How do your indoor/outdoor cats handle the winter?

my cat is a mixture of indoor and outdoor :P she likes to be outside for bathroom and runing around and she likes to be inside to play with our golden retriever.(golden retriever is 7 months old and we still have her inside for now)

Our cat is more of an indoor as opposed to an outdoor cat, even in the summertime. To other people this may sound cruel but she DOES go outside when she wants to do so, she just doesn't like other cats in the area and runs back in again to go in the tray as there isn't really anywhere outside she can "do the biz." During the winter she will stay indoors even more as she cannot abide the cold weather, especially now because we are in the middle of a deep freeze in the UK. She tends to sleep a lot more and will curl up in front of the fire or by the radiator, whichever she prefers at the time. At bedtime she will sleep on my pillow next to my head. She loves this because I have bought 2 new ones and I swear she realises that the pillow she is lying on is better than the one that was there last week lol. Cats are very clever!

Your cats are just like mine. My cats are also indoor-outdoor cats and they always want to go out for some time and come back again. We will ask them, what did you do outside for five minutes, a king's work is it? But they sit under a car or on the walls and be watching the road or other cats. Then they roar at each other, may be territory fight. I will wonder how they are bearing winter coolness.

Hi Maezee I have to tell you some thing which is very important as your cats are stray cats they are well equipped to go in and out and nothing to worry even it it winter as they are habituated to such climate and it is better if you leave them and let them go in and out and just have an eye on them. If you leave them they get trained themselves. It is better if you allow them go in and out as they like to do so by nature and if you pressurise them they may face a problem, it is the same thing with humans if we are not allowed to go in and out what happens? just think. Just train them to come into the house when there is a danger. have a nice day.

Hi Maezee I think I have to tell you some thing which is very important as the cats are stray cats you need not stop them from going out as they are well equipped to come in and go out, it does'nt matter whether it is winter as they are habituated to that, just train them to come into the house when they are in danger. Cats by nature they like to stay out and we cannot stop them and if you pressurise them they may be in problem as they don't like to stay at home always, I have not observed that they are stray cats and I did not write all this information in the last one. Not only stray cats even other cats should be allowed to go in or out as they like to stay where they are given freedom to move here and there.

cat's are weird and from my experience you can't train a cat but i think once they get older they will become lazier and will not fell the urge to go outside anymore

Frisky has Arthritis, so he does not handle the cold too well, and he is an indoor cat. Dubby is indoor and outdoor, and he can handle any weather. Goldie does not like the cold because she is used to the hot weather. My newest baby, Lucky, he loves the heat because he remembers his horrible life in the cold when he was a kitten. Lucky was feral before my mother and I adopted him, and he lived a miserable life outdoors. He wanted to be a house cat so badly that he was willing to do whatever it took to be one. He saw the life my elder cats had, and he wanted it as well, so my mother and I worked with him to domesticate him and teach him how to be a house cat. He loves living indoors and he does not miss the outdoors.

My parents have a cat at home. The cat just lives at home and nobody cares much about it. We throw left over food to the cat. My parents live in a place which is hot almost throughout the year. So, there is no question of handling winter. We don't take care of the cat neither in winter nor in summer. We have never faced very cold climatic conditions.

Hi maezee...Thats so cute..Love your story..Anyway, I think that they (cats) forget that it is cold out and have to be reminded each and every time. Although it can be annoying for the person, you in this case, having to get up and down to open door, I dont think there is any changing that..When its warm, of course they are going to stay out and when its not they obviously prefer the warmth of the house and snuggling up with "Mommy"..Oh well, look at it this way, its good exercise for you to get up and down!! Maybe I should get a cat!!

Hi Maezee I think you are doing a good job looking after the two cute cats that seems to be great as it is very hard to train them. I think you can stop them only by closing the door and take them out for 5 minutes in the evening. But I don't think it would be easy for you to do so. I don't have cat or dog because we stay in apartments as it is not very spacious to look after pets and they don't stay in one place it is very uncomfortable. Happy New Year, Have a nice day.

We can't let our cats be indoor/outdoor animals. We live in an apartment complex and there is no where safe for them to go. We have people who actually allow their animals to do that, but they are asking for trouble here. Way to much traffic in and out 24/7. I don't think i'd tolerate it. Though they do want to invistagate the cold. But, you can force your cats to be strictly indoor if you want. simply refuse to open the back for them, and shoe them away from your front door for a while. Eventually they'll learn they don't want out.