To let my cat out in -2 degrees overnight?

[susiesuelou]

My cat hates staying in overnight - he sleeps during the day and cries to go out overnight. If I don't let him out around 8/9pm he will wake me up meowing in the early hours to be let out, which is obviously a pain in the arse.

But - it's set to be minus 2 overnight where I am! Will he be OK if I let him out? Just a bit worried about finding a frozen cat in my garden tomorrow! 🙁🥶

But that's the difference. Yours have access to shelter, OPs doesn't.

@thelobsterquadrille

I could leave a window ajar but he's never actually come in through a window that I know of! So I don't think he would know what to do if that makes sense.

Ours won't stay I either. He will stay till about 2am then go mad trying to get us to let him out. So we keep him in till the last person goes to bed. Usually Dh at about midnight, then he'll run out when you open the door. He has a cat flap on the garage and will go in there sometimes, and little cat house that is carpeted by the backdoor.
He's a hunter and catches mice and wanders a bit. In the morning he comes back stretching and yawning, like I woke him up by calling him.

For future you can get microwaveable heat pads for pets OP. I used to use them with my Guinea pigs. You heat them up in the evening and pop it in their bed and it slowly releases a low amount of heat for up to 10 hours. One of these in a shed with some blankets should be fine.

Mine likes to be out at night too, luckily we now have a cat flap which has made it easier.

SnuggleSafe Microwave Wireless Heatpad with Fleece Cover (colour may vary) amzn.eu/d/2fJW1Rx

Just let the cat out.

My cat has a hot water bottle indoors during the day when I go to work, so I wouldn't do it! But my boy is 16 and complains if his feet get cold outside. Put out a box with some bedding and a hot water bottle and some treats and yours will be happy as larry!

If he was really cold he'd figure it out, though - I think you at least need to give him a choice, especially as it's due to get well into the minuses tonight with snow in lots of places.

Can you read @thelobsterquadrille Op has said they have a shed.

Problem solved.

no I wouldn't let your cat out if he can't get back in again, its too cold

No need to be rude - a shed with fleece blankets isn't really shelter, as blankets will get damp and freeze, which can kill cats when it's cold.

You need proper insulation and outhouses - barns with hay, for example, or proper outdoor cat homes designed for freezing weather.

I haven't even thought about that until now. My cat will come and go as she likes whatever the temperature

Don't let your cat out at night ever - unless you are OK with it shitting in other people's gardens, being stolen for baiting, being hit by a car etc. Why worry about the cold when there's year round far worst things that could happen to a cat.

Just let mine - huge ginger Tom - out and he wouldn’t come back for hours. Dreamies rattle did it and now he’s flat out in his duvet nest (whence I shall join him later cos technically it’s my bed).

I’m not letting him out again tonight.

My cats don't seem too mind the rain or cold! We d have a cat flap and they are in and out all the time. I did get an insulated waterproof cat house which lives in the garden with a pad that reflects the body heat back - worth getting for the future. My cats used it before we got the flap.

Cats need higher temperature than humans.

If they can come/go as they please, it's not really an issue.

My brother built an outdoor shelter for his cat who is a night time stroller. You should do the same or buy one and then you will worry less.

My cat is twenty and has no teeth so she's never allowed out at night. During the day she sits by the window and cries to go out, but as its cold, she just like to sit with her head out while I freeze.

Cats can get hypothermia and frostbite. Anything below freezing is too cold without proper warm and dry shelter available.

There is a huge misconception that cats are animals and therefore can just survive in all weathers. This is not true, cats can and do freeze to death. You need an insulated shelter, a barn or shed with a closed door with access via a catflap. If you leave open the door of the shed it will have the same temperature as outside. You can also get proper outdoor insulated shelters for animals. No blankets as these can freeze, you can use hay. As you don’t have anything in place, don’t let your cat out. Just give him lots of treats and toys to keep him entertained.

In my shed I used to have a cardboard box inside a larger cardboard box, with the gaps between the two walls stuffed with newspaper as insulation and lined with vetbed. A couple of extra layers of cardboard underneath for insulation. A neighbour's cat used to sleep there.

I take PPs point about damp and freezing fleece etc being harmful but my shed is dry (I store hay in it, hence the ready supply of cardboard boxes).

My old cat was a stray who lived mainly outdoors and came to me and my neighbour for meals and cuddles. Back in 2010 when we had deep snow that lasted for weeks, he came inside with me that first time it snowed, and asked to go out at bedtime as usual, saw the snow and had second thoughts so stayed in. It was a bloody nightmare, as every single morning and multiple times a day he'd cry to go out, then see the snow and go a couple of steps, then come back inside. He had to figure out litter trays and everything. I've never seen such joy in a cat as the day the snow had melted enough to let him get to my flower beds!

I’ve just put mine outside, will get her in before 9 ish. Shaking a pack of dreamies works

I wouldn’t OP. I’ve just turned on an electric heater in our extension which is really cold and I’m worried about them being too cold indoors!! I’m not feeding them at all until bedtime to be sure they come in - they don’t tend to wander too far.

if I let them out in bad weather, I just know I’d be up all night checking to see if they wanted in - and if not me, the DC would, ours are pretty spoiled cats 🐱

My cat is currently sulking because I won't sort the weather out of him. He's been in all day and he's bored but he doesn't like the cold.