Help: is risky for me to let an outdoor cat sleep with me?

Hi!

I rent a room in a house located at the North Texas area. The owner of the house has dogs and cats. The dogs spent most of their time indoors, and most of the cats are out during the day, but sleep in the living room during the night.

Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]m particularly concerned about one cat: Tickles. Tickles is a female 15 years old cat, she lives completely outdoors, because she doesnâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t like the other animals in the house, though she certainly enjoys human company.

But, hereâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s the thing: she doesnâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t have a proper shelter. She sleeps in the bushes just in front my window. Part of the bushes is covered by the roof of our house, but still when it rains, Tickles gets wet. Also when the wind is cold, Tickles just lies on the fallen leaves and cuddles up. Some times she meows, and I interpret she wants human company or just a warm place to stay. She really breaks my heart and I really want to let her stay in my room so she can sleep overnight on my bed. BUT since she is an outdoors cat, Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]m worried she could pass me parasites such as fleas, or germs as roundworms or hookworms, just to mention a few.

So my first question is what are the chances that Tickles could pass me some ugly parasites if I let her sleep on my bed?

I bought a flea-tick-free-collar for Tickles, would it be enough to keep the parasites away from me?

I know I should just buy a proper cat house for Tickles. But the fact that she meows makes me believe she craves for human attention. What should I do? Let Tickles in or out?

My biggest concern would be with the fleas. Please do not put a flea collar on her. They do not work, and they can be dangerous. You could offer to buy flea medication for her, such as Advantage, Frontline, Revolution, or Program, but I would steer clear of the over the counter medications.

If the cat is indoors sometimes or if the other cats are indoor/outdoor they might all have fleas and then they are already inside.
The parasites cats carries are usually art-specific and does not spread to humans. I have had outdoor/indoor cats for more then twenty years and the only thing they ever carried in is living pray and a few ticks.
If they have fleas you might be bitten once but you will not get fleas from the cat. It could be some work to clean the house from them though.
The cat needs sa shelter.
For how long are you renting the house?
Is there any chanse you can convinse the owner that the cat will need a shelter even when you are not there any more.

Hi!

I'll be renting this room for at least this semester. I'll certainly try to convince the owner to buy a proper shelter for the cat. Would a small shelter be enough to keep teh cat away from cold? also how cold is real cold for a cat. These couple of nights the temperature has been around 59 F, that is cold enough for me, so I have let the cat in. Is that real cold for a cat?