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Original poster

Anyone with cats here.

45 replies

Dontgiveamonkeys1350 · 27/10/2018 16:25

I have a question. How much cold do they feel.

Let me start by saying. I’m a fairly new cat owner. I didn’t have him originally. He is a cat that decides he likes our house better. And the owner was fine with him living with me as she had got another cat and they didn’t get on. I love him very much.
He is very much an outdoor cat. And no amount of trying to keep him inside is working. He howls and cries and claws at my face. We live in a tiny village with no traffic. So not worried about cars. I’m not happy about this. But it is how he was brought up. So I go with it.

He is however a great one for bringing in life mice at night. I have on occasion been sitting in bed and spotted mice running along the edge of my bedroom.

I have a cat flap that he uses. But it is in the conservatory.

My question is. If I shut the conservatory door at night. He can then come in and not get to the rest of the house and I can contain the mice in there.

But. I have no heating in there. As I don’t have a lot of knowledge on these things. Do u think it would be too cold for him to be in there at night.

OP posts:

titchy · 27/10/2018 22:53

The mice will be hibernating soon enough and he won't be able to bring them in, so once you've had a couple of weeks of no additional furries you could let him back into the rest of the house?

Sympathies though. We have two who bring them home for us or the dc's to play with.

Jenda · 27/10/2018 22:57

Good point above about hibernation mice! Came on to suggest the heated pads, my friends cats sleep in her conservatory with this. My next door neighbours cat sleeps under my hedge every day without fail, even in thick snow!

Yambabe · 27/10/2018 23:34

Agree with PP.

Stick a cardboard box in the conservatory with an old towel or piece of blanket in it. He'll probably sleep next to it most of the time, but if it's really cold he'll get in it. Maybe leave a couple of other cosy rugs or blankets about as well

He'll be fine, cats don't like to be too cold so he'll use what he needs to keep warm. Or if he's like mine he'll be out all night then come in and sleep in the warm all day

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Cats

Fluffycloudland77 · 28/10/2018 07:40

There’s a house near us with a wooden rabbit hutch style cat shelter by the front door with a felted/tarred roof so it’s a waterproof and a blanket inside.

The cat sits on top of the felt. On the rough green felt.

Chewbecca · 28/10/2018 07:56

My cat sleeps in an unheated room too but she has an electric heated bed like this. She loves it.
(She also brings mice in and just drops them and leaves them to run around).

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Small-sized-heated-leopard-design/dp/B003Q1QWW0/ref=sr 11_15?ie=UTF8&qid=1540713305&sr=8-15&keywords=Heated+cat+bed

Sundance2741 · 28/10/2018 08:09

We have had a cat / cats for almost 30 years and they have always had a cat flap so free to roam at will. We live in a city not a million miles from a busy road. One was hit by a car once but survived and recovered fully. The others haven't been. None have ever spent all night outside! ( I know because one currently sleeps at my feet.) All are / were female though (neutered) and I've heard they have smaller territories than males.

Cats like "nests" ie something with sides so boxes are good. We have the type of furry cat beds with a "roof" but only one uses them and she squashes the roof part down.

As for hunting - it wears off with age! Cats rarely eat their catches - they play with them till they're dead or have escaped. The biological instinct is messed up because they've evolved to be fed by humans!

VenusClapTrap · 28/10/2018 09:09

Hah! I wish someone would tell dcat that hunting wears off with age. She didn’t start till she was 12!

VenusClapTrap · 28/10/2018 09:11

I might have to treat her to that heated bed that Chewbecca linked. It might stop her waking me up at 2am with tickly whiskers on my face to burrow under the duvet to sleep against my tummy!

wheresmyhairytoe · 28/10/2018 09:23

My fluff ball stays out all night usually. The odd night he'll start off on our bed then demand to be let out about 3am.
No amount of training would keep him in all night, he hates to be shut in when he has territory to roam and things to kill.
He occasionally comes back wet but quite enjoys getting wrapped in a towel and dried like a baby, then he sleeps all day on the bed of choosing.
Cats will do what they want to do.

Chewbecca · 28/10/2018 09:41

venus it is the first bed my cat has ever chosen to sleep in, she loves it. I do turn the cushion over before bedtime too so that the hot side is up

RandomMess · 28/10/2018 09:46

Seriously you can alter a cats habits it takes a will of steel, ear plugs and preferably a room far far far away from where you sleep!

Our boy loves getting towel dried too yowls the house down to be dried then goes back out and gets wet again...

TSSDNCOP · 28/10/2018 09:53

Put an expensive chair with a lovely delicate throw that you would be heartbroken to have damaged in the conservatory. Your cat will immediately sleep on only that.

Alternatively something like a pile of slightly damp towels. He will immediately sleep on that.

Cats never sleep where you want them to, contrary little bastards.

TSSDNCOP · 28/10/2018 09:57

Evidence of cat contrariness. She has the choice of 4 beds...

AnotherEmma · 28/10/2018 09:59

I would put a cardboard box in the conservatory (cats love them and cardboard keeps them warm) with a fleece blanket and a hot water bottle or microwaveable equivalent inside.

We lock the cat flap at nightfall so the cats can come in but can’t go out again. We unlock it in the morning.

They complain at first but they get used to it!

Original poster

Dontgiveamonkeys1350 · 28/10/2018 11:56

You are making me all laugh with these stories. God job I love my little ball of fun 😂

OP posts:

POPholditdown · 28/10/2018 12:02

The cat sits on top of the felt.

😂😂😂

I have family visiting, and came home this morning to one of my cats sat in cousins car seat, looking extra angry that someone is asleep in her guest bed.

GarethSouthgatesWaistcoat · 28/10/2018 14:38

I inherited my cat as he used to break in and lie on one of the lower shelves of my mini plastic greenhouse (sun trap). Muggins here removed the plants and tarted it up with cardboard and carpet and made sure it was fully waterproof for him. He had a home!

Namechange000001 · 28/10/2018 16:20

My cats also have a conservatory, and they have electric blankets on a high setting 24/7 under a thick throw on the sofa and under their beds so I can relax knowing they're all toasty if locked out of the main house.

BIWI · 28/10/2018 16:24

Find an old shirt or t-shirt that you don't mind losing. Wear it all day/to bed, and then put that in a box or cat bed, and that should encourage DCat to sleep there. But they will be fine in the conservatory overnight. IMHO it's cruel to try and keep them in if they want to go out.

VenusClapTrap · 28/10/2018 21:20

I do turn the cushion over before bedtime too so that the hot side is up

I love that!

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