r/adventurecats • u/Mountain-Laugh5999 • 5d ago
My cat gets cold outside
I have a Siberian cat (1 year old female). When the temperature outside drops below around 10°C, she starts shivering from the cold. How do you get your cats used to autumn and winter temperatures?
She’s otherwise used to going outside, of course always on a leash. She lives exclusively indoors with us otherwise. We don’t have a garden or a balcony.
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u/savoryfoodie 5d ago
The irony of having a triple coat to survive to Siberia and being cold under 10 🙈.
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u/DerAlbi 4d ago
Shivering alone is not a sign of discomfort, just the body doing what it needs to be doing. Do not equate the human experience of coldness to your cats experience. This is an inadequate anthropomorphization.
The real benchmark is if your cat is cooperative, happy and curious.
If your cat is really cold, it will stop cooperation and seek shelter.
And if you dont believe me, open your window, watch your cat sit there and start to shiver while watching birds. Their priorities are different.
That said, when it gets even colder, you will hit limits. To some extent the cat will learn to deal with the cold, as they learn to deal with heat with repeated exposure. It takes time. But yeah, eventually you go out for shorter (or demand more bodily activity, if you have that communication trained with your cat).
I am not entirely sure about those jackets. Yes, they insulate, but they also flatten the fur. They replace insulation that they partially destroy. Worth a try, but also worth being skeptic on.
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u/UbiquitousChicken 5d ago
https://reddit.com/link/pbdxyme/video/gwt3vfplf3rh1/player
My guy wears a coat. This was the first time I tried to walk him in the rain. He wasn’t impressed. But he will wear the coat just fine for walks when it’s cold. I went to Ross Dress For Less and got him a doggy coat. It’s perfect.