outdoor cats in winter

We have 3 indoor-outdoor cats and as winter approaches my wife is pushing to have them inside, especially at night. My preference is to keep them out as much as possible in order to avoid the mess with cat litter (and the smell that goes with it).

What is the lowest temperature that is considered safe for cats?

Please reply to

Thank you.

If you scoop out the cat litter every day, and change it completely about once a week, you shouldn't have any problem with odour. Oh, and putting newspaper under the tray eliminates most of the mess. (Slides right off the paper into the garbage etc.)

When I was a kid, the family cat was outdoor/indoor (slept in the bushes, chased the neighbor's Irish Setter, etc.). Over in Eastern WA. it gets cold in the winter, so we built Charlie a heated cathouse. Basically a 3'x3' plywood box, removable sheet-metal-covered roof, blanket, old towel as a catflap over the door, low-wattage light bulb with a coffee-can shade for heat. He had to fight off the occasional interloper trying to share, but he was happy and warm through the winter.

You could probably construct something similar pretty cheaply. Probably need to be bigger for 3 cats though.

Greg Jones

[I just happen to work here. Sheer coinicidence.]

Unless you have a cat that won't cover her messes. Then the house stinks until one of the others comes along and does it for her. Trust me, I take good care of the box and at times the house still smells. Sigh...................

Cat boxes only smell if the humans tending them do not take care of them properly. I have four cats and one box, and *no one* who comes in my apartment would know it. Keep the box clean and it will not smell!

Unless there is some kind of warm shelter they can hide in, I would hope you can let them inside when the temperature drops below 40 degrees.