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! 🙁🥶

She's said she rents and LL might not allow it

I leave my underfloor heating on for my 2 cats in kitchen. They go out but home through cat flap and are snuggled up in baskets with blankets and on underfloor heating 20 mins later.

Ok crepuscular if we're being picky, but the point remains that of course they will want to go out late...

When I was a kid in the 1980s my mum put our cats out every night and it didn't matter if it was raining or snowing!! They were always fine and would find somewhere to shelter if needed.

I think for a cat that likes to be out prowling and hunting it would be cruel to keep them in all night against their will.

That said you should get a cat flap.

Ask LL if you can have a cat flap fitted. If they let you have a cat they should understand it's needs. My dh put one in himself. It took about 40 mins.

Yeah but crepuscular just now means around 8am and 4pm in the UK. Unless you’re in NE Scotland and then it’s 8.30am and 3.30pm.

Our cats let themselves in and out as they please. The other night it was freezing, girl cat was in, sleeping on a spare duvet, I looked for boy cat.Saw him outside sitting about a metre from the back door. I opened the door and called for him to come I'm.he chose not to ....🙄🤷‍♀️

From a simple google search ….
When the temperature drops below 0⁰C, your cat may be at risk of frostbite and hypothermia, especially if they spend prolonged periods outside. If unchecked, hypothermia in cats can lead to serious consequences, so make sure they're in good physical condition during the winter.

Our cat hurries in after a quick wee. You could let him out then wait s few minutes?

Please put a harness on him then with lots of bells. You mentioned in one of your posts that he brings lots of half dead presents. This isn’t cute. Wildlife is having a hard enough time, please don’t let your cat contribute to it.

My cats have free roam during the day via microchip cat flap, which is then locked at night. They have barely been out the last few weeks, and have never been out at night. I don’t think they even realise it’s an option. Big cat likes to sleep on the bed at night, and little cat finds something uncomfortable to sleep on like a box of cables, despite having an abundance of lovely beds and blankets scattered about the house.

If my cats wanted to go out at night, they went out no matter what the weather. They lived past 20 years! They won’t go out and stay out if they think it’s too cold. Cats are very intelligent animals and they have their own minds. I never liked them going out at night but keeping them in when they wanted to go out would have been far worse. I now have two house cats so they don’t even have the option!

You’ve got to be joking? One of mine happily stays out all day. They’ll be fine! I wouldn’t leave out overnight if I can avoid it any time of the year as I like them in at night. Mine know the routine and are always in for the night by 10.30pm.

Well further to my Arthur being able to come and go as he pleases, some time overnight (probably due to the cold), the batteries on his cat flap ran out, so he was effectively locked out. No idea how long he was locked out. Woken up this morning by yelling at the front door. He was absolutely fine, but very, very, vocal about his bad treatment! New batteries now installed, and all is well with the world.

I've got KatDen Mr Suggs, an outdoor kennel for emergency shelter for my 2 outdoor roamers. They have a microchip catflap but if it malfunctions they've got this lovely snuggly cat den.

Mine are still choosing to go out at night, although they can get back in when they want to. If he goes out every night he'll have a nice winter coat on. Put him a box and some newspaper/straw in the shed and leave him to it.