Help. Snow storm coming

there is a snowstorm coming. I have my feral bell for 5 years. When storms come he goes under the deck or in his heated house but we are going to have a lot of wind and high snow I was thinking maybe to put him in my car until the storm is over He is very friendly over the years. Comes in the house sometimes but crys all the time. He just loves being outside I just don't know if he will get upset if I put him in the car. I know he will be safe in the car. He is fixed. Will he spray his mark in the car. I would put his bed and blankets and food. My husband does not want the cat in the house. Help I am worried. They talking about a blizzard.

Do you have an unheated garage?  Shed? 
Where do you keep your car?

Can you move is heated shed (how good of you!) inside or to some place more secure, like in a corner?

I'd be hesitant to keep him in the car, which may be buried under 12 inches of snow.  I'd think he'd get more stressed in a confined space than outdoors.  And make it smell even more than in a house.  Why doesn't your husband want the cat in the house--would probably be for only two or three days.

Ritz and her litter mates survived a 20 inch snow storm; they were little so were able to squeeze in a duct of sorts (hard to explain).  If the cat can fit his head into an opening, he can fit his entire body.

Are there any such places where you live?

We have an in door cat does not like bell also I don't know if bell is carrying any Diseases. I don't have a garage. She does go under the deck when there is a storm. She is a good cat. I am just Afraid that she will get Buried under the deck but my husband will be able to. Shovel him out. Maybe I should just leave him alone . I do think the car would stress him out. I am so worried.

I'd be worried too, but I'm a worry wort.

How exposed to the elements is the deck?

I'd hold your husband to his promise to dig the cat out; I'd go out every few hours and dig a path.

I am a worry ward too. My deck is really a porch with a over hang. When it rains it does not get wet depending were the wind blow. Yes I will make my husband shovel every couple of hours. But bell is afraid of shovels. Well bell made it through super storm sandy. He stayed under the deck the whole time. I am glad you are giving me some good advice. I has friends who think I am wacky. But they never had the love of a feral. I will not put him in the car. I will let him be free. Thanks so much

i am so stressed out by this pending storm. the only thing keeping from going completely nuts is that i did not have any trouble two winters ago - we had two storms in the 20" range - so i hope to have a repeat of that success.

the biggest issue for me is that my colony is at my work, so even though i will stay as late as possible to try and keep up with the shoveling i worry that there may be a curfew put in place that would force me to miss out on the heaviest snow. here in ct they are saying that the worst will kick in during the afternoon/early evening. if that holds true i plan to stay at work until 9:00 - 10:00 pm to keep their shelters accessible and try and make sure they have full tummies.

one other problem is that one of my ferals is on an antibiotic right now and i hope that i will be able to get her to take her evening dose :cross:

for all the kitties..... :heart2:

linda, I think your Bell will do just fine. :rub: Clearly he knows where to go and how to take care of himself. It's nearly impossible not to worry - but at least his shelter is there, whether it's his heated house or the deck. :nod:

We have a lot of shelters set up for the 11 ferals in the colony (but only 8 are real daily regulars). Only 3 - 5 of them use any of the space we've provided, and they've made it through the last few winters and two hurricanes - and that horrible ice storm last year. I plan to just keep shoveling a path to the shelters that aren't under our home, and make sure their entrances are clear..... I'll also put out extra bowls of food under the deck and the house.

Whaler, I hope you'll be able to stay late, and get home safely! !!!!

Cat's can dig, their claws seem to work really well to snow.

This is poor pic, but he is sitting on top of snow that is 2 feet deep, behind there is pathway to below the warehouse, they digged it open mostly by themselves after snow storms, sometimes I was before, there is metal roofing sheet supported by wood at next to wall, so it gave bit easier digging place for them.
http://jtbo.pp.fi/images/road_pics/nisakkaat/mouku_in_snow_crop_closeup.jpg

They become rather large in snow though...
http://jtbo.pp.fi/images/road_pics/nisakkaat/mouku_pihalla_tuhnu_p.jpg

Sorry for not putting them as pics, it appears to be I have some fault and buttons have disappeared so can't add them properly right now.

Hi guys thanks for giving me advice. I will be out side digging making a path for my bell as long as I can. I will also. Make sure he will have food on the porch under the deck and in his heated house. He has makes it through many storms. But I am still going to worry. Why does the snow storm have to come at night ugh. When he first showed up on my porch he would not go near me for 2 years now he sits on my lap everyday and sits by the door until I come out. I sit with he on very cold days so He can get his hugs. I have many pets in my life but he has stole my heart.

linda carella said:

We have an in door cat does not like bell also I don't know if bell is carrying any Diseases. I don't have a garage. She does go under the deck when there is a storm. She is a good cat. I am just Afraid that she will get Buried under the deck but my husband will be able to. Shovel him out. Maybe I should just leave him alone . I do think the car would stress him out. I am so worried.

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Try not to worry, hard as it will be. She will hunker down under the deck. Just keep a path clear so you can put some food/water out for her. Surprisingly so these feral cats all do really well during a major snow storm and hibernate for a bit. Actually, a heavy blanket of snow makes for a nice cozy warm den. :nod:


for all of the feral kitties !!!!!!

LDG said:

for all the kitties..... :heart2:

linda, I think your Bell will do just fine. :rub: Clearly he knows where to go and how to take care of himself. It's nearly impossible not to worry - but at least his shelter is there, whether it's his heated house or the deck. :nod:

We have a lot of shelters set up for the 11 ferals in the colony (but only 8 are real daily regulars). Only 3 - 5 of them use any of the space we've provided, and they've made it through the last few winters and two hurricanes - and that horrible ice storm last year. I plan to just keep shoveling a path to the shelters that aren't under our home, and make sure their entrances are clear..... I'll also put out extra bowls of food under the deck and the house.

Whaler, I hope you'll be able to stay late, and get home safely! !!!!

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thanks Laurie!

as of 3:40 est here in ct it hasn't fully kicked in, we've had about 3" of wet snow and roads are very slippery. i just finished doing my first shoveling of their houses as i wanted to try and get this wet snow out of the way before the next 15" arrive.

i hope i will be able to get one more meal into them tonight but either way i will be back at 8:00 tomorrow morning.

Alpha cat is so cute. It looked like she came out and said what happened. Haha good luck every one. My cat bell has stayed in her heat house all day today. Hopefully the strong winds don't frighten her.

7:45 pm est - i just went out to check on the crew. limpy came out as i was shoveling and talking to them, let out a very large yawn and proceeded to try to hop up onto a low branch. i gave them a little food and came back inside.

i had intended to try to stay until at least 9:00 pm but i think i will have to leave within the next half hour as the storm is really kicking in full gear. just in the 15 minutes that i was outside with them we got another inch of snow and the wind gusts are approaching 40 mph. i just checked and there are 60 mph wind gusts about 20 miles from me and it is heading my way.

Continued for everyone and their feral kitties in the storm's path. :heart2:

Looks like we're not going to get hit very hard! (KNOCK WOOD). We've only had about 2 inches so far, and they're only predicting 3 - 6 inches here now. Baloo, Smokey, Tabby and Little Dot were the only ones to show up for dinner, so I think they're all hunkered down. :cross:

Bell did great last night. He stayed in his heated igloo all night. I kept putting food in until 8 last night. This morning my husband started to shovel snow and bell got frighten so he went under our deck. But kepted coming out to go in his house. I was able to also put a heated micro disc that I got from amazon in his igloo. Now everything is fine. We had 19 inches of snow. Hope everyone got through the storm. Whaler were you able to go back and feed and check up on your babies?

GREAT news! What a relief! I'm sorry you got so much snow though. We only got about 6 inches. No one was even close to being trapped anywhere. *phew*

Whaler, hopefully you'll check in soon!

GREAT news! What a relief! I'm sorry you got so much snow though. We only got about 6 inches. No one was even close to being trapped anywhere. *phew*

Whaler, hopefully you'll check in soon!

So worried myself, I take care of two ferals- actually transported the colony (there was 3 of them but only 2 stuck around) end of December- long story but no one was taking care of them at the old location.  They got used to the area since the Dec move but I have an acre here and there are horses and barns and sometimes little foxes. The old location they just had dogs and raccoons to worry about. The thing is they come around everyday at 6pm to eat and they hang out for a little bit and then go somewhere to sleep. I put up shelters bought them off of amazon, i leave my shed door open but they don't stay on my property. I need to put up a fence which I'm planning to do soon (I think they're too wary of the dogs next door- and my neighbor doesn't have a fence so sometimes his dog will trot over).  Even the shed which I left open they won't go in b/c when I transported them here I kept them confined in the shed for a couple of days so they don't like going in there now.  Last night at 6pm they never came out but it was very bad here, massive snow flakes and about 3 inches an hour. I would typically feed them in the back but also put food in the front and dug a path in my backyard. We got about 19 inches. I'm so worried they're snowed in somewhere. If they got stuck in a shed somewhere would they be able to dig themselves out? Today will be day 2 that they went without eating if they don't show up at 6pm. They got a little fat when I moved them here, I'd feed them a lot. How many days can they go without eating? They say by Monday/Tues it should be almost 50 degrees. hopefully the snow will melt. So worried about them. Tried to get them to come into the house and they're curious but they turn away.   

well, this was one for the record books. some parts of the state got 34" of snow, in my town i would say we got between 26" and 28" - hard to tell with all of the drifting.

it took me nearly 5 hours to dig out at home and a lot of roads still have not been plowed - there is a driving ban. i got here (work/colony) at a little after 1:00 to find out the parking lot has not been plowed - i had to park behind a restaurant that is a few hundred yards away and make my way through the snow, some drifts are well over 4 feet. first thing i did was spend a hour and a half trying to shovel out the houses. within the first ten minutes i could hear a meow coming from a short distance away from them. mommie was out on a branch and was very stressed. the only way she made it back to the houses was by basically jumping from one branch to another, whenever she could not get to a branch she would sink into the 2+' snow.

as of now i am missing one, limpy. i am going to go back out in a minute to try and see if i can find him. i am really worried since combined with the heavy snow, the winds are wailing away with gusts well over 40 mph and tonight is going to drop down to -8 degrees.


please keep your fingers crossed for limpy

Oh no!!! Wow, that is just too much snow!!!! Our ferals were happily prancing around in the little bit we got. But poor momma!

And yes, with the terrible cold coming, it just compounds the problem.

I'm SO glad you were able to dig yourself out - and dig out the kitties. You must be stressing terribly about Limpy.

Many, many vibes Limpy finds his way, safely to his home!


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Tiger Cat, there's really no way to say how long they can go without eating. It really varies from cat-to-cat. But cat's livers aren't designed the way people's livers are, they're not really designed to use their own stores of body fat. If they've got a lot of muscle under there, they should be OK for a few days, because they can sabotage their lean muscle mass (as people can) for fuel. There are certainly stories of feral cats managing a few weeks! So hopefully that layer of fat will keep them warm while they wait it out and the snow melts!