How I Stopped Worrying About the Outdoor Cats All the Time
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- Опубліковано 8 лют 2025
- After years of caring for outdoor community cats, I've learned to stop worrying about them. I explain how in this video.
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Thank you for looking after them
Thank you for your kindness ♥️
thank you for watching
I did same.. shed with lots of straw, food, other containers with straw..
Like you said, we do what we can.
Man I hope this helps me because I don't sleep at night over this!!!
Feel stoked about what you ARE doing hon, and the cats you ARE assisting. No one can do everything, but everyone can do something. And you are! Focus on that honey!
I really needed to hear that! This is my first time ever helping stray cats. Now it’s all I think/WORRY about.
@@eugeniamarie1971 I understand. I was a professional worrier about the outdoor cats my first few winters helping them. 💜
Same, my first time. Thank you so much for sharing your comments and help.
Thank you so much for sharing. I'm in the same boat. First time taking care of cats period but the last 3/4 years I've been caretaking for a colony here at my house. I worry all the time about them.
Lol. Me too
I worry when I don’t see them for a while. It was over a week and we are nearing -20 wind chill here in Iowa. Last night, the first extremely cold night (the one I was worried about) scratched on our garage door and walked in right to the food. Ate, got some cuddles then he got up and meowed at the door to be let out. At least I know he got a good supper before leaving.
I got a heated water bowl and heated cat house from Chewy for our outdoor feral cat. The feral cat is not so feral anymore and letting me pet her. If I can get her to come into the house then he or she will be better off. I need to get a tarp over the Chewy heated double wide cat house because it is not 100% water tight and get wet inside in heavy rain.
That would be great if eventually can bring your cat inside. And the tarp is a great idea for the cat house. I don’t think it’s made clear enough in the item description that it’s not 100% watertight / waterproof. We have the heated houses inside the cat shed.
Less worry, more enjoyment! 🐾😻😻😻🐾💗
I have three cat houses outside with straw in them, and not a single cat wants to make a home there.
Very kind of you ❤
Wonderful! We basically did the same things in our original location, and when we moved to high altitude, high desert, we had a 4-stall barn and outdoor compound that we were working on -- 2 12x12s for the cats, with cat doors, heat and cooling, insulation, bed cubicles and bedding, feeding/watering station, etc. Our indoor cats had a catio we built on the back, with catflaps. There were all their necessities out there, including a floor-to-ceiling "catcus" cat tree. It was, dare I say, a PURRadise for cats.
The barn and catio sound very nice!
Oh, they were. It was such an amazing place. I miss it so much.@@Thejoyofcats
No one brought up spay & neuter. Several vet clinics offer free or low cost spay and neuter. I couldn’t get the 2 female strays ,momma & baby, into the low cost. I couldn’t wait 2 or 3 months so they went to lowest cost place I could find. Iam talking within 3 hours drive each way, looking in 3 states. I got them fixed 1 1/2 hours drive, 250$ each. Getting the cat overpopulation under control is a big issue. The cost for caring for strays is lot. I have 4 I feed & provide shelter. I care so much for them & worry about them.
I agree spray and neuter is very important. Thanks for the reminder.
lol i’m so glad i found this video, worrying about stray cats throughout the world and thinking about what they’re going through makes me upset daily!
@@nearslegos8411 it is tough sometimes. I had to make a choice to not think about the outdoor cats affected by the recent hurricanes since I could do nothing to help them from here.
I do nt know why or how this showed up on my yt feed but i think somebody upstairs thought i needed to hear it. Subbed TY.
Thank you for subscribing.
This is absolutely wild. I just laid down to rest after spending an entire day shopping for supplies to make a cat shelter….and then making one. I bet I checked my cameras 10;000 times to see if Tommy found his new house. He is a feral cat who I started feeding several weeks ago-at his request. I have worried myself sick about him. You are correct. I have done what I can for this day, and now I will just pray for him tonight.
I have been caring for 10 feral since they were young. The bunch ranges from 7 months to 3 or 4. One cat named Gus died a few weeks ago. We are down to 9. There are nine. We have 3 that come in and out of our house. Most are friendly. We have 6 heated houses .They are insulated and heated with heat mats. We feed them well and they get heated broth and chicken along with there evening meal. Two meals and treats also. We have done all we can too . All cats have been fixed except for 1 male. He's going to get snipped as soon as the weather warms up. This little guy suddenly showed up on our covered deck. He was about 4 to5 weeks old. Think someone put him there. Feel so Sorry for all the abandoned cats and dogs out there. Please give love and care to homeless critters . They didn't deserve there sad life in this world. All who care for these animals are angel's Thank you for caring. Bless the nice lady for caring so much .
@ You are so wonderful for protecting and nurturing these beautiful and mysterious little creatures. I imagine your grocery bills and other related expenses are HUGE. The cat I am trying to domesticate is truly feral. He has survived among bobcats, coyotes, and who knows what else. Yesterday I saw him up close for the first time…. I glimpsed him through a high window, so he did not see me as I watched him eat. He is quite scrawny and battered-looking , and it broke my heart to see it. I LOVE your idea of adding chicken broth and chicken to his meals. I have two houses for him now-- one built, one bought. I want to better insulate the one I made. Would love to hear any ideas. Again, bless you for your goodness.
@toadie1111 I know how you feel about your feral cat. It does break your heart seeing them in all the elements of weather. You are special to have been helping him or her to survive. Your doing all you can because truly feral cats take along time to Trust people. We insulated the houses with blue insulation board. Had to cut to size and duct taped all seams. Did the floors and top cover. Some people just pack inside with a lot of straw. It keeps them warm. Your truly a caring person. We need more in the world like you. Bless you and your loved ones.
In out last place, we had a stay/abandoned cat who was so friendly that we adopted him. Now we moved to a new place and it has at least 3 cats that are abandoned by their former owners (there are 5/6 cats in total but I think the rest are just outdoor cats who have owners). We feed them regularly outside our front door. I have a little set up/shelter in my side/backyard (I have seen them near the shelter but not sure if they use it). I want to adopt them but we already have 4 fully indoor cats and adopting them doesn't seem feasible at this point. I worry about them a lot, what if they get sick, what if they are very old, what if there are coyotes (We don't have snow here). I go out of my way to help them but sometimes I just have to tell myself that that's the best I can do.
This a LIFE lesson right here. Right on!!!!!!!!
My prayerful thoughts always include asking that God's Angels please keep watch over these precious creatures of God.
It is so hard to not be so concerned - worried about them, i get it.
Like you say, though - youve done so much,vand so well!
You have a very good soul, Heidi - and thanks so much for all you and your husband do!
How funny this video was featured on my main page, shortly after I wrote a comment under your video that I worry about my outdoor cat all the time. What you said really helps, and I will try to stop worrying about my outdoor cat so much. Thank you for the advice and for taking care of the outdoor cats!
This is really hard to overcome. But like you said, we're doing all that we can for them. They're tough little kitties.
Congrats on focusing on what you can!❤
It is definitely hard. It took me many years to give up the worrying, especially in the winter.
I'm a worrier, also. 2:26 I worry for FREE. 2:26 2:26 I Don't charge for Worrying! I😮I know what you mean 😅.@@Thejoyofcats
Love you sitting outside in the snow to film this! If you haven't yet - maybe you can do a video about your outdoor shelter - why you did the things you did, why it works, etc. and then link back to this video =)
I recorded on a day when it was around 32F, just cold enough to snow.
Here is a video that shows inside the cat shed: ua-cam.com/video/Qq3hVgDCsPA/v-deo.html
I like your idea though. I don't think I have 1 overview video of why I've done certain things. Thank you for the suggestion!
it was a clever idea for sure!@@Thejoyofcats
Your cat seems spoiled! They're probably out there with full bellies laying in the nice warm dry beds wondering what's that girl worried about?
Great job.
Thank you!
I have one porch kitty. We've tried to coax her in, but she doesn't want it. She survived last winter, but she had her mother. Now she's by herself. I have made my front porch into a little hideaway for her for the winter. I made a winter hut and bought a second one that I put inside a cooler bag for extra insulation. I still worry. Today the wind chill is 8°. She's in the tote, but I'd rather she be in the house.
It's difficult when they don't want to come inside. Before we had a shed set up for our cats, we made straw forts for them, which protected them from the wind. We also have some of the container shelters now. Keeping them dry and out of the wind really helps them a lot.
You can see one of them in this blog post: thejoyofcats.com/outdoorcatshelter/
Sounds like you have a good setup on your porch kitty.
You guys are great!!!
Thank you!
Finding them loving homes where they can be indoors would help those cats.
Let me tell you, it's NOT easy.
She is doing A LOT. She is doing plenty. I think you missed the entire lesson here.
Ideally, all cats would have indoor homes. These cats in my yard are only friendly to me. They would not be able to pass a socialization test at the local shelter. And the 3 nearby rescues are almost always full of friendly cats waiting for homes.
Those caring for outdoor cats are usually doing the best they can to help the cats. When possible and feasible, cats are rescued and brought inside. Not all cats will do well in indoor homes. The average family doesn't want to adopt a cat that they can't pet or a cat that is very stressed and scared living inside.
It's complicated and not easy. I didn't learn much about the outdoor community cats until a feral cat had kittens in my yard.
Alley Cat Allies is an excellent resource for helping outdoor cats: www.alleycat.org/. If more people get involved and help the outdoor community cats, there will be fewer kittens born outside, etc.
What a wonderful job you are doing for those cats! The last cat I had was an outdoor cat the entire 8 years I had her, and though I worried about her, I tried to take the same attitude as you. I did everything I could to provide for her comfort and safety, so tried not to worry about what I could not control. Thankfully here in Florida I never had to deal with snow, but we do get down into the 40s and 30s sometimes during the winter, so she did have a heated shelter which was also under cover of an aluminum roof on my back patio, with the shelter covered with plastic sheeting to help make it weather proof from blowing rain. I gave her the best life I could, and she seemed pretty happy here, for she could have wandered off any time she wanted if she wasn't happy.
@@lloydhlavac6807 my outdoor cats do wander off sometimes, more in the summer than the winter. I try to give the best life so they don’t want to leave my yard as it’s safe here.
Sounds like you also give your outdoor cats the best chance possible! 💜
Talk about timing...just set up my 2 outdoor cats shelters..I will not worry
Thank you for saying this. I go crazy and stay up at night worrying about them as well. Even though I provide heated shelters food and water constantly and they are all fixed and vaxxed. This really helped me. THANK YOU. ♥️
Fresh water and food are very good. Heated pad in cathouse gives warmth in cold weather. Straw is good in inclosures, it won't hold moisture like blankets will. Any help you do is appreciated by them.
I use several large styrofoam coolers, cut a hole big enough for our cats to get in and found a self heating pad, not electric, on Amazon that I put inside that seems to do the trick. Straw works too. We have a cold front coming and I'll have to check their water a few times a day. I saw the comment about a heated water bowl, I'm going to check it out. A little tip is to feed the cats in a different place than where their shelter is located in case other critters come for a meal. Thanks for the tips, even though I'm doing similar things that you are, and they are perfectly fine, I still worry about these silly cats. I've been part of a trap, neuter, release program in a Dallas suburb for about 5 years. They don't tell you that the cats like to stay after you feed them for a few days and they bring their friends lol. We have 6 that are regulars now
That is a good reminder about having the food away from the shelters. We do that too! Thanks for helping the cats in your area.
We usually have 1 week (or sometimes 2 weeks) of very cold weather here in southern Michigan in January. It's below zero today, and the bowl is keeping up! ua-cam.com/users/shorts9Jy0WgUyzuw It's one of the best purchases I've ever made as it's so convenient as most of December - early March it's below freezing.
Before we had the electric bowl, I was using the hot packs to keep casseroles warm to delay the water from freezing. thejoyofcats.com/delay-water-freezing-outdoor-cats/
Of course, ideally, you would like all domesticated cats to be indoors. But sometimes that can't happen. I live out in a rural area. I have a mother and daughter outdoors, only because we were able to rehome the other 3 kittens. But that mother and daughter are perfectly comfortable. I'm able to take the daughter to the vet. Vet says she looks very good considering she's outside all the time... you just do what you're doing. Provide shelter, provide food. You know be aware of what's going on... And one of my buggaboos- trying not to bring fleas into the house for my other cats 😆
Thank you for caring for the cats in your yard. Being aware is a good tip!
Amazingly, we've never had an outdoor cat with fleas, but we did have ticks last summer.
We had fleas once inside the house and all the indoor cats got them. But the fleas were brought in by me! I thought I was being super careful when cleaning out a flea-infested house, but ended up bringing a few of them home with me.
Stumbled upon this video as I’m up at night worrying about my 3 outside in the PA cold! One of them possibly could be an indoor cat with the right support and effort, but I couldn’t be that indoor home for her. She seems happy with her outdoor life and I love having her. I wonder if it being selfish with keeping her outside rather than fostering her and perhaps making her an indoor cat..
You do the best you can and hope for the best..Many years making shelters..I did worry tho…
I needed this. Ty
I live in South Texas, where it hardly ever gets cold during the winter. Yet, I worry about outside feral cats when the weather gets down to the 30s or 40s during the one or two days that happens. I build a temporary shelter in my back patio with an electric heater.
The temporary shelter sounds great for your cats. thanks for helping them!
God bless your heart!
Good attitude. Thanks for sharing your philosophy.
@@meganking4399 thank you for watching
We have about 10 and i gave them one of my plant heat mats, bought a large tool store, they have blankets and cushions, and are under our covered terrace all winter. In the spring we move the store to the top of the garden as it wont need the heat mat. They get wet food for breakfast and dry food in the day. Our main issue is them getting run over so as soon as i can get them to the top of the garden the safer they are. Still worry about them though!
Thanks
Oh girl I going through that right now
It's hard when the weather is frigid! I hope your cats are doing okay.
I have about almost 20 cats I care for. They came around during the pandemic shutdown time and after my dogs died out. I was gonna be done with animals for the first time in my life after my dogs died out and I didn’t replace them with puppies etc. the cats were born in my backyard. Another female brought her kittens to my yard one night a year later. I will never forget how they followed her and they started to walk through my fence holes lol. It was an invasion. I ended up getting them all fixed over time. I get them vaccinated every year. The food is expensive. They love lil soups. I have some cats in my back porch with a gas heater on and others are outside in dog houses insulated etc. I worry about all these guys daily. Recently I have two idiots in my neighborhood who drive in our back alley fast where my cats like to hang out. I have already had a talk with them but they still want to act dumb. I’m ready to beat some but. Another guy comes walking his dogs and then lets his dogs off their leashes on purpose and the dogs go off coming after my cats In the back alley as well. I have already had a talk with him and he keeps coming by. He lives elsewhere. This guy I’m ready unleash my anger on soon. I don’t know what to do with these people. I thought about starting my own UA-cam channel like you showcasing my cats and their lives etc and showing these two idiots trying to harm my cats. I would gladly love to show their faces on here. I love my babies and I will protect them till death. That’s just me.
Twenty is a large colony! Thank you for caring for them.
Does your area have laws about keeping dogs on leashes? We have that here, so it might be a way to report that guy letting his dogs lose.
It is very frustrating when people don't respect outdoor cats.
We got the shed for our cats after a new neighbor said he would kill the cats if they pooped in his yard. I thought a shed would hide their presence better than the container shelters. He has since apologized, and he has never harmed the cats (this was 5 or 6 years ago).
We have college students who drive very fast through our neighborhood.
@@Thejoyofcats yes we do have leash laws. I told him. This guy doesn’t care and he doesn’t care I have cameras recording him either. He only does this when he goes to my back alley. Then at the end of the alley he puts them back on a leash. The cops aren’t gonna come quick enough to catch him. Apparently my approaching him didn’t scare him off. He wants to challenge me it seems. The last weeks since our confrontation he always comes when I’m not outside. I would be in bed still etc. he comes like at 9:30 am. He even threw a bag of dog poop on my property back there as well. I got him on camera doing that. I use to walk my dog when he was alive everynight. I would never ever do this. And if someone showed aggression toward me I wouldn’t be going around their area again. I use to get harassed a lot while walking my dog. Even at a park. Which reminds I remember this little orange cat use to approach us while we walked at the park. He wouldn’t listen. He kept doing it. My dog would have mauled him lol. The cat wouldn’t listen. One night he came a little too close to us and my dog snapped at him. He ran. I don’t know if the cat was drawn to me or him. I think it was him lol. Now here I am with a lot of cats. I haven’t had a cat since 1993. I had to put him down because he had the HIV virus cats get. He wasn’t neutered and I don’t think we got vaccines for him since we had him the 4 years. I was too young to understand all that back then. After we put him down I was devastated. I never wanted a cat again. I never fed or paid attention to the alley cats we had over the years behind our property. I had two litters born in our backyard. The other litter were brought here by the mom. I kept them. Speaking of which I need to change their waters and feed them this morning lol. I feel like I live on a farm I go to work at 2 pm so every morning I spend like 3-4 hours doing the cat chores. Since it’s cold now it takes more time. I wash their blankets every week outside with a tub and sprayer. They don’t want me using the washing machine to wash the blankets here. So I have to do it by hand. Btw they don’t like straw. I bought straw and barely anyone got in the houses with straw. Most of the houses are under a roof in my carport or patio or porch. I used to use sams club boxes for houses. Free! But the drawback is that these guys pee as they sleep. I had to throw away a lot of boxes and replace them. Now I’m using storage bins. A bit better but they are thin. I’m thinking doing ice coolers. They have to be plastic houses to be able to clean easier. They spray on the houses too I would imagine wood doesn’t work hard to clean. With the blankets I’m using the topper foam they sell for beds. Sleeping bags I use as well. They seem to love the sleeping bags. The houses they sell on Amazon are expensive and don’t look thick enough. Ice coolers are $25 they seem like a better deal. I would rather go find some when people throw them out but my city isn’t doing the bulk trash pickup yet till March I believe. I would usually see a lot of people throwing out old ice coolers. Thanks for replying and your thoughts. We will see what happens with the guy with the dogs.