Wet cat food

keyes

TCS Member
Thread starter
Alpha Cat
Joined
Jan 11, 2013
Messages
445
Purraise
59
Does anyone out there know of a way to keep wet cat food unfrozen during these dastardly cold days?  I'm feeding a colony of ferals, anywhere from 9 to 10 cats, and although I do have dry cat food out, during this weather I am trying to give them some additional nutrients to assist them.  I'm usually pretty creative but I'm stumped.  They do come up on my porch to eat and I was thinking about a heated water bowl to put the wet cat food in.  Any ideas would be appreciated.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #4

keyes

TCS Member
Thread starter
Alpha Cat
Joined
Jan 11, 2013
Messages
445
Purraise
59
I've never used heat packs before.  Would a person sit the food on top of them or try to wrap it around the feeding dishes?
 

laralove

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Nov 18, 2013
Messages
1,226
Purraise
93
Location
Near Chapel Hill, North Carolina
I have zero experience with this, but in my head, this seems like something that may work.

Put a heating pad or the microwaveable packs (which would likely get much hotter, so maybe they're the better option) inside a cardboard box turned on its side. Put the bowls on top of the pad/packs. If using the packs, you may could even wrap the pack in aluminum foil so that the foil goes up to the edge of the bowl, trapping the heat around the bowl. The box would keep the wind out and hopefully also help contain some of the heat. 

Again, I have no idea... but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night. >_>
 

shadowsrescue

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Apr 27, 2011
Messages
7,026
Purraise
5,099
Location
Ohio
You could try setting in on one and then wrapping it around as well.  I think it would really do the trick!
 

ldg

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Jun 25, 2002
Messages
41,310
Purraise
842
Location
Fighting for ferals in NW NJ!
Geez, I hadn't even thought of trying to prevent the canned food we feed from freezing! :anon:

I have styrofoam shelters set up with heated pipe cable taped inside. We use 6' cable. But to make a heated feeding station, there is NO reason you couldn't use the 12' cable - this way it could be taped to the floor AND the sides (maybe even the top). Though for a feeding station, you'd likely need to cut the access much larger than for a shelter, it *should* keep the food above freezing if there aren't horrid wind chill factors.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #8

keyes

TCS Member
Thread starter
Alpha Cat
Joined
Jan 11, 2013
Messages
445
Purraise
59
I live in Minnesota and right now it's minus 24 degrees and that's not including the wind factor.  As I said before, they come up to my porch to eat and because the food is freezing with in 10 minutes I'm going back and forth to the cat food warmer aka the microwave and nuking it to unfreeze it.  I hate doing that just because I am trying to make sure that they have enough nutrition to get them thru this cold streak and I want to make sure that that they all get a chance to eat something that's going to help them stay warm internally.  You have a good idea but I am feeding 9 to 11 of the wee beasties and I can't see how I could feed all them  that way unless I had a boatload of styrofoam coolers or a really huge one for all them to fit into.
 

laralove

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Nov 18, 2013
Messages
1,226
Purraise
93
Location
Near Chapel Hill, North Carolina
 
I live in Minnesota and right now it's minus 24 degrees and that's not including the wind factor.  As I said before, they come up to my porch to eat and because the food is freezing with in 10 minutes I'm going back and forth to the cat food warmer aka the microwave and nuking it to unfreeze it.  I hate doing that just because I am trying to make sure that they have enough nutrition to get them thru this cold streak and I want to make sure that that they all get a chance to eat something that's going to help them stay warm internally.  You have a good idea but I am feeding 9 to 11 of the wee beasties and I can't see how I could feed all them  that way unless I had a boatload of styrofoam coolers or a really huge one for all them to fit into.
Good heavens... bless you. You need a badge: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/251561/friend-of-ferals-award-badge-apply-here
 
Top