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NYC Feral Cat Council

Winterizing for Ferals

by Bryan Kortis, Executive Director, Neighborhood Cats

Now that winter is approaching, it's time to take the necessary steps to ensure that your outdoor feline friends make it safely through the cold and snow. During the autumn season, cats' coats thicken in anticipation of frigid temperatures. In fact, sometimes you can tell how harsh a winter will be by how early their coats develop. (Don't worry — this year it wasn't too early!) While cats' fur will keep them warm even in severe conditions, they do need your help to make it through the winter healthy and risk-free. There are three areas in which you can greatly ease their lot: shelter, nutrition, and water.

An Effective Shelter

Feral cats need warm, dry shelter to weather the snowstorms and blustery, icy winds. On the "Feral Cat Winter Shelter" page on Neighborhood Cats web site, you'll find a number of simple, inexpensive ways to build an adequate winter shelter. You can even download easy-to-follow plans for converting an eight-by-two-foot piece of styrofoam into a cat's home away from home.

Two key elements are present in any good feral shelter. First is the material used. Material with excellent insulation qualities, such as styrofoam, works best. Styrofoam traps the cat's body heat, turning the cat into a little radiator. Second, the shelter's interior should have a minimal amount of air space, thus reducing the amount of heat the cat's body must generate to keep the space warm. Both elements must be present to provide effective shelter for the cats. For example, a large doghouse constructed using excellent insulating material will have too much air space for a cat, or cats, to heat. On the other hand, a thin cardboard box might be the right size, but most of the cats' body heat will pass through the walls. So you want to use good material, and you want the interior space to be appropriately cozy.

Additional insulating materials, such as straw (the best choice) or shredded newspaper, can be placed inside the shelter. Avoid using blankets, towels, folded newspaper, or anything on which a cat would lie on top. These materials only warm when a body is beneath them. Lying on top only draws body heat out, and will actually make the cat colder. Visit the Neighborhood Cats' winter shelter page for additional ideas for extra protection against cold, such as Purr-pads and Mylar blankets.

Winter Feeding and Watering

Small bowls of dry or canned food can be placed inside the shelter, tucked into a back corner. The cats' own heat will slow the freezing of the canned food, and can even defrost it. But never put water inside the shelter — it can easily spill and cause the cat(s) to get wet. Getting wet while it's cold outside and then not having a dry place to go is one of the greatest threats to a feral cat's health during the wintertime.

Because canned food left outdoors will freeze quickly in chilly conditions, using mostly dry food can become a necessity. Normally, a healthy cat drinks very little water and can acquire most of the water he needs from the moisture content of canned foods. However, when dry food becomes the staple of the cats' diet, their need for access to water increases. This can be a problem in winter, when water left outside quickly freezes. To prevent, or at least significantly slow down, the process of the water freezing, try some of our many suggestions featured on the "Preventing Water from Freezing" page on the Neighborhood Cats web site. Whether you use an electrically heated water dish or a little styrofoam vaccine-shipping container lined with a plastic bag, you can make a difference for the cats.

Nutrition is especially important for outdoor cats during the winter because the cold and difficult weather conditions create additional stresses for their immune systems. Feeding them a higher quality brand of food, if you can manage the additional expense, will be beneficial to them. Also, supplementing canned food with extra Vitamin C is an excellent way to boost the cats' health. Cats manufacture their own Vitamin C, but in the cold weather, this naturally occurring nutrient can be quickly depleted. For the type and amount of Vitamin C to provide, read "Vitamin C to the Rescue," an article by Anitra Frazier (author of The New Natural Cat), which you can find on the Neighborhood Cats web site.

By providing warm, dry shelter, ensuring access to drinkable water, and improving nutrition, you will have made the winter a much gentler season for the feral cats in your care.

Bryan Kortis is co-founder and Executive Director of Neighborhood Cats. A graduate of Cornell University and the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, he has experience as both an attorney and a filmmaker. He began working with ferals when he saw firsthand that the situation for street cats in New York City was dire and a new approach like TNR was needed.

Click here to learn more about the NYC Feral Cat Council (NYCFCC), a coalition of Alliance Participating Organizations dedicated to providing responsible care for NYC's feral cats.