Freezing cold outside and I found a pregnant stray what to do

I have been feeding strays around my home. There is one friendly very sweet stray that apparently is pregnant. I live in the northeast and the weather is freezing and we had snow already. My question is can the kittens survive outside.

She uses a kitty tube that I bought, but will that be shelter enough to keep the kittens warm, I have called numerous no kill shelters but no one has room for her. I can't take her in I have no garage and no basement and two large dogs who do not like cats and my son is allergic to cats.
I need some ideas on what to do for this sweet little cat and her soon to arrive kittens, can they survive the winter.

The only alternative is animal control who most likely will euthanize her . I need ideas and suggestions please:frusty:

God bless you for helping!

The kittens might not survive this cold weather, although if there is plenty of straw in the shelter, they might.  Make sure she gets plenty of good food - wet kitten food is best right now as she needs the extra nutrients.

Do you have a basement or laundry room you can close the door on?  A spare bathroom?  Any of those is better than her being outside.

Maybe you have a friend with room?  I am only throwing out suggestions.

If you call the shelters and tell them you can take care of her until space opens up, they may reserve space for them.  Kittens at this time of year are pretty rare, so a lots of shelters aren't prepared for them.

In NJ where I live, there is a yahoo group that helps people with problems with their strays and ferals.  You may have something like that in your area.  See if you can join and post the issue on there.

Good luck and please keep us posted!

This cat is lucky to have someone who cares about her and wants to help.  You are wonderful for doing anything you can for her.  Do you know anyone else who might have garage or other space they might offer, or maybe check through your vet / other local animal friendly places to see if they know of anyone who might?  If not, even to add warm bedding and some insulation to their nest as Ondine suggests gives them a better chance than they have now, and some nutritious food for that mom cat. She needs it now, and once those kittens arrive.

I hope you manage to find some way of helping them. 

Thank you for helping this poor momma! It's -23 here today and every night I worry about all the stray cats and kittens we have in this area. My boyfriend had the idea to get a couple of large Tupperware containers with a lid, cut a hole into the front and line them with some foam instillation. It'll be warmer and offer some shelter. Could you possibly make some postings on local facebook pages/websites asking for someone's help?

Of course as the other posters say, anyplace inside is better than out.

However, if her having them outside ends up to be all there is literally, then it's hard to predict.

BUT, it can be an enormous help if you made a spot up for her and the kids, a good sized cardboard box, on it's side with the bottom flap attached in an 'up' position, and elevated off the ground, on anything, milk crates, wood, just something to get it up at least a few inches from the frozen ground.

If you have access to hay, put that in there first, with lots of washcloth sized towels or rags, or an old sheet, cut or shredded up for warmth.

The small size pieces are so she can wad them in a pile for warmth, while larger pieces can 'hide' a kitten that she is not easily able to find and bring back to her nursing. One little baby who wanders away from her and the others will freeze extremely fast.

This box/home for them needs to have some sort of blockage from the wet and wind. Be sure the opening faces away from the wind's direction.

Providing her food right there now will get her using it and 'nesting' for her soon coming babes.

Also if you make sure she has daily food and fresh water, she will not need to leave her kids alone to go eat, it will be right there, and she will stay with them constantly, only leaving for a minute to go potty, then get right back to warming them.

Mom knows she must be warming them constantly or they can't survive, but there is only so much she can create by herself for them, so any help from you increases their chances of making it.

Thanks for caring )

You might get on those free radio 'swap shops' and plead her case, I have found several homes through these. Or see if they have a free spot where they advertise lost and found pets, say you think she was abandoned and someone might feel sorry for her. I had a cat last year that had her kittens in March and it was terribly cold with snow several times, and her kittens lived. Bless you for caring for her, if she can spend her time warming her kittens instead of looking for food it definitely would help. Good luck!

DIY Outdoor cat shelter



I found this one online and I think it is a good idea for the strays cats in the neighborhood (i can only adopt so many). It might be an option for you too! 

Use straw, not hay to line the box/shelter.

Where in the NE are you located?
Check Craigs list, or freecycle if you have one, Goodwill, or other thrift stores may also have bins or shelter options.

Call local vets and ask if they know of any rescue groups, The shelter our boys came from is in western Washington, but the shelter receives cats from eastern Washington and other parts of the state, so even if you don't have a local option, there may be a place

I agree, if you can't find an inside spot, getting her used to a shelter is a priority. Years ago we adopted a pregnant neigbor cat. We barely had her used to being in the house when she delivered. She had a lot of anxiety from the change. After the kittens were born she spent a lot of time moving them to new hiding places. Fortunately we lived in a small house so we could find them.

I'm originally from North Platte, Nebraska, but my husband got an early retirement and we moved to his hometown 70 miles south of there to McCook NE, only 8000 people! It does have a lot of 'wooded' areas and parks in town so we have a feral cat problem and there is a law not to feed any 'feral' animals.. But I must 'own' a large population of cats, 'cause I sure feed a lot of 'my' cats!

Hello Hydronic

Once you determine what to use for shelter, and it is dry protection, you can also use a heating pad.

Straw works well and is inexpensive. I prefer shredded strips of old sheets and pillow cases, a bunch

of them, about 1" wide and 6" long.

If you are good with your hands, you can build a frame [box] with 2x4's and staple poly [plastic sheeting]

both inside and out, which will act as insulation [dead air space]. You can cover it with an old blanket

which will also help keep it darker and cozy.

The plastic storage bin [above] is a great idea, and fast-n-easy, and a heating pad will work great in it also.

[drill a hole out the back or side for cord] Set it on bricks, 4x4's, etc off the ground. You can use fiberglass

insulation instead of the rigid styrofoam, or even shredded towels, sheets, etc. or even straw. If using

linens, just don't pack it tight.

You will want to weigh it down in case the wind blows hard, as it will be lite-weight. Bricks on top, plywood 

and bricks on top, concrete blocks around the perimeter,.......

Hope this sparks some ideas in your mind......if you need any help, please don't hesitate to ask. I will do

what my senile mind will allow.

Hi Hydronic

Here is another site with various ideas for cat shelters, http://www.alleycat.org/ShelterGallery

I made a very easy one for our stray female Patience (now a sometime house cat) from an abandoned large-sized cat carrier wrapped in spare pieces of fiberglass insulation (paper side in - cardboard would probably work in a pinch), covered with an old shower curtain - secured and sealed with duct tape - and then put the whole thing inside a heavy duty plastic garbage bag.  I filled it about 1/3 with straw (Home Depot has handy 'decorative bales' for about $6) with an old sisal front door mat underneath.  Not very decorative but it stays surprisingly warm and dry, especially if you can put it under a covered porch or some kind of overhang next to the house.  Letting the shower curtain and garbage bag hang over the front using the open door as a prop creates a covered entrance for some extra predator and wind/rain protection.   Cats snuggle down in the straw and make a nice 'bed'.  You need to add extra straw as it gets packed down, and try to keep the entrance clear of snow,  but I had great success with this; after a few days Patience used it constantly in cold weather. 

Good luck with your kitty.

Hi there,  must be a animal rescue that will take the cat through the winter .Last year someone threw 5 kittens over my fence with Mom. What I did was set up a wooden box close to my sliding doors so I could watch. they were all ferel .this was on my deck, my husband was a fire fighter so he had a few tarps we nailed them on. The opening was facing my sliding door, so I could watch all the action till I could figure out what to do. I threw plenty blankets in there and fed them dry food and plenty of it. Some was kitten and some adult. When the weather broke they were pretty big and played on my deck but if I came, under the deck they ran .I called a women that catches strays we worked together and caught them [it took about a week] And they didn't die from the winter I had a great view of how Mom takes care of their young {better then some humans. I hate to say} well under the law they have to spay neuter[sp] and then let go which they did when the time was right and the weather good WHAT AN  EXPERIENCE ....fun fun fun to watch those lil tots romp on my deck and grow.......Good Luck Mom looks like she going to have some beauties....

Maybe you can check with rescues that are in your area but are a little further away, if there are none close by? They may be willing to do transport if the other option is for this poor cat to have her babies outside in the freezing cold... They may not survive if she has them outside.

Yes, depending on the association, volunteers, etc. you might get lucky.

Our Shelter Homeward Pets in Woodinville WA receives animals from all over the state.

Straw is definitely better  than rugs, if you can afford to buy some for  momma cat  in a feed store.  Does not  get  wet and  keep  them  warm.

Hope to hear from you soon Hydronic,

with a good report.

I noticed that Hydronic hasn't logged in for a while. I am hoping that they have viewed the info without being logged in.

So much good information here

I just joined the site and saw your post.  I hope you've found a solution by now, but I remembered seeing some ideas on a site.  As I recall, they suggested using thefoam insulated boxes like perishable items are shipped in (we used to get some vaccines in these so maybe a vet or a pharmacy might have them - can't hurt to ask.)  Another option is the small Igloo dog houses and perhaps one could be found free.





The site I remembered is The Hundred Cat Foundation in Pa. and in the middle of this page is an email link where they now offer help with providing shelter (instructions) http://www.hundredcats.org/programs.html





I expect this is a little more than you want to get involved with, but we have something called a Hound Heater for our dog house which can use either a light bulb or a special bulb used for reptiles.  It works great in the dog's Igloo.





Diana (bless you and hope things end well)