What do with outdoor pets?

[Anonymous]

I live less than a mile from a small cow farm (40 to 50? They have calves ever year)

It’s a hobby farmer who built a McMansion and the town let him build a barn on what should be conservation land with the covenant/restriction (?) that if he ever sells the property the barn has to be taken back down.

They are very picturesque cows and their outdoor paddocks front on the main road. One of their main problems is that people driving through town from outside like to park and try to “pet the cows” and there is an electric fence that will buzz them.

All those cows are indoors right now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dogs, cats, chickens, rabbits? Those sort of animals. Can they stay outside in this cold weather? What do you do if they are truly not indoor animals?

Dogs ????
If you leave them outside in this your are a horrible human.

Really? Are you one of those nut cases who call animal control when your neighbor leaves his husky outside. Is your favorite expression, "if you're cold, they are cold, bring them in?" Many breeds of dogs love the cold and thrive in it. This is their weather and they love it. They prefer to be outside in the cold instead of in a warm house. Husky, Malamute, Saint Bernard, Samoyed, Newfoundland, Bernese Mountain Dog, Great Pyrenees, Tibetan Mastiff, Norwegian Elkhound, Keeshond, Akita, Chow Chow, Anatolian Shepherd, German Shepherd, Swiss Mountain Dog, Kuvasz, Norwegian Elk hound, etc., are all physically built to withstand freezing temps, snow and ice. It's almost cruel to have them inside in the winter. You can't define all dogs with one blanket statement and you obviously know nothing about dogs or likely cats either who also do quite well in the cold when they have to. Many indoor/outdoor cats will choose to stay outside in the cold for long periods of time. Educate yourself before calling anyone a horrible human.

You are terribly wrong because you fail to factor in acclimation. The breeds you cite could originally, years ago and living as a group that can huddle together for warmth, shelter below thick pines, or burrow, survive in very harsh conditions. Not anymore. These breeds live mostly in temperate locales now, and are not acclimated to surviving in very cold temperatures. Even though you think that their external appearance hasn't changed means their cold resistance is the same, this is not true. Their genes for cold survival have changed because they don't need them and humans have bred them for a certain look, not cold survival.

And no solitary dog ever survived frigid nights on its own unless they dug a really warm burrow. You cannot leave a dog outside this week, period.

Your ignorance astounds me, PP. Please do better otherwise you're going to end up killing a pet one day.

[Anonymous]

Our rabbit is an indoor pet and we drape warm blankets over his nighttime pen area at nighttime in the winter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:None of these breeds should be outside in these temps, OP, even the "northern" breeds (I have a Siberian sled dog), because even though the breeds originate from cold places, the animals you have and their immediate ancestors have acclimated to the more temperate environment of this region. So unless you personally flew all your animals from a very cold climate very recently... they need to be at temperatures they can sustain.

Take a cue from neighboring stables: my kid's riding center has a heated barn, and puts pajamas AND heavy blankets on its horses, with deep bedding. If you haven't prepared something of that nature, you need to bring them into your home.

My rabbits are indoor pets with their own enclosure. My double coated dog is indoors (but likes to sleep on the cold tile in the sunroom). My tropical parrot has two bird-safe electric heaters in her cage and if we lose power she gets priority placement in front of the cast iron fireplace insert.

Pictures of the horses or it didn’t happen,

Do you just want to see pictures of horses, or do you not believe they wear coats? The horses don’t he road from me wear coats.

Horses wear winter blankets here in our area but there are cold regions where it's not necessarily done. Horses grow longer hair in the winter. Never heard of winter pajamas but maybe that's an emergent thing I'm not aware of.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:None of these breeds should be outside in these temps, OP, even the "northern" breeds (I have a Siberian sled dog), because even though the breeds originate from cold places, the animals you have and their immediate ancestors have acclimated to the more temperate environment of this region. So unless you personally flew all your animals from a very cold climate very recently... they need to be at temperatures they can sustain.

Take a cue from neighboring stables: my kid's riding center has a heated barn, and puts pajamas AND heavy blankets on its horses, with deep bedding. If you haven't prepared something of that nature, you need to bring them into your home.

My rabbits are indoor pets with their own enclosure. My double coated dog is indoors (but likes to sleep on the cold tile in the sunroom). My tropical parrot has two bird-safe electric heaters in her cage and if we lose power she gets priority placement in front of the cast iron fireplace insert.

Pictures of the horses or it didn’t happen,

Do you just want to see pictures of horses, or do you not believe they wear coats? The horses don’t he road from me wear coats.

Horses wear winter blankets here in our area but there are cold regions where it's not necessarily done. Horses grow longer hair in the winter. Never heard of winter pajamas but maybe that's an emergent thing I'm not aware of.

As a PP explained, riding horses are clipped otherwise they sweat too much when kids ride them. If they sweat and aren't cleaned and dried properly, they fall sick, so riding barns prefer to clip them. This means they need special care when it gets cold. Yes, some of them have stretchy clothing that are put on them before you drape the heavy blanket. They also get a deeper straw bedding in their stalls.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dogs, cats, chickens, rabbits? Those sort of animals. Can they stay outside in this cold weather? What do you do if they are truly not indoor animals?

It's 27°! Are you crazy? They will freeze to death and. If I were your neighbor I would report you to animal cruelty!