veterinarian asked if they could check her thyroid levels and this is when our cat was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism.

Know that the excess thyroid hormone causes an overactive metabolism which is why Missy was running all over the house and is also why she was losing weight,

We were assured that once the medicine kicked in that our kitty would resume to a quality life but the medicine was a treatment it was not a way to fix her condition. However, we would have to change Missy’s diet. We feed our cats Hills Science Diet kibble and canned food for cats age 7+. Missy prefers kibble to canned food. However, pate canned food is better for hyperthyroidism cats because dry food is too high in carbohydrates. We needed to stick with a high quality canned pate food that was primarily meat and low in plant protein.

The veterinarian suggested several treatment options, the medicine is taken by mouth twice daily or the ratio iodine thereby which is one treatment to remove the abnormal thyroid tissue and will cure your cat but it is expensive, with costs running up to $1,500. Then they said we could try the treatment that is applied to the cat behind their ears. This treatment would replace the oral pill form.

Presently we are managing our cat's hyperthyroidism with high-quality canned pate food that limits the dietary iodine intake which reduces the thyroid hormone. We are also treating our cat's condition with daily medication that is an anti-thyroid drug. This drug stops the production of the thyroid hormone.

Missy has been taking her medication for 21 days now and we are starting to see a slight change. She has put on weight (1 lb) and isn't as hyper. Her coat doesn't look as greasy.

We have a 30-day follow-up appointment and will know more than as to how she is doing.

Socializing Barn Cats to Live Indoors

This week I helped a friend socialize her six cats so that all could live together in her home.  The cats were barn cats but when her husband brought down the barn it left the cats with no shelter so my friend thought she would bring them indoors.

The cats were accustomed to being with each other outdoors but indoors stressed them out. All of the cats were suffering from anxiety and had behavior problems such as marking outside of the litter box, scratching the sofa, climbing the drapes and fighting with each other.

We shopped for Feliway plugin diffusers for the entire house, extra litter boxes, one for each cat, catnip spray, toys, and a large scratching post/cat condo. Also instead of the clay litter, I suggested feline pine cat litter because it was similar to what the cats used outdoors.

Know that Feliway MultiCat diffuser is a synthetic copy of the feline pheromone from the mammary gland area after a mother gives birth to bond with kittens. By mimicking the cat’s natural pheromones, Feliway creates a state of calmness and comfort to alleviate tension and conflict between cats. As a result, Feliway can be used to help reduce tension and conflict in multi-cat households.

I set up the tree for her (in the living room) so the cats could be a part of the family put the Feliway diffusers in every room of the house, and provided each cat with their own litter box.

I suggested that she leave the cats indoors for 21 days, let them get used to the Feliway product and used to living indoors.  That they all should do fine but if she wanted to let them go outdoors after that, I recommended a cattery since cats free-roaming their farm was out of the question due to coyote and dogs in her area.

So it was a busy week and hopefully, all of my friend's cats will adjust to living indoors under the same roof with the humans that love them.

White Manx Cat Found

We found a rare white Manx cat in our yard and at first, we thought it was a neighborhood stray, but when we found that it was living in our yard we thought it was abandoned. (Sleeping in the grass garden, or under the side deck) 

We ruled out feral quickly due to it not hissing at people, and not running away from humans. That is not to say that the cat does not walk away when we come close to it but unlike feral cats. When I approach the cat it walks to a safe distance and sits down.

Whenever we find a stray cat living in our yard we do feed it and give it water while searching for its people. Normally I take photographs of the cat and post a flyer around the neighborhood and on local bulletin boards. I also put a flyer in the mailboxes with the cat's information along with how to contact me.

A woman five houses away called and told me that the cat looks a lot like the kittens from a house two doors down from me. They had a Manx cat but instead of putting the kittens up for adoption they just opened the garage. I learned this occurred ten years ago and that this woman said she had trapped a white Manx cat and had it spayed and vaccinated before releasing.

So if this is the same cat then it was part of the TNR program and I guess found its way to a neighbor who cared for it / adopted the cat I do not know. I do know that a neighbor recently moved and this white cat recently found its way to my yard.

Our thinking is that the people that moved may have left the cat behind, or maybe they were the cats caretaker and now the cat has found its way to my yard. So many unanswered questions.

My husband and I have decided to get the cat dependent upon us for food and water then trap it and take it into the veterinarian to check for a microchip.

In the meantime I call this cat Honey…

Here is a photo I captured of her

Manx cat at feeding station

Rare White Manx Cat

Today while working in my garden I discovered a white cat hiding in the liriope ornamental grass garden. The cat just assumed I could not see it but it was white and that color does stand out.

 Whenever cats come to our yard it is customary to put out a bowl of food and water. We have no idea if they are a stray, feral, or visiting neighborhood or an abandoned cat. But like all guests that visit we offer them a bite to eat and a beverage.

White cat hiding in the grass garden

The cat watched me put down the food but instead of going to the feeding station, it was hesitant. The Manx did not move toward the food bowl until I was a good 40 feet away

When the cat stood up I realized that it had no tail, it also looked like its back legs were longer than the front. The cat was rare white Manx. On closer inspection, I found that it had light calico colors of tan and light gray, but these colors were close to its ears and the rest of the body was a solid white. 

I wondered what this Manx cat was doing in my yard, wondered if it had gotten out of the house, and had wandered too far. Perhaps it was visiting and would go home. It was too early to know why this white Manx cat was sleeping in my garden but I planned to watch it for signs of being a feral stray, abandoned, or a neighborhood cat.

Here is a photo of the rare white Manx Cat

About Special Needs Kitty Oliver

Oliver is a kitty that came to me because he needed help due to his “special needs’ In the past I had taken care of rescued cats that were partially blind, deaf and many cats that had behavior or anxiety issue but I never took care of special needs kitty like Oliver.

Oliver age 5

When Oliver was rescued he was a baby kitten that had been left with his siblings on a grassy section of the road. There was no water or food and the only way to get to homes or people was to cross a busy road. When my friend found Oliver she noted that all of the other kittens had ventured into the road and had been killed. Oliver remained in the grass but he was skin and bones and his eyes had clouded over which meant that death was near.

My friend who rescued Oliver took him home and did not sleep for the next 10 days. She nursed Oliver back to health and loved him dearly but said her husband would not let her keep him. So that is how I met Oliver. I was to foster, socialize, and help him to be a normal cat.  We had hoped that we could find him a forever home, but when we discovered his special needs we knew that was not an option. 

From the start I knew something was not right about Oliver. He was a rambunctious kitten that always bites on my hands. At first, I thought it was due to him being a kitten but when he started biting on cats paws I thought maybe he was trying to communicate that he wanted something.

I watched Oliver closely and discovered that he was not eating or drinking. He was very nervous and was constantly biting on my hands. I made up a food and water bowl for Oliver. Picked him up and put him in front of his own bowls and that cat ate and drank.

I soon learned that when Oliver wanted something he would bite on my hands.

Oliver is our special needs kitty because he is “slow” Presently he is five years old and still does not know to go and eat at the food bowl unless I pick him up and put him in front of his own bowl. He also bites my hands to use the litter box and bites my hands when he is scared. He still plays like a kitten and has no fear of any person or animal. He thinks everyone is his friend and that all the cats, dogs, and people love him.

Oliver in the center with his kitty friends

He is incapable of detecting negative energy and does not understand that he needs to climb a tree or seek safety to get away from the neighbors growling dog. 

 We never let Oliver out of the house, not even into the garden. We are fearful that if he gets out that he may get into trouble due to his kitten-like behavior. But one day he got out of the house and all he wanted to do was rub on our neighbor's dog and show the dog that Oliver loved him. We were lucky that we got to Oliver before the dog was aggressive.

Yes Oliver is our special needs kitty, and I need to be with him daily to take care of him. He is five years old rambunctious cat that thinks he's a kitten. He still bites my hands when he wants to eat and drink or if he wants my hand to rest on his back until he falls to sleep. 

Here is another photo of Oliver he is with Frankie our 18 year old cat.  Frankie and Oliver are friends. 

**Oliver eventually learned that it’s okay to eat with the other cats, but if the other cats are not eating and Oliver is hungry or thirsty he will tell me with a love bite on my hand.

Other

I was told that when Oliver’s eyes clouded over that the oxygen to his brain was not normal. When he was rescued he was dying and that is why he is slow.

Read about my other special needs kitty here

PRESCRIPTION PET FOOD SCAM

PRESCRIPTION PET FOOD IS not any better than the food you buy off the shelf and without a prescription from your local pet store. There is no medication, or herbs for natural healing in the food that would make it warrant a prescription and I learned that prescription pet food is a scam or in other words consumer fraud.

Rescued cat "Shadie" 

My story; Know that male cats in multiple cat homes or strays that are rescued are susceptible to getting a painful bladder condition that causes the cat to strain to pee and have crystals, bladder infection with blood in their urine.

This cat health condition affected 6 male cats that I had rescued, brought indoors to socialize before finding them forever homes. Each cat developed this condition and my veterinarian recommended that I feed them HILLS prescription C/D cat for the rest of their lives.

Rescued cat Frankie

I was told that this veterinarian prescription food would heal them and prevent them from having a re-occurrence. It was a long-term food treatment that I had to feed the cats for the rest of their life. I was told that veterinarians had developed the food and it was formulated to heal my cat, but I could not feed them any other cat food because if I did the cats would get sick.

From my experience the HILLS prescription C/D pet food did not heal my cats. The cats got worse, and we had made many trips to the veterinarian. The cats suffered, and my husband and I suffered the stress you feel when you see that your cats are not getting better and that they are still in pain and suffering. The food was not curing or healing the cats, 

Rescued cat Leo

There is so much sadness, that you feel inside like you are going to cry..when nothing you are doing is helping your cat. The cats were nervous, straining to pee, blood in their urine, in pain and the medicated / healing prescription food “was not curing them”

My husband and I were doing everything right but the cats were not getting better. At one point a normal cat (no health concerns ate the prescription medicated food) and I was distraught because or the medicine...that is when the veterinarian said 

"no worries" the food will prevent your cat from getting cystitis or other urinary conditions followed by all of my cats could eat the prescription food and it would help them by preventing any urinary or bladder conditions".

From that day forward and for the next year we were buying cases of canned food along with dry kibble weekly because the food was now a preventative a healing prescription diet to help all of my cats be healthy.

Note the food never helped the cats and three of the cat's health got worse and we had to put them down. The other three. I could not adopt them into forever homes because nobody wanted a “sick cat” who had to eat very expensive prescription food for the rest of their lives. So we kept the 3 cats because if we surrounded a sick cat to a shelter they would be euthanized. 

Rescued cat Louie

 We continued to feed them the prescription food, we added more litter boxes and kept them very clean we added the Feliway plug-in diffusers to calm the cats and to eliminate any stress. We also allow the remaining 3 cats to go out in the garden daily and this activity has been beneficial to their health. They seem happier but still seem to have periodic urinary problems where the urine is cloudy with a pink cast. Which means the prescription pet food never cured them.

Rescued cat Buddy

Know I was led to believe that the prescription cat food would heal my cats. I was a victim of consumer fraud. Scammed just like so many other pet owners who followed the recommendation by their veterinarians to feed their pets prescription diet food.

Rescued cat Sam

The problem with the Hills Prescription C/D multi-care food is there is no medication in it. In fact, the ingredients are poor quality in comparison to foods found off the shelf at your local pet store.  For one thing, the prescription C/D food has corn and soy, both are GMO foods because there is no mention of an organic source on the label. I did a food ingredient comparison and the food that does not require a prescription had better ingredients and costs less and you could buy it off the shelf at your local pet supply store.

Learn more at perscriptionpet food article How lab tests show pet food ingredients are no better or cleaner than off-shelf brands with interview of Dr. Karen Becker and see prescription pet food analysis here

Read another article by author “Prescription Pet Food Product Review”

Heart Murmur in Older Cats

Charlie is a feral kitten that we rescued when he was weeks old. He had a full veterinarian exam and we were told that other than his infection from the wild animal that had bitten him that he was a healthy Maine-Coon mix cat. Life with Charlie was fun until it wasn't at age nine we learned that he had developed a heart murmur.

Charlie on the day we trapped him

We had adopted a feral kitten when he was injured by a wild animal. The animal had bitten off the kitten's toes and by the time we found him he had a very bad infection. Both the mother and kitten had to be trapped as they both needed veterinarian care. Due to the extreme illness, we kept the kitten and tried to socialize him to live indoors with humans and their dogs.

Charlie, Boris, and mom at our shelter

Charlie adjusting to living indoors

Charlie on the day he mastered the scratching post, with sibling Boris

Charlie loves his litter box for all the wrong reasons

Some feral cats can be socialized others cannot. Know that I thought maybe the medication at a young age affected the cat because this cat would tolerate us but was terrified when we touched him, Did he associate my human touch to when he was in the animal hospital for two weeks? I don’t know but do know that I had tamed adult feral cats in about six months but Charlie did not like people.

So the cat lived with us, tolerated us and grew into an adult cat that was a Maine Coon Mix. A beautiful cat that was hard to handle. We had to give him his Revolution when he was sleeping and trap him for his veterinarian appointment.

Charlie the semi-feral cat tolerated us and that was okay..until it was not okay. Charlie liked to play with a plastic ball with a bell and one day he stopped due to a coughing spell. Then another day he was playing with our dog and again he stopped for a coughing spell. It seemed whenever Charlie played he would cough. Then one day he stopped eating and this cat was so sick that I did not have to trap him or put on gloves to hold him. Charlie came to me and laid on my lap.

That was the weekend that we really knew something was wrong. Since Charlie was not eating or drinking I syringed fed him to keep him hydrated and I also gave him CATMX a high-calorie paw gel. The gel enabled him to eat because it gave him an appetite.

The following Monday I made an appointment for Charlie and on the day of his appointment, he was feeling better, and once again we had trapped him. We thought he is fine, he is back to his old self. But that soon faded when we were told he had a heart murmur and that was why he was coughing when he played. Other than the cough there were no other outward symptoms such as poor appetite, weight loss, breathing problems like asthma, or weakness. The only thing we noticed was the coughing when Charlie played with his cat toys or when he ran from the bedroom to the living room.

The veterinarian at this time would like us to watch Charlie and when he goes to sleep to count his heartbeats in a minute's time. From that reading our Veterinarian will determine what other tests are needed / blood-work to check for anemia, blood parasites or diagnostics tests like an X-ray, electrocardiogram, or ultrasound of his heart.

Learn more about heart rummer in cats here