Q & A: Winter Safety and Comfort for Outdoor Animals

By Dr. Kim Everson, DVM

 

Question: I live on a large farm, and we have many barn cats and a couple of farm dogs that live outside. I always worry about these guys being warm enough in the winter time, but it is not practical to make them all “indoor” pets! Do you have any suggestions for making the cold weather more comfortable for them?

 

Answer: Fortunately for your outdoor animals, Mother Nature has already bestowed on them a warm winter fur coat. In the fall of the year, as the days shorten and the weather cools, you may notice your outdoor canines and felines “blowing” their summer coat, or shedding excessively to make way for their heavy-duty winter coat. A fluffy undercoat covered by a more weatherproof overcoat provides amazing natural insulation against the cold. Indoor animals also go through this process, but the effect is muted because–kept inside a heated home—their bodies never feel cold enough to produce thick winter fur.

Even with nature’s gift of a fur coat, outdoor animals can greatly benefit from your help in other ways to make winter more comfortable.

• Provide appropriate shelter against wind and moisture. Arctic winds combined with rain and snow can lead to dangerous hypothermia and frostbite. A shelter with southern exposure for solar warmth and a doorway opposite the prevailing winds is ideal. Bedding should be thick and kept clean and dry. Blankets that start out soft and fluffy often become damp, matted and frozen. Heaps of clean straw work well for bedding. Avoid cedar chips because the aromatic oils in the wood are harsh to the respiratory tract.
• Cats are attracted to the warmth of car and machinery engines. Check beneath the vehicle, honk the horn, or rap on the hood before starting the engine because an animal can be seriously, if not fatally, injured when the vehicle is started.
• The fur between footpads on shaggy dogs often collects rock salt and ice. Check for and remove clumps of icy snow stuck to the fur between toes, or your dog will chew it out by itself potentially leading to injury and/or toxicity. Pet-safe ice melt is available to reduce risk of poisoning if an animal eats the salt off the ground or by licking its fur.
• If clean, unfrozen water is not readily available pets are more likely to drink out of puddles or gutters. This puts animals at risk of poisoning from antifreeze, household chemicals, and other pollutants. Animals that drink from standing, stagnant water sources can develop diarrhea from bacterial and parasitic gastrointestinal infections as well. Heated water bowls and buckets are available to keep water sources from freezing.

While animals in the northern hemisphere have evolved effective adaptations and defense mechanisms against harsh winter weather, there are some important exceptions. It takes months to acclimatize to winter weather by producing an adequate coat and fat stores. Therefore an indoor pet should never be suddenly turned outside for extended periods.

Animals with serious health conditions such as diabetes, heart and kidney disease, and hormone imbalances as well as geriatric pets should be kept indoors even if they previously spent winters outside. This is because ill, elderly and very young animals have decreased ability to maintain their body heat.

Finally, some canine and feline breeds are definitely NOT suited for an arctic lifestyle regardless of their health status and winter conditioning. For example, the Chihuahua dog or hairless Sphynx cat are simply not adapted to thrive in the cold and should be dressed appropriately when taken outside even for short periods of time.

With proper winter preparations on your part and their built-in adaptations to cold, your outdoor dogs and cats can enjoy a comfortable and safe winter wonderland this year.

 

Originally printed in Pet Journal, February 2014