10/23/2026
🐾❄️ COLD WEATHER IS COMING! LET’S TALK ABOUT STRAY & FERAL CATS! ❄️🐾
Here at Cozy Kitty Café & Cozy Kitty Rescue & Adoptions, we receive SO MANY messages from people who have stray or feral cats hanging around their homes, neighborhoods, or businesses.
With colder weather quickly approaching here in the Poconos, we want to share a few things that YOU can do to help these kitties survive the winter! ❤️
🐱 1️⃣ TNR — TRAP, NEUTER & RETURN!
One of the biggest ways to help control the stray and feral cat population is TNR!
This means humanely trapping outdoor cats, having them spayed or neutered, and returning them to their familiar outdoor environment when appropriate.
This helps prevent more kittens from being born outside, where they face harsh weather, illness, starvation, and other dangers.
🚨 DID YOU KNOW? Cozy Kitty has humane cat traps available to BORROW!
If you have an urgent situation and need assistance trapping a cat, please reach out to us! We may have a trap available for you to borrow. Please coordinate a TNR plan and veterinary appointment before trapping whenever possible.
🏠 2️⃣ BUILD AN OUTDOOR CAT SHELTER!
You do NOT need to spend hundreds of dollars to help keep an outdoor kitty warm!
You can make a simple insulated cat shelter using supplies from your local hardware store!
WHAT YOU NEED:
* A large plastic storage tote with a secure lid
* A smaller Styrofoam cooler or insulated box that fits inside
* STRAW (NOT HAY!)
* A utility knife to cut an entrance
* Something sturdy to elevate the shelter off the cold ground
HOW TO MAKE IT:
🐾 Step 1: Cut a small entrance approximately 5–6 inches wide in the side of the plastic tote, above ground level.
🐾 Step 2: Place the Styrofoam cooler inside the tote and cut a matching entrance.
🐾 Step 3: Fill the inside loosely with STRAW so the cats can burrow into it and stay warm.
🐾 Step 4: Secure the lids and place the shelter somewhere quiet, protected from wind, rain, and snow.
🐾 Step 5: Raise it slightly off the ground, face the entrance away from prevailing winds, and check regularly to make sure everything stays dry.
⚠️ IMPORTANT: NEVER USE BLANKETS, TOWELS, OR HAY! They can absorb moisture and become dangerously cold. Straw is the best bedding for outdoor cat shelters!
Even a simple shelter could make a HUGE difference for a kitty trying to survive freezing temperatures.
🐈 3️⃣ PLEASE WATCH OUT FOR SMALL KITTENS!
This one is especially important!
As temperatures begin dropping, tiny kittens are at serious risk. Young kittens cannot regulate their body temperature like adult cats, and exposure to freezing temperatures can become life-threatening.
If you find small kittens outside:
❤️ First, check whether their mother is nearby. If they’re safe, observe from a distance because mom may be caring for them.
❤️ If they are cold, weak, injured, or in immediate danger, get them somewhere safe and warm.
❤️ Keep them separated from your personal pets in a quiet, secure area.
❤️ Warm a chilled kitten gradually. Never feed a kitten that is still cold.
❤️ Contact a rescue or veterinarian as soon as possible for guidance and assistance.
PLEASE DON’T ASSUME EVERY RESCUE HAS ROOM! Many rescues, including ours, are overwhelmed with intakes, medical cases, and kittens needing foster homes.
Sometimes simply providing a safe temporary space while you reach out for help can make all the difference.
🐾 4️⃣ FOOD & FRESH WATER MATTER TOO!
Outdoor cats burn extra energy trying to stay warm. Providing food and fresh, unfrozen water can help them tremendously.
Keep feeding areas clean, use safe heated water bowls when possible, and avoid placing food inside sleeping shelters.
❤️ A MESSAGE FROM COZY KITTY RESCUE & ADOPTIONS
We wish we could take in every single cat that people contact us about. Unfortunately, we cannot always say yes, especially with the number of cats we currently have in our care, quarantine, and medical treatment.
But that doesn’t mean there aren’t things YOU can do to help!
You don’t have to operate a rescue to make a difference.
Sometimes helping means getting a cat fixed.
Sometimes it means building a $20 outdoor shelter.
Sometimes it means providing a meal.
Sometimes it means keeping a kitten safe until a rescue has room.
EVERY LITTLE BIT HELPS. ❤️
Please remember that these cats did not choose to be homeless. Many were abandoned, born outside, or simply never given a chance.
As the temperatures drop, let’s work together as a community to help keep them safe.
🐾 Cozy Kitty Café / Cozy Kitty Rescue & Adoptions
📍 Downtown Stroudsburg, PA
📱 570-350-9473
❤️ PLEASE SHARE THIS POST! You never know who has a stray kitty hanging around their property and could use this information.
Let’s help keep the Poconos’ outdoor kitties safe this winter! 🐈❄️❤️
