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I moved from sacramento to mt shasta ca, and my cats are many. i want to know how safe would it be for them to stay in the garage during the day with the door ajar for them to go outside. the weather is freezing here, but i am running low on litter and can't afford to buy anymore right now. if anyone that lives in cold and has cats give, me some suggestions
Are your cats used to being outdoors? Is the garage warm?
If the cats are used to the outdoors, then they should be fine. If the garage isn't warm, it will still provide them with some shelter from outside. Maybe you can set up a blanket for them to curl up in.
It's very cold and snowy where I am and my cat still insists on going out to do his business instead of using the litter box.
How recently did you move? It can take up to a year to acclimate to the change in climate.
As soon as you can afford it, run to the nearest place that sells pellet litter and buy that. It goes much farther than kitty litter and abosrobs the ammonia odor.
If the move was recent, I would NOT let them outside or you may never see them again!
Why can't they come in the house if it is a lot colder than they are use to? If your funds are low and you can't afford litter, you sure don't want them getting sick! Shred newspaper for them to use, find other things, dirt, sand, gravel from outside for their box, even leaves or pine straw, anything FREE that is handy. What did the cats use all those years before cat litter was invented? Even old rags in a litter box that could be thrown away is better than nothing.
If the best you can do is keep them in that cold garage, make them a warm shelter out of a enclosed box with a hole cut in it for them to get in and out of it and provide warm dry balmkets to lay on.. Put something under it between it and the cold floor for more warmth. Wrap the box in something (old balnkets) covering all of it to keep in their warmth.
My daughter in law in Virginia used a plastic storage container with a small light in it for the strays she had hanging around her house during a north easter and put it on her porch. She went out there one night and took the top off to see if the cats were using it and there they were, all snug and warm with a possume snuggeled right in the middle of them...
Heck! I might even be willing to try that chicken feed one myself! 50 pounds for $8???? I will be trying that SOON! That would last forever!! What a great idea! Thanks for the hint solarity!
I think we stopped using the chicken feed because it dosen't contain the smell quite as well as some others. But now that I have an automatic box and the waste is stored underneathe maybe I'll go back to it. Its also hard for a small person like me to deal with a 50lb bag . But yah you really can't beat that price.
Also I think its hen layer crumbles or something like that. Its the stuff that is ground up and for some reason the stuff sprayed on it for the hens makes it clump? I don't know but it really does clump pretty well.
For those that like pine litters... Its the same stuff as what you get for a wood stove I believe. Honestly this is a foreign area for me so maybe its not a wood stove, but some sort of stove... Anyway the pine pellets you can buy in a big bag of 25lbs or something for really cheap, compared to the name brand stuff and should be able to get it at Walmart... I have not tried this one but I hear its the exact same product.
Definitely do NOT leave your cats in a cold garage with a way outside (Sac. to Shasta is a BIG climate change). Your cats could die or run away... especially if they aren't used to being outside. If you just moved, hopefully you still have all that cardboard and packing material/paper that makes excellent litter until you can get some. If worse comes to worse, lock them in the bathroom and let them use the floor... sure cleaning up will be a pain, but it's better than sacrificing your kitties' lives.
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. But yah you really can't beat that price. 
