Today I am sharing how we care for our animals in cold weather. They are such an important part of our lives. We have the outside cats, the dogs on their walks in all types of weather and of course the wild birds to look after. Suffice to say the dogs and inside cats don’t stray far from the log burning stove in this weather!
What We Do For Our Animals in Cold Weather
Creating A Sheltered Area for the Outside Cats
Finding the right place – or not!
We have one of our animal rooms that is available for our four outside cats to use all year round. It is a reasonable temperature because the hot water pipes for the wood pellet stove run along the ceiling. In theory, it is ideal for our animals in cold weather. There is an old three seat sofa and armchair for them covered in blankets. And some cat beds. But of course they often don’t want to sleep there.
They want to sleep under the stone steps outside in the cold! Or in the little cat house on the porch near our front door. I guess they want to be able hear us coming in and out the front door. Perhaps they feel safer near the front door? Mind you, they are pretty safe in a lovely room with entry by an open window I would think! No, I don’t think they have a problem with the back room. They just don’t want to miss out on any food that we may bring out.
Available cat accommodation
In order to accommodate their desires (demands?) we have hung a carpet on the doorway to the under stairs area to keep out the drafts. All of their beds are filled with warm bedding and covered with warm blankets.
There are three main beds under the outside stairs. One is a nice enclosed cat house with a blanket over the top, with a furry lining and a reflecting heat pad (about which see more below). A little palace in fact that will sleep three or four cats. Possibly more if they are buddies. Another is a converted plastic cat carrier with a blanket over it, warm lining and a reflecting heat pad. That one is ridiculously popular given how much they fight me when I have to put them in a similar carrier to go the vet! There is no accounting for taste I guess.
The third bed is another, smaller, enclosed plastic cat house also with furry lining, reflecting heat pad and a blanket over the top. That one will sleep two or three cats.
Using Body Heat for Warmth?
The problem
The outside cats tend to all sleep in a huddle together which means they keep each other warm during cold weather but I wanted to do better than that. Also, Ringo and Spud sleep in dog beds in our bedroom and it gets a bit chilly down there at night. I wanted to find a solution for all of them that didn’t involve electric heating pads. There is no electricity under the outside stairs and the dogs are both dreadful chewers.
The solution
I followed up a suggestion on cat beds from a friend and came across these wonderful self-heating pads for pet beds on Amazon. Note I do not get anything from promoting this products, it is just something that I have found that works really well. The material reflects the body heat back up which is ideal. I am now the proud possessor of five of these pads. One for each of the two dog beds and one in each of the three main cat shelter beds. The cats love them. The covers are removable for easy washing. I have used them for several years now, they go away in the summer and are brought out once it starts to get chilly at night.
Keeping the Dogs Warm on Walks
Ringo has always been the more delicate of our two rescue dogs. He really feels the cold so we bought him some children’s t-shirts in a local shop that I have adapted to fit him. However, he has also been wearing a wonderful faux sheepskin coat that belonged to our previous dog Barnie. He was so snug and warm in it we bought one for Spud. I think Spud looks very handsome in his new coat don’t you?
Looking After the Wild Birds
We get a lot of wild birds and when I first came to Italy over 25 years ago they didn’t have such things as bird feeders freely available. So I brought one from England and the birds proceeded to ignore it and everything I put out on it for two years! Then one year the blue tits started showing an interest and now there is always someone helping themselves to the bird food I put out. Given the cold weather I have added a few additional things including fat balls and some peanut butter based bird food which the robins seem to like. It is important too to make sure they have water available.
I used to have to bring all of the bird supplies from England but nowadays you can get them locally. Looking back, there can’t be many people who would struggle on a flight with a two kilo bag of bird peanuts in their hand baggage!
This article was originally posted on 13 January 2017 and updated and republished 28 February 2022.
Before you go
My name is Dorothy Berry-Lound an artist and writer. You can find out more about my art and writing at https://dorothyberryloundart.com.
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Thank you for reading!
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