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I agree on providing heat in the garage, I don't agree about re-homing them to a shelter, the last time I went to the shelter, they had cats, that had been there a year or more. Maybe the shelter in other counties or states have better adopt out records, but ours is dismal. It is a no kill shelter, which also means that they cannot always accept more pets, because the ones already there are not getting adopted out.
Please visit a few shelters, before spouting that giving them to a shelter to re-home is a better option.
As long as heat is provided, & they are visited every day, it still beats being locked in a cage for a year. I do not agree on dumping thme in the garage so you don't have to pet them.
No kill shelter? I volunteer at a nationally renowned local humane society and it is NOT a no-kill shelter. Friends of mine were under the impression it was no-kill until I explained the humane society means "100% adoptable UNLESS sick or behaviorially unacceptable." (And "adoptable" does not mean the pet will be adopted.) The only no-kill cat shelter I know of has a 65% sick population, many times spreading diseases to the other cats. Therefore, it's a misnomer to call it a no kill cat shelter.
Too bad many pet "owners" behave irresponsibly toward their pets. Unless a pet is orphaned due to the death of its guardian, there is no satisfactory purpose to surrender it, in my opinion. The stories I could tell about surrendered pets and their former owners... not one was for an acceptable reason. One of my favorites was a beautiful seven-year-old Persian who was given up because she "didn't get along with our new kitten." Fortunately, the Persian was adopted to a loving home within a week.
My cats get plenty of love. I spend more time in my garage than I do in my house. Icy weather is the only reason I am not with them every day. Hence the automatic feeder and waterer. The 3 year old boy that spends a lot of time at my house has severe allergies to cat hair. I love my cats but he is number 1.
How have you handled the situation prior to this? Also, what sort of arrangement do you have with this child? Does he live with you part-time, or is he simply a frequent visitor? Is there some way you can keep the cats away from him while he is there, without banishing them to the garage?
When it is too icy for you to get to the garage, it is probably too cold for your cats to be out there. How would you know if one of them got sick or injured?
I am not going to jump on the "re-home them" bandwagon, unless you can work with a rescue organization to ensure that they actually find homes, rather than sending them to a shelter, but it seems that there must be some other solution that would be kinder to the cats than simply moving them to the garage.
I am planning on moving my two cats out to my garage. I have rigged up an automatic watering system and I could build an automatic feeder but I don't want them to eat too much. I spend time in the detached garage daily unless it is too icy. I have very seldom had more than two days where I didn't make it out there. Garage has some heat but not 24/7 but that should not be an issue. I have never had water freeze in it. I feed them once daily currently and at the same time. If I am fifteen minutes late (5:00 AM) with my feeding George will jump up on my bed and wake me up. I will be sleeping in when I move them to the garage. Once a farm boy. . . LOL.
Some will others won't. Our girls have a feeder and since we got the feeder for them they regulate how much they eat and do not hack and throw up like they used to.
I am planning on moving my two cats out to my garage. I have rigged up an automatic watering system and I could build an automatic feeder but I don't want them to eat too much. I spend time in the detached garage daily unless it is too icy. I have very seldom had more than two days where I didn't make it out there. Garage has some heat but not 24/7 but that should not be an issue. I have never had water freeze in it. I feed them once daily currently and at the same time. If I am fifteen minutes late (5:00 AM) with my feeding George will jump up on my bed and wake me up. I will be sleeping in when I move them to the garage. Once a farm boy. . . LOL.
My heart goes out to those cats who once lived in a home and are now being banished to the garage. How are they going to stay warm when it gets "icy"? Do you think they are going to be happy out there? What are you plans for when they meow constantly?
Try and find them a new home where they will be loved and part of the family, not banished to a garage or barn.
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