few ?'s about my 1 year old

My cat has been going outside for about 3 months now.

I noticed I have to clean the litter box out less, I'm guessing
she is going outside now?
Does she bury it outside also?

I've seen her bring back a few mice lately.
The last one she was eating it, till I took it away.
Is it bad to eat mice, are they not diseased & such?

Finally, winter is coming. Sometimes I let my cat out & my bedtime
comes but she's not around. So I leave her outside all night.
At what temperature is it too cold for cats to survive outside?

Hi! Welcome to the boards.

Yes, your kitty is doing her business outside. Most cats bury it but some don't. They prefer soft and sandy soil.

Eating mice is part of being an outside cat and yes, they do carry diseases. It's important that your cat have all of her shots and that you use a vet prescribed flea/worm remedy such as Revolution.

The last question is tricky because I guess the answer technically is freezing but cats are good at getting under houses where they have the benefit of leaking heat. The real worry is that cats are also good and climbing into the engines of cars to stay warm which can be deadly.

I have a two year old cat that eats roaches and they never made her sick. My old cats ate mice and rats all the time. I don't know if this is normal or not.

Yes they go poop outside far enough away that I have never found anything.

I don't know about kitties in the winter, I live in Hawaii.

Don't get upset that no one else besides Jennifer and me responded to your post. I am glad she replied to mine as I am worried sick that my kitty will never get along with the new kitty and will fight all the time.

I also have heard of kitties getting into warm car engines for warmth - I hope it will be alright for your cat.

Sammymudgirl

I have cats that live in the barn all winter and here, winter can be 40 below with horrendous windchills for days and even weeks at a time. They do have a 'house' which is a frame to suspend a heat lamp from and sides made of feed sacks. Bottom is raised and there is an old rug in there for them. They also burrow into hay and straw, and I suspect one or two sleeps on a horse. When temps drop close to freezing, I plug in the heat lamp (am using an old chciken brooder lamp) for them but other than the colour point semi-feral tom, most don't bother until it gets really cold. Some will sleep in the tractor cab until I close the windows, then they will move back to the barn, so cold is pretty much relative to what they get used to. I guess the short answer is to provide some kind of shelter for her, well bedded and insulated. For the record, all barn cats have all ears without deformation so they are keeping quite warm. They also get a diet of locally formulated barn cat food - high protein and fat as well as tinned food, and have a heated water dish which they drain regularly and they have developed a fondness for really warm water in winter.

Cats can and will get into engines, particularly engines with block heaters but a few thumps on the hood, and some horn honking before you turn over the engine gets them gone, and if you are concerned, do check first.

Outdoor cats do bury their 'business' if the soil is soft enough, but here, they just go to the manure pile and don't bother burying, or go in a stall, and wait for me to pick up the mess Most cats don't have the luxury of a monster 10X12 litter box deeply bedded in straw

Forgot to add, MY cats rarely eat mice, at least some dont', but they line them up neatly in the tractor bucket and i just run them to the burn pit. At least they don't leave dead rodents around the yard for the most part - the old man trains them well; the old man is the oldest on the yard, neutered tom who did sire two litters and still hunts with his neutered sons .nd great gran

My three indoor/outdoor cats eat mice, voles etc all the time. I make sure I worm and deflea them very regularly as small rodents carry worms and parasites. Some cats do not eat the intestines and stomach so lessen the risk, but others do.

As for night time, mine are all in at night. Whether in town or country, more accidents happen at night. Can you try and feed her as soon as she comes in for dinner, so she learns to keep to a schedule and looks forward to coming home. I usually have to go out and shout 'dinner' and they come, though Bonaparte sometimes has his own ideas. But do try to get her in.