for indoor/outdoor catowners

I know most people here find the idea of letting their cat out as being a bad thing, and yes there are good points to it, but its not always possible, or even desirable for some people.
That said, for those of you who do have indoor/outdoor cats, what do you do when the snow starts?
The area I lived in before didn't have more about a inch a year, and melted very fast (desert area). This area is not the same way, in fact its not unheard of to have feet of snow...Clearly Mai Sai has never even seen snow, but he does love going out in the afternoon....What should I do once the snow starts? What do your cats do?

We don't get much snow here, but it's not unheard of to get a dump. On the whole, my lot have always looked in horror at it and hustled their little butts back inside. With one exception. Our RB boy Gryphon LOOOOOOOVED the snow when it happened, and would go out, mess around for a while and then lie down in it for a bit. Go figure.

My six-month-old kitties are indoor only, but I'm interested to see how they react to their first winter. They spend a lot of time looking out the windows. We sometimes get snow, and I wonder if it's going to freak them out.

My kitty saw snow for the first time last year He went out not realising that the snow was cold, he padded around in it for a while and then came running back in He got brave again and loved it, I have some great photos of my beautiful longish haired ginger kitty looking amazing against a white snow backdrop!

Originally Posted by Althekitty

My kitty saw snow for the first time last year

He went out not realising that the snow was cold, he padded around in it for a while and then came running back in

He got brave again and loved it, I have some great photos of my beautiful longish haired ginger kitty looking amazing against a white snow backdrop!

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aww I would love to see the pictures sometime!

Where we lived before we had a few barn cats. And YES it snows a lot in Minnesota. Because they were basically outside cats (sleeping in the barn) they were quite used to cold weather. They grew thick coats and only if it was -10 below or lower did we let them come in on the porch for the night. But they wanted outside in the morning.

We would dig a path to the barn so they didn't have to go thru the snow drifts and they could come in and eat breakfast. But they enjoyed the snow and always had a nice warm spot in the barn. Plenty of boxes/blankets, etc. to snuggle in.

As long as your cats have adjusted to winter and have thicker coats, they will be fine. If you want to keep them in at night and just let them out during the day, be sure to establish that now before it snows.

Once snow gets on the ground none of my cats want to go out. They may sit on the back porch for abit and maybe venture down the shoveled path but after 10 minutes they are ready to stay in.

No snow in Florida but I do have indoor/outdoor kitties. I would say leave up to Mai Sai. He will let you know whether he wants to stay in the snow or not.

Attachment 13284 I am trying to attach pic, here I go again!

Thank you everyone for the advise. I think your right, I should leave it up to him, and lucky I havent let him out (or stay out) past 10pm so I wont have to worry about that

Originally Posted by Althekitty

Attachment 13284 I am trying to attach pic, here I go again!

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oh my, he is stunning against the snow, he looks so natural there

My first cat, Mitten was an indoor/outdoor cat (he was kept inside at night). He hated when it was raining as he could not go outside. But he loved the snow - I called him my little snow bunny. He was a 14 lb cat and would bound across the backyard thru the snow just for fun

We had a massive snow last winter, like 14 inches or more. Hubby when out a cleared a path in front of our apartment door, so I opend up the door and let Jack see it, Jack was only 5 months old at the time. He just sat inside the open door mezmorized (sp)--he had no desire in entering the snow. He's an indoor cat, but does go out on a harness, so we'll see how he reacts this winter--we'll have plenty of snow to enjoy I'm sure.

Leslie

Alan isn't allowed out after 10pm. He comes in and out as he pleases really during the day, the door is always open for him, only if I am not at work though. Sometimes he just likes to lay by the door and snoooze!

When I lived in Canada I had a boy that liked to go out in the snow (in his harness), I used to put a sweater on to keep him nice and warm