Need stray cat help

Short story: I need a recommendation for a cheap (to buy and run), safe space heater-type-device to leave on, unattended in my garage to provide warmth for a stray cat who's now in my care. Also, a recommendation for an insulated dish to keep water liquid, down to maybe 15 degrees ambient, if possible.

Surprisingly long story: Oddly enough, right after we gave back my parents' cat after a long term loan (not of our volition, another long story) a stray cat adopted us. Me being the softy (sucker) I am, I gave it a couple food scraps, thereby cementing the fact that we are now her caretakers. So, I've been putting out food and water, and all has been well, until recently, when it has finally got cold around here.

I have a shed, where I've set up a little improvised lean-to out of a camp table with a giant drop cloth around it for some measure of insulation and protection from the wind. I made a little bed by stuffing some conifer needles from the yard into a garbage bag with a old sheet on top, hopefully providing some insulation from the cold floor. She can come and go as she pleases, and she's definitely hanging out in there.

Now in larger terms, I'm worried about a few things. I'd like to get her spayed foremost, because I certainly don't want a litter of stray kittens come spring. (And there is a tomcat roaming around here.) I'd like to get her shots, too, because I also don't want a dead cat in my shed. So, I'm looking into sources for those things. Suggestions appreciated for cheap/free feline healthcare.

More immediately: I'm most interested in keeping her warm. It was 11 degrees here last night, and she's still alive, but I think we have a cold winter in our future. (She's not coming in the house.) She's been in the shed, which has no power, but I'm not opposed to cutting a cat door in the garage. I'd still need heat. The heater would need to be (a) cheap to buy and run, (b) safe to leave unattended in my garage overnight. I just need something to heat a relatively small area, and only to bump the temp up to something a little more liveable than 11 degrees. Maybe 45 or so.

Another suggestion needed, probably from somebody with barn cats or outdoor dogs: I'd like to find an insulated water dish to use outside. I have been using a fairly large container, and dissolving some sugar in the water to lower its freeze point, but that only helps so much when it's 10 degrees. Suggestions?

Any other tips for keeping outdoor animals healthy will be appreciated. She seems to be over a year old, so I'm guessing she's gone through a winter outside before, unless she just got tossed out, so hopefully she's figured out some tricks of her own by now. But, if for no other reason than my own peace of mind, I'd like to do what I can (she's not coming inside) to help her out. Suggestions welcome.

That's a lot of typing about a stray cat...

Oh, and this is one of those threads where shotgun is not the answer. I'm looking at you, Iggy.

You don't really need a heater. A nice insulated cathouse (um, not that kind) will do. My sis has three beautiful fat cats that live in the unheated horse stable, the only time she worries about them, brings them into the mud porch off the farmhouse... is if it gets to -30 or so.
They get fresh water everyday, either from the rain barrels, or when it's freezing out, from the horses' heated water trough. If they're healthy, well fed, and have a cozy place to sleep, they're fine.

I have the same situation here but it only gets into the 30's in my neck of the woods. My stray lives in my garage which is moderately insulated. It still gets cold but never below 25 or so. I have one of those oil-filled radiant heaters that warms the cat's immediate area and she seems happy (has not died yet). Last winter, I made a cocoon out of a moving blanket and with no heater and the cat was fine. She has a cat door too.

For cheap vet pricing look into a large animal practice. Farmers won't spend big money on dogs and cats. Therefore farm vets can't charge much for the treatment of small animals. Our vet neutered a barn cat on her tailgate and charged $30, it stopped him from fighting as much.

Farm supply stores, ie: TSC, sell heated water dishes and heating pads. They plug into a 120v outlet and are safe to leave on all the time.

How about running an extension cord out to run a light bulb, a regular incandescent bulb throws enough heat to take the edge off of a small space for the cat, especially in an insulated space with blankets and junk

I've got a cat door in the garage, a wood box lined with old towels and a flood light shining down on the above. (I buy the long life flood lights and leave it on all winter.)

-James

alex wrote: Oh, and this is one of those threads where shotgun is not the answer. I'm looking at you, Iggy.

Spot on. You want .22 shorts for that kind of work.

Put the lightbulb underneath a large coffee can and it will heat the can and give radiant heat. Poke a few holes in the top and it will stir the air as well. We used to do that for our monkeys.

carguy123 wrote: Put the lightbulb underneath a large coffee can and it will heat the can and give radiant heat. Poke a few holes in the top and it will stir the air as well. We used to do that for our monkeys.

OK... now there was a direction I didn't see this going. Please post pics of your stray monkeys.

Lots of vets will discount services if it's a stray, ask around in your area. That's been my experience.

How'd you know they were strays?

For about 3 years we kept finding monkeys in our barn. We tried every way to find out where they were coming from but no one fessed up.

We had as many as 5 at one time. Most were spider monkeys but we had one cappuchin (sp?) (organ grinder's monkey). He was nasty and would throw his poop at you. The rest were sweet and loved to be taken on walks or into the house.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: Spot on. You want .22 shorts for that kind of work.

I prefer .22LR.

Really though, a cat house by itself would be fine. Put in some old blankets and she'll be fine. My parents & grandmother have outdoor cats in Iowa, They only come in when it is well below zero. They don't even use the houses we built for them unless it's near zero. None have any sign of frostbite either, and they're ears are very prone to it.

A heated water dish is a must, but if you put it in the cat house it would double as a small space heater.

Me getting hit with warm monkey poo would only happen once . I know a girl who worked at the bronx zoo and got hit with a steaming gorilla pie. Walking your monkey ,now there's a head turner.

We lived in the country so walking my monkey in public was no big deal

Monkey slinging poo would be a one time event around here. Exploding monkey would solve the issue permanently.

Cats can handle the outside very well. A kitty house, blanket, some food, water once a day, they'll be fine. The heated water dish thing would be nice, but a cup of warm water once a day is plenty. They have tremendous water retention ability. I've done the light bulb thing myself. When Bruzer (~3/4 Rhodesian Ridgeback) retired, I separated him from the other dogs in the pen because he and the puppy (about 2 years old) were getting into it and the puppy was coming away bloody all the time. I let Bruzer run wherever he wanted to. His hips were shot and he mostly stayed in the yard, but occasionally clawed his way up the hill, where I think he had a girlfriend. I put a light bulb in the shed with a place for him to lay down and his feeder. He'd go in there at night. One of the outside cats, Mercury, would stay with him. Mercury was a bit young and would get picked on, but he was company to Bruzer, and nothing was going to mess with him with Bruzer around, even in retirement.

When my siamese got old (19!) I got him a plug-in heating pad. He loved that thing.

Having no heat in the upstairs of our house I can tell you from experience the best cheap electric heater you can buy from walmart is the plain grey steel "utility" heater. They're around $18 and we usually get one season out of them running them 24/7.

Okay, cool. You guys have gone a long way toward assuaging the guilt I feel when I see the poor thing huddled in a ball outside my kitchen door while I'm preparing multicourse meals for myself and friends. I come from a pet family, but a resolutely indoor pet family, so this is all new to me.

I'll look into a heated water dish and/or a lightbulb to stick in the little improvised kitty house I made in the shed. Dickey Bub has been my favorite store for a while now, so I'll stop in next time I'm near one and see about a heated dish. There's always Orscheln if DB falls through. The lightbulb thing I think I can handle on my own.

carguy123 wrote: How'd you know they were strays? For about 3 years we kept finding monkeys in our barn. We tried every way to find out where they were coming from but no one fessed up. We had as many as 5 at one time. Most were spider monkeys but we had one cappuchin (sp?) (organ grinder's monkey). He was nasty and would throw his poop at you. The rest were sweet and loved to be taken on walks or into the house.

Wait what? I have a pretty good sarcasm/joke filter, but I can't tell if this is tongue-in-cheek or not.

You could even put the light on a cheapie timer so it's not on all day when she's not in there.

Joey

Pet stores and even Walmart sell heated water dishes for pets. They work nicely for one kitty's worth of water. When she has the kittens and you need more, you can move up to one of the large heated buckets from a livestock supply store.

As mentioned, a shelter does fine for cats. Beware that she is unlikely to go into something that would prevent her escape. So a dog house or such she likely won't enter. An open sided structure with a rain roof, filled with straw she might.

If she is feral, you'll actually do her more harm than good by keeping her warm and toasty. She needs to acclimate to the weather so she can be comfortable in it.

Fwiw, I had a chicken really bring this home to me one winter a few years ago. Standard coop with heat. Miserable chickens when it was cold or snowy. They'd hang out at the entrance and sulk. One chicken has escaped and nested out under some trees. No protection what so ever. She and her chicks were healthy and sassy, They'd nest in the snow, and run around in it pecking for food and such. They were the healthiest of the bunch.

alex wrote: Okay, cool. You guys have gone a long way toward assuaging the guilt I feel when I see the poor thing huddled in a ball outside my kitchen door while I'm preparing multicourse meals for myself and friends. I come from a pet family, but a resolutely indoor pet family, so this is all new to me. I'll look into a heated water dish and/or a lightbulb to stick in the little improvised kitty house I made in the shed. Dickey Bub has been my favorite store for a while now, so I'll stop in next time I'm near one and see about a heated dish. There's always Orscheln if DB falls through. The lightbulb thing I think I can handle on my own.

They also sell heated dog beds (basically an electric blanket with a dog bed cover)... you could set it up on a timer to be on when she seems to sleep in there)

As far as shots and spaying, Alley Cat Allies http://www.alleycat.org/ may be able to help... they run a nationwide system to help strays and ferals be fixed. If one of her ears (I think usually the left one?) is cropped, or has a straight line cut in it, she may have already been done...

Many PetCo's also offer shot clinics (for everything but rabies)...

As a warning, don't give her an "FIV" or "Feleuk" vaccination, as they will both cause positive results on future tests if anyone else ever tries to bring her indoors...

get a rubbermaid type tote/bin from the store for 3 bux, cut a cat hole in it, and toss in a blanket and or some straw.

my cats live outside, they have a cat door in the garage both here and at my parents house. i've got 20 year old cats that do fine in the cold, they really dont go inside to sleep unless it is below 10. i got them a heated water bowl and put in the garage by their food.

have no mice in my garage anymore.

alex wrote:

carguy123 wrote: How'd you know they were strays? For about 3 years we kept finding monkeys in our barn. We tried every way to find out where they were coming from but no one fessed up. We had as many as 5 at one time. Most were spider monkeys but we had one cappuchin (sp?) (organ grinder's monkey). He was nasty and would throw his poop at you. The rest were sweet and loved to be taken on walks or into the house.

Wait what? I have a pretty good sarcasm/joke filter, but I can't tell if this is tongue-in-cheek or not.

No tongue in cheek, it was for real