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Welcome to the second part of keeping your pet healthy, happy, and safe this winter!
This new post focuses on protecting our cats and horses from winter pet challenges.
As we mentioned in our first blog (protecting dogs), our pets depend upon us to ensure their health, comfort, and safety, especially against winter pet challenges. Despite their fur coats, our pets are still challenged by the cold and wet of winter.
It’s critical to educate ourselves about the winter challenges for our pets. Keep reading to learn the tips for protecting cats and horses during winter.
Winter Pet Challenges: Cats
If you allow your feline to roam outside during the winter months, always watch the time (keep it short) and monitor their reactions to the cold. Do not let them out during the coldest times of the day or night.
Domestic felines (as opposed to feral felines) do not have coats to adequately protect them in winter.
- Never leave your family cat outside all winter (even with a shelter).
- Frostbite: Cats are highly susceptible to frostbite on their ears, nose, tail, and toes. Affected areas will be pale or bluish-white in color.
Immediately get your cat to your vet! - Hypothermia: If your feline begins to shiver outside, bring them inside immediately to prevent life-threatening hypothermia. Towel-dry them, including paws and toes.
Other signs of hypothermia may include unusual anxiety, crying, or lethargy.
NOTE: If your cat does not stop shivering in a reasonable amount of time, call or take your cat to your veterinarian!
- Paws & Toes: Check between the toes for frozen snow, ice, dirt, or
rock salt (you don’t want your cat licking any de-icing agents or chemicals). Also, check the paws for cracks and cuts. Massage moisturizing petroleum jelly or olive oil into your feline’s paws and between the toes.
AVOID cortisone cream, tea tree oil, or other essential oils on your cat’s paws without checking with your vet first!
- Lean Protein: If your indoor cat spends regular time outside, feed them more lean protein.
- Dry, Flaky, and Itchy Skin: Add a small amount of olive to the food (less is more to avoid an upset stomach). Using a home humidifier can also help.
- Holiday Risks: During the holidays, remember holly and mistletoe are toxic to cats (and dogs).
Protecting Horses in Winter
- Shelter: During the winter, horses need access to a barn or, at a minimum, a three-sided structure to protect themselves.
- Horse Blankets: Well-fitted blankets keep horses warm and dry.
- Blanket horses in potential rain, ice, and/or freezing rain. But never put a blanket on a wet horse.
- Body-clipped equines should be blanketed throughout the winter season.
- Blankets should be used on very young/very old equines or those not yet acclimated to the cold.
- Horses with a body condition score of three or less should always be blanketed.
- Unfrozen Water: Ensure your horse’s access to unfrozen water. Horses need more water during the winter to prevent dehydration
and colic.
- Heated buckets, heaters, or de-icers will keep water from freezing. The University of Minnesota recommends warm water between 45° and 65° F. (Snow and ice are not adequate sources for water.)
- Body Condition Scoring: Use Henneke’s Body Condition Scoring (BCS) to accurately assess weight changes and overall health during the winter. Click here for the detailed BCS chart for scoring with the scale below.
- Winter Feeding: Feeding your horse more (even unlimited) forage will create more heat and efficiently regulate their body temperature.
- Special Care: If your horse requires special care during the summer months, that same care must be continued through the winter.
- Equine Skin Care: Horses are prone to skin problems during the winter, including ringworm, lice, and mites. To learn more, click here: The Horse, “Winter Skin Problems.”
- Hoof Care: Keep up routine hoof care during the winter, including:
- Trimming: Every 6 to 12 weeks.
- Daily Picking: To remove packed ice or snow.
Additional Reading:
Five Ways to Protect Pets This Winter
Tips for Protecting Your Cat This Winter
Top 10 Winter Skin and Paw Care Tips
Caring for Your Horse in the Winter
Tips to Protect Your Horse’s Skin in All Kinds of Weather
Under, Over, or Ideal (Henneke Body Condition Scoring Scale)
Product Images are Courtesy of EquiGroomer
attended to regularly, daily. In this unprecedented time, our pet’s health is equally as important as our own! Our pets rely upon us daily to protect them and ensure their best health and quality of life. Also, during all the uncertainty, we need our beloved pets even more for their infinite love, support and companionship while we all self-quarantine.
By keeping up with your pet’s regular grooming, you can keep your pet’s coat in good shape, without painful matting, burrs and/or allergens. You can also address any potential health issues before they require a potentially stressful visit to your veterinarian during the shelter-in-place mandates.
Just like their canine friends, our felines are just as susceptible to winter dryness. But excessive itchiness and scratching can lead to unwanted infections and wounds for your cat. Below are some remedies to keep your cat’s skin well-conditioned.
Change My Litter!
healthy) kitty treats contain:
Feed Me a High-Quality Diet!
The Giftbag Your Feline Can’t Live Without! 
10-20 years (and even longer). So, people should adopt their own pets when they are ready for the commitment with time, finances and training.
bring a new puppy, kitten or even older pet into the home. There are also additional risks for pets at the holidays including decorations, lights, candles, trees, strangers, rich foods and snacks and alcoholic drinks. Holidays can be just as overwhelming and stressful for pets especially in a brand-new home with people they have not bonded with.
Need Stocking Stuffers for the dog lovers in YOUR life?
By educating ourselves about the unique challenges of winter, including wet, stormy, and freezing weather, pet owners can effectively keep their pets comfortable and safe while also preventing illness – or worse – for their beloved animal companion.
suffer negative effects from extended exposure to snow, ice and plummeting temperatures. It’s better to go out more often for shorter lengths of time. If your dog begins regularly lifting his paw(s), it’s time to go inside, warm up and check his paws.
Each stage of your pet’s life has its own requirements for well-being. The needs of a puppy, kitten or foal will be different from an adult or senior. So, it’s important to focus on the specific wellness needs and effective preventative care for their age, breed, health history and potential aging challenges.
hairballs for cats (as well as rabbits and 
Pomeranian, Corgi, Puli, Leonberger, Golden Retriever and Shiba Inu
Regular brushing is essential to your pet’s overall hygiene, health, comfort and happiness.