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You doing anything for your outside animals do to the temp?
I have been giving heated water to the small things and the very old. Any eating mush gets heated mush. Barn cats have a heated water bowl just like the big animals. No dog as the stupid people passed a law that under 20 degrees you have to bring them inside.
I provide heated beds and warm water for my feral cats I'v had for years out in a closed up shed. My outside dog comes into the kitchen area where I got kiddee gates to remind him where the boundries are. I lost a favorite dog one winter in their heat lamp warmed doghouse outside. He caught PNEUMONIA and died on my lap with me cryin'. That won't happen again. You talk about stupid people, I moved to Mississippi about 15 years ago. I'v seen far to many dogs chained outside far from their house. No heat. No straw. And maybe a board to crawl under. No sir, there need to be laws, for ignorant stupid people.
We have one old neutered female cat that normally stays outside because of incontinence, but we bring her in the garage when it's this cold and put her in a large metal kennel with a dog training pad on her bedding so she doesn't have to sleep on a wet blanket. There's room in the kennel for a small litter pan, which she uses most of the time. I think most of the time she wets her bed when she's asleep. Her brother lives in the house most of the time year round and sleeps in the garage. Now I'm filling the bird feeder three times a day.
My Labs live in the house...
Most of my animals are gone.
I piled up some straw bales with a cubby hole in the pile for the barn cats.
I know some will disagree with me, but I think it's harder on outdoor animals if you provide to much heat for them. It's to drastic a change going back and forth.
They need water and food they can chew, not frozen blocks.
They need to get shelter and get out of the wind.
But they can't sleep in the warm and then be expected to be outside all day.
I guess if you have animals that don't belong in cold climates they need some extras. But I don't have hairless cats runnin' 'round here.
All my pets live in the house. I wouldn't own a pet I leave outside.
Extra rations for the goat herd. Twice a day a bucket of warm water for them to drink…they know the blue bucket and cold weather and get in order of dominance to drink. Regular water buckets are frozen.
Wife declared our farm dog gets to sleep in the house during the below 30 degree cold. Dog thinks he’s in heaven.
We have multiple Rottweilers and they sleep in the garage (except summer). When I go in there at 6AM it is surprisingly warm. When it gets below 35, I run a hot oil radiator. Except they are in the house this week. They generally prefer the garage at night - it’s their den.
The outdoor dogs get to stay in the laundry room when it is bad cold ( like this week)or bad hot(most years)
The rest of the year they sleep in my shop so they won’t be barking at (and chasing)deer and whatnot.
The cows don’t care as long as food and water are available.
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Let em in the house ... Sleep up on the bed with you !
Where you think the term ... It's a Three Dog Night ... comes from !
One cold night I had read my small son a bedtime story , tucked him in and turned off the light . About 30 mins later he called out he wanted anothe kiss - goodnight so without turning on the light I went in leaned down to kiss him ... and "smack" kissed the Dogon his face YUCK ... The boy had gotten the dog in bed with him ... head on pillow ... to stay warm ... I had to re-group , wipe my mouth , make sure who was the boy and give the boy a kiss this time...
Blah ... I will never get over kissing that dog ... my wife thought it was sooooo funny ! I still don't see the humor in it ... but I guess it was funny !
Gary
old saying " people who love winter don't have live stock"
Horses get blankets generally below 30F. Goats and chickens seem to do just fine down into the teens, which is about as cold as we get. Pyrenees pup will be moving outside for good once she hits about 16 weeks. For now...she comes in below 30ish.
I refuse to have a dog or a cat in the house, and there are no places for a dog or cat to get in out of the weather, so I don't have either a dog or a cat.
cats stay in the garage. They have food, water , beds and a litterbox
Three dog night here year round. Good thing they are not too big.
Got to go now, one of them is telling me it's bedtime.
My one feral that is left(coyotes...) slept in my porch last night in a bed of old rags she burrowed down into. All I saw a little bit ago were her eyes. She went out with Max when I let him out for his morning potty and play, came back in with him and ate a little then back into her nest. Porch isn't heated but it it about 28 in there vs 1f right now outside. She comes in the house once in awhile but prefers outside... she knows if she is to cold I will let her in for the night. Other night when it was -16f she slept in the living room on Max's dog bed... only ventured as far as the litterbox in the bathroom... she has never tried to explore the house and is content to stay near the escape hatch LOL she does jump up on my lap for snuggles though! I think someone dumped her off.
I have always used hay for the dogs. They have a fairly large doghouse and I simply fill it to the top with hay prior to a cold snap. They will burrow in and stay toasty warm down to high single digits or teens, which is about as cold as it gets here. We also rarely have deep cold last longer than a week so they only have to last a few days before it warms up. They stomp the hay down and pull it out as the weather warms during the year and it's biodegradable. Blankets just get soaked and smelly - the natural materials are best.
Cats just seem to need a protected place out of the wind, which is in our barn. They will also sometimes burrow down into the hay bales or find a small depression and cozy up there.
Our great Pyrenees love the cold weather. We did put a heated abs plastic pad under his igloo house full of cedar chips. He tends to lay outside.