I found The Cat Site looking for information on how to keep a stray cat safe in a cold climate over the winter. I found the reassurance I needed that what the cat needed was shelter, food and water...
My husband and I moved out into the country in November 2013. When the snow melted in late March, an orange tom cat showed up. We figured he was a cat from one of the neighbouring farms who liked to wander, so I let him hang around as long as he didn't get too close to my two cats who we were letting out to explore their new land. I would see him every few days, hanging out on a mole hill so I figured he was hunting for dinner. He would duck down in the long grass if he saw us and run off if we got too close. My husband named him Brian, an homage to The Brian Setzer song, Stray Cat Strut.
It was mid June when we realized that he had no home and was fending for himself. He came up on our deck and sat meowing at us through our glass porch door and when we went closer to him we saw that his eye was injured. When we opened the door he ran under the deck so we grabbed a left over pork chop to see if we could entice him out. Turns out he loves pork chops...well any food, really.
View media item 253432This is the day after we fed him the pork chop. He had always run away before...this time he ran toward me. I call this picture "I can has porkchop?"
My husband agreed that we could make him a barn cat, so I brought him to the vet to make sure he wasn't ill, get his shots and have his eye checked out. He let me put drops in his eye twice a day for 10 days and never ran off or scratched me in fear. Two weeks after that he was neutered and I changed his "stray name" from Brian to Jaeger because he now had a home.
That is where the Cat Site came in so I could find out if he would be safe outside during cold weather. He couldn't come inside because I had two elderly cats who barely tolerated each other, let alone a new one and one was battling late stage kidney disease. That kitty has since passed away, so there is only Raven inside, but she is frail and will try to fight Jaeger even though he just wants to play with her...she is not amused.
The barn cat thing was scrapped pretty early on since the cat felt it was too far from the house, so we made the shed beside the house a safe haven for him. I now let him come inside when I am home and can directly supervise his interactions with Raven. He has already passed the litter box test with flying colours, actually finding the one in the basement rather than standing by the door to get out which he had been doing when the weather was nicer.
It is too cold here for even the shed right now, so he is sleeping on our enclosed porch, which isn't heated, but he has a heated bed inside an insulted enclosure in that room which is well above freezing. Since the vet said he had been an outdoor cat for quite awhile, I know he is enjoying the semi-cushy life he has stumbled into.
My husband and I moved out into the country in November 2013. When the snow melted in late March, an orange tom cat showed up. We figured he was a cat from one of the neighbouring farms who liked to wander, so I let him hang around as long as he didn't get too close to my two cats who we were letting out to explore their new land. I would see him every few days, hanging out on a mole hill so I figured he was hunting for dinner. He would duck down in the long grass if he saw us and run off if we got too close. My husband named him Brian, an homage to The Brian Setzer song, Stray Cat Strut.
It was mid June when we realized that he had no home and was fending for himself. He came up on our deck and sat meowing at us through our glass porch door and when we went closer to him we saw that his eye was injured. When we opened the door he ran under the deck so we grabbed a left over pork chop to see if we could entice him out. Turns out he loves pork chops...well any food, really.
View media item 253432This is the day after we fed him the pork chop. He had always run away before...this time he ran toward me. I call this picture "I can has porkchop?"
My husband agreed that we could make him a barn cat, so I brought him to the vet to make sure he wasn't ill, get his shots and have his eye checked out. He let me put drops in his eye twice a day for 10 days and never ran off or scratched me in fear. Two weeks after that he was neutered and I changed his "stray name" from Brian to Jaeger because he now had a home.
That is where the Cat Site came in so I could find out if he would be safe outside during cold weather. He couldn't come inside because I had two elderly cats who barely tolerated each other, let alone a new one and one was battling late stage kidney disease. That kitty has since passed away, so there is only Raven inside, but she is frail and will try to fight Jaeger even though he just wants to play with her...she is not amused.
The barn cat thing was scrapped pretty early on since the cat felt it was too far from the house, so we made the shed beside the house a safe haven for him. I now let him come inside when I am home and can directly supervise his interactions with Raven. He has already passed the litter box test with flying colours, actually finding the one in the basement rather than standing by the door to get out which he had been doing when the weather was nicer.
It is too cold here for even the shed right now, so he is sleeping on our enclosed porch, which isn't heated, but he has a heated bed inside an insulted enclosure in that room which is well above freezing. Since the vet said he had been an outdoor cat for quite awhile, I know he is enjoying the semi-cushy life he has stumbled into.
